Avionics News - October 2023 - 40

HELICOPTER OEM UNVEILS ALL-GLASS PANELS
Continued from page 38
explained Dennis Martin, Enstrom Helicopter vice
president of sales and marketing. " Our helicopters have
always been popular with private owners, foreign military,
and training providers. "
Things were going quite well for the company. Sales
were moving along, especially to the aforementioned
international military and government operators. So much
so that in late 2012, the company was acquired by the
China-based Chongqing Helicopter Investment Co.
" They had big plans but really didn't do much with the
company or products over the years, " Martin said. " For
reasons no one here in the U.S. could ever understand, they
        
Along came Chuck
When news of Enstrom Helicopter's bankruptcy reached
its legions of owners, helicopter lovers, and the aviation
industry in general, the reaction was, as you might expect
- not favorable. But it hit one of the Enstrom faithful
particularly hard.
" When Chuck (Surack) learned about the bankruptcy,
          
and bought the company, " Martin said. " Since then, he's
        
products. Not only to bring it back but to make it better
than it was. "
Let's take a minute to step back and learn why the
whole situation triggered Surack's decision to buy Enstrom
Helicopter. Sure, nobody likes to see any company
shuttered, but it takes more than a passing interest to
prompt anyone to spend buckets of money to save any
business.
" Chuck's background is very interesting, " Martin said.
" He was a musician and ended up starting a recording
equipment business out of the back of his Volkswagen bus.
That company grew to become Sweetwater Sound. Today,
it's valued at over $1.5 billion and is the world's largest
retailer of musical instruments and recording equipment.
" He came from an aviation family and has been a
longtime user of business aviation for his various aviation
and non-aviation companies (Surack Enterprises also owns
Sweet Aviation, Sweet Helicopters, and Aviation Specialty
          
himself. About 15 years ago, he was getting ready to board
one of his airplanes when a small helicopter landed on the
ramp. Once it shut down, Chuck walked over and started
chatting with the helicopter's pilot. "
40 AVIONICS NEWS * OCTOBER 2023
         
instructor. Having his curiosity peaked by the sleeklooking
machine, not long after that chance meeting,
Surack contacted the instructor and took him up on his
   
As fate would have it, the sleek-looking helicopter was
an Enstrom.
" Chuck fell in love with it and ended up getting his
private and commercial ratings and now has over 2,000
hours in helicopters, " Martin said. " He also bought a new
          
before moving up to bigger helicopters. Through it all, he
never lost his love for Enstrom Helicopters. "
Loving a brand is one thing; spotting a solid business
opportunity is quite another. Fortunately for all concerned,
Surack has both passion and a solid business background.
" You don't grow the world's largest music equipment
retailer without knowing a thing or two about building a
successful company, " Martin explained. " Chuck's not only
injecting quite a bit of money into the company, but he's
also bringing in quite a bit of knowledge and leadership to
      
" But the really neat thing is he's such a highly
experienced and current helicopter pilot, so when we went
to him to ask about upgrading the cockpit with Garmin
G500 touchscreen, he ended up asking if we were using
the latest TXis with whatever the newest software version
is. He knows what he's talking about because he has it in
         
language as our customers - that's an immeasurable

Martin said Surack's current experience with newgeneration
avionics and the needs of today's helicopter
pilots made getting the boss's go-ahead to upgrade Enstrom
Helicopter panels to Garmin glass as easy as playing
Chopsticks on a keyboard.
Avionics in the key of G
         
nothing new to Enstrom Helicopter's engineering team.
        
now Genesys Aerosystems EFIS in its turbine-powered
          
" Not long after that, we also installed the Garmin G1000
in the 480, " Martin said. " We always tried to stay on the
        
owner didn't see the value of continually funding digital
   
         
we did was start the program to upgrade the avionics with

Avionics News - October 2023

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