Erickson Incorporated is an American

aerospace manufacturing An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry. ...

and aviation service provider based in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, United States. Founded in 1971, it is known for producing and operating the S-64 Aircrane

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

, which is used in

aerial firefighting Aerial may refer to: Music * ''Aerial'' (album), by Kate Bush * ''Aerials'' (song), from the album ''Toxicity'' by System of a Down Bands *Aerial (Canadian band) * Aerial (Scottish band) * Aerial (Swedish band) Performance art * Aerial sil ...

and other heavy-lift operations. Erickson Incorporated operates globally and has a fleet of 69

rotary-wing A rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft with rotary wings or rotor blades, which generate lift by rotating around a vertical mast. Several rotor blades mounted on a single mast are referred to as a rotor. The Internati ...

and

fixed-wing A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct ...

aircraft including 20 S-64s. The company was known as Erickson Air-Crane Incorporated until 2014. Erickson's main facility is located in the Southern Oregon community of Central Point.

History

In 1969, Jack Erickson leased a

Sikorsky S-61 The Sikorsky S-61L and S-61N are civil variants of the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King, SH-3 Sea King military helicopter. It was developed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft. The commercial version of the Sea King w ...

from Wes Lematta of

Columbia Helicopters Columbia Helicopters, Incorporated (CHI) is an aircraft manufacturing and operator company based in Aurora, Oregon, United States. It is known for operating tandem rotor helicopters; in present times, exclusively the Boeing Vertol 107 and Boeing ...

to test the effectiveness of helicopters for logging. Following this test Erickson realized he would need a larger helicopter. He purchased three

S-64 Skycrane The Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane is an American twin-engine heavy-lift helicopter. It is the civil version of the United States Army's CH-54 Tarhe. It is currently produced as the S-64 Aircrane by Erickson Inc. Development Under Sikorsky Th ...

s from

Sikorsky Aircraft Sikorsky Aircraft is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut. It was established by aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky in 1923 and was among the first companies to manufacture helicopters for civilian and military use. Pre ...

and founded Erickson Air-Crane in December 1971. He quickly expanded the business to include

power line An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and distribution to transmit electrical energy across large distances. It consists of one or more uninsulated electrical cables (commonly multiples of three for three-p ...

construction and firefighting. In 1973, Erickson began using Aircranes to replace

HVAC Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. HV ...

units on top of high-rises. The following year Erickson invented the anti-rotation device which stabilizes loads and provided for great performance and agility. This new technology allowed the company to begin building power line towers. S-64 Aircrane

In 1992, Erickson Air-Crane purchased the

type certification A type certificate signifies the airworthiness of a particular category of aircraft, according to its manufacturing design (''type design''). It confirms that the aircraft of a new type intended for serial production, is in compliance with applica ...

and manufacturing rights for the S-64 from Sikorsky. Since that time, Erickson Air-Crane has become the manufacturer and world's largest operator of S-64 Aircranes and has made over 1,350 improvements to the airframe, instrumentation, and payload capabilities of the helicopter. In 2007, Erickson was sold to ZM Private Equity Fund, who in 2009 moved the company's headquarters to Portland. Then a privately held company, Erickson announced plans to go public in 2010, which was delayed into 2012. On April 11, 2012, the company completed an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

and began trading on the NASDAQ market, with ZM Private Equity Fund retaining ownership of 63% of the company. The company acquired

Evergreen International Aviation Evergreen International Aviation, Inc. was a global aviation services company based in McMinnville, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1960, Evergreen was primarily known publicly for commercial helicopter operations in agricultural and forestry a ...

's helicopter unit for $250 million in March 2013. Erickson then bought Brazil-based HRT Participações em Petroleo's oil and gas unit, with the deal expected to be finalized in 2013. Erickson_Aircrane

The name of the company was changed to Erickson Inc. in February 2014. The following year the company reorganized into three business units: Commercial Aviation Services, Government Aviation Services, and Manufacturing and MRO. The Evergreen purchase was financed partly with debt, and (together with challenging business conditions) caused Erickson to file for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

in November 2016 to reorganize while keeping the business running. During bankruptcy the company returned to private ownership and emerged from bankruptcy protection in May 2017. Erickson appointed government services veteran Doug Kitani as CEO and Director August 31, 2017. He was previously CEO and director of government services firm IAP Worldwide Services. He has also worked in private investment and general management for Honeywell and General Electric.

Heliport

The company owns Erickson Air-Crane Admin Offices Heliport , a private, 130 x 130 ft. (40 x 40 m)

heliport A heliport is a small airport suitable for use by helicopters and some other vertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff areas and may also have limited facilities such as fuel or hangars. I ...

References

External links

Erickson website
{{Oregon Companies Helicopter manufacturers of the United States Firefighting equipment Companies based in Portland, Oregon Manufacturing companies established in 1971 Helicopter operators Logging Central Point, Oregon Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq 1971 establishments in Oregon American companies established in 1971 Privately held companies based in Oregon Aerial firefighting

History

Heliport

See also

References

External links