ROBINSON IN CONTROL

A DIFFERENT APPROACH, FOUR DECADES LATER.

- JULIE BOATMAN

When an engineer proposes a truly new solution to an entrenched problem, a chorus of naysayers inevitably arises from the midst of any nods of appreciation. The FAA, in fact, has produced processes for accepting such departures from common thinking—often found under the “alternate means of compliance” route in aircraft certification—but those manufacturers that have pursued such paths to certification can certainly expect pushback from the crowd. If you consider this for a moment, that pushback often means either the company is genuinely headed down the garden path or it’s onto something truly different that’s never been done before.

Frank Robinson was a child of the Great Depression. While not necessarily a condition to determine either success or failure, the environment experienced by his generation caused many to fall prey to resignation because of forces beyond their control. Still, in a fortunate number, the tough circumstances bred a determination to fight past them. To distill a worthy résumé down to its watershed moment in 1973, Robinson resigned from the last of his roles as an aerospace engineer for others (among them: Cessna Aircraft Company, Bell Helicopter, and Hughes Helicopter Company), and set out on his quest to design and bring to life a low-cost, approachable rotorcraft to the flying public. It was a wide-open space, and Frank charged right in. As a result, if you’re learning to fly helicopters today, you’re overwhelmingly more likely to learn in a Robinson than any other ship on the market.