On November 12, 2022, Robinson Helicopter Company bid a\nfinal farewell to its founder, Frank Robinson. Robinson, 92, passed away\npeacefully at his Rolling Hills, California home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the most recognizable names in the helicopter\nindustry, Frank Robinson was a pioneer, a man not driven by reward or accolades\nbut by a vision that redefined the industry and forever changed general\naviation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Robinson will be remembered for the design and manufacture\nof the R22, R44, and R66 model helicopters. Known for their simplicity and\nreliability, the popular helicopters have a distinct profile and can be spotted\neasily and frequently all over the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Robinson’s fascination with helicopters began in 1939, at\nage nine, when he saw a picture in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of Igor\nSikorsky hovering his VS-300 helicopter, an image that captivated Robinson and\nset the course for his life’s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He earned a BSME degree from the University of Washington,\nlater attending Wichita State University’s graduate aeronautical engineering\nschool. His career began in the late\n’50s with Cessna and continued through the ’60s working for many leading aerospace\ncompanies, including Bell and Hughes. In 1973, at age forty-three, unable to\ninterest any of his employers in the idea for a simple, personal helicopter, he\nresigned from his job at Hughes and founded Robinson Helicopter Company in his\nPalos Verdes, California home. Six years later, defying critics and overcoming\nenormous obstacles, Robinson was granted FAA certification for his two-place,\npiston powered R22 helicopter. The unknown helicopter company delivered its\nfirst production R22 in October 1979. By 1989, the R22 had gained a foothold in\ngeneral aviation, opening a previously untapped market for private helicopter\nownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the early ’90s, realizing the potential for a light\nmid-size helicopter, Robinson introduced the four-place piston powered R44.\nOrders for the R44 quickly piled-up and the company became a recognized player\nin the aviation industry. In 2010, Robinson once again expanded his line with\nthe five-place, turbine powered R66.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Robinson’s relentless determination earned him the respect\nof both colleagues and competitors. Affectionately called a rock star in\ncertain aviation circles, Robinson retired in 2010 at age 80.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The list of awards and honors bestowed on Robinson is\nlong. Most notable:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, the company continues under the leadership of Frank’s\nson, Kurt Robinson and, to date, has delivered over 13,000 helicopters\nworldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On November 12, 2022, Robinson Helicopter Company bid a final farewell to its founder, Frank Robinson. Robinson, 92, passed away peacefully at his Rolling Hills, California home. One of the most recognizable names in the helicopter industry, Frank Robinson was a pioneer, a man not driven by reward or accolades but by a vision that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-front-page-slider","category-international-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Frank-Robinson-edit-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23956"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23958,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23956\/revisions\/23958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}