It came as suddenly as a northern Michigan blizzard. One minute Steve Daniels–a former Kaman Aerospace executive who had taken the reins last year as president of Enstrom Helicopter and was doing his job scant weeks after painting a rosy, ambitious portrait of Enstrom’s future during a refreshingly candid presentation at February’s HAI Heli-Expo–was in office. Then came a phone call from former Enstrom president Bob Tuttle telling Daniels he was fired. Also dismissed was vice president Frank Gallagher, another ex-Kaman official, who had accompanied Daniels when he came to rejuvenate the moribund rotorcraft maker from Menominee, Mich.
At Heli-Expo in February, Daniels was full of hope and plans for what many have long considered an undervalued, underappreciated helicopter product line. Marking his first Heli-Expo, Daniels announced sales that would bring the company’s current order count to 12 out of a planned production run this year of 15 rotorcraft. This total showed a substantial increase in deliveries from the company’s average of seven aircraft per year since 1992, and served as evidence that Enstrom was on target for Daniels’ goal of 30 deliveries next year.
More In Rotorcraft
