2 reports of cracks at the top.
 

MD 900 series - Cracks at the top, double check your hubs chaps.

MD Helicopters, Inc. Model MD900 Helicopters

the case is in the appeal court, the supreme court dismissed the case out of USA because the widows and deceased guys are Turkish. MDHI is trying to dismiss the case in Turkey, and they blamed the pilots and they alleged that Turkish police bought this "old and not guaranteed " helicopter knowingly. In Turkish press there were bribe allegations about the selling od MD-600N. Former Minister responsible from this procurement tells that he had evidences about it. It is alleged that 3.5 million dollar or more bribe had been given to Turkish governors to sell copters after GAO reports telling
Border Patrol: Procurement of MD 600N Helicopters Should Be Reassessed...


better than wiki... ha ha ha

Can anyone calculate the accident ratio for the 'notarious' 600 (total accidents against numbers built) and compare this with the overall average for single turbine helos.

Would be interested to see how it compares.

Goings and comings.
 

Effective January 4, 2011 Robert Molsbergen, President of MD Helicopters, Inc. has left the Company.
Ms. Tilton promises to spend more time back at Mesa to sort things out.

No, I don't know why, so don't ask.

Quote:

---

Ms. Tilton promises to spend more time back at Mesa to sort things out.

---

Fltlt thanks. I haven't laughed this hard in some time (I'm even finding it difficult to type!).

That really is hysterical!

HM

Hell Man - Please put down the coffee before reading further

CEO of MD Helicopters named as "Aviation Entrepreneur of the Year"

No comment.

Says it all really!
 

This comment says it all really doesnt it....

"I am neither tied to any person nor any thing, and if a deal or a relationship does not make sense, I can walk."

and this is where she said it.

Reflections On Power - Lynn Tilton, CEO, Patriarch Partners - Forbes.com

How many CEO's does that now make?
 

With regard to the latest departure of the CEO at MD on 4th Jan in FLTLT's earlier post, how many CEO's have left MDH since Hank and Joop handed Ms Tilton the majority share in MD?
Is she into double figures yet, and is there any truth in the rumour she may be doing a PPL course so she can tell us how to fly?
:confused:

A dutch connection again?
 

I didnt recognise the last CEO's name as he was only at MD less than 12 months, so I googled him and am wondering if the dutch connection may have something to do with Joep's RDM ship building bankrupt empire?

Robert Molsbergen Named President of MD Helicopters | Helihub - the Helicopter Industry Data Source

"Prior to his board seat at MD, Mr. Molsbergen was CEO and Chairman of the Board of EMTS, a Dutch major global marine services company engaged in shipbuilding and ship repair and maintenance, which serves internationally renowned ship owners, operators and managers."

Mr. Molsbergen went to university in Rotterdam as well, hmmm the plot thickens over at MD and who is really in charge?

While elsewhere there seems to be news of a boeing chap talking to LT.

"The rumor is that a current Boeing Chief pilot is going to announce his retirement soon. He has been in negotiation with Ms. Tilton to manage MD Helicopters in anticipation of a big subcontract to build and flight test Little Bird helicopters for the Boeing Company. Ms. Tilton has yet to deny that this is true."

Its mentioned in justhelicopters.com which also has news of the recent ceo departure at LT's request!

lynx no more,

The long-running rumor over on The Dark Side is that the chap in question has been doing more than just talking to the lady in question... :E

I/C

Doing a bit more than talking?
Will that be her PPL training then :E

Tilton Flaunts Her Style at Patriarch - WSJ.com

Tilton Flaunts Her Style at Patriarch

By ROBERT FRANK

Earlier this year, private-equity chief Lynn Tilton flew to Detroit to try to improve sales at one of her auto-parts companies. She got a cool reception from Ford Motor Co.'s purchasing chief, Tony Brown, who asked if she was like other private-equity chiefs that "strip and flip" their companies.

"You must be mistaken," she shot back. "It's only men that I strip and flip. My companies I hold long and close to my heart."


Bill Denver for The Wall Street Journal
Lynn Tilton owns all or parts of 74 firms with revenues of $8 billion. 'I am all woman,' she says. 'Sometimes it makes men uncomfortable.'

With her platinum blond hair, tight leather skirts and penchant for racy remarks, Ms. Tilton has a talent for getting people's attention. Yet behind the glam facade is a sophisticated distressed-debt investor and manufacturing tycoon who has quickly become one of the richest self-made women in America.

Through her New York-based holding company, Patriarch Partners, Ms. Tilton owns all or parts of 74 companies with revenues of more than $8 billion and 120,000 employees. By most measures, Patriarch is now the largest woman-owned business in America.

Ms. Tilton, 52 years old, built her fortune from an unlikely corner of the economy: down-and-out industrial firms. Her strategy is to buy manufacturers headed for the scrap heap and bring them back to life with new management teams and products. In the process, she's become an unlikely crusader for America's rust-belt.

"The key to America's future is manufacturing," she says. "We simply have to become a country that can make things again."

She has revived a defunct paper mill in Maine by turning it into a maker of alternative fuels. She took a money-losing helicopter maker founded by Howard Hughes and made it profitable through exports and sales to U.S. rescue workers and the military. During the depths of the auto-maker crisis, she bought up auto-parts companies that now have more than $1.7 billion in sales.

Ms. Tilton also has had her share of mistakes. After buying American LaFrance, the firetruck maker, she drove down revenue by more than 50% in an effort to improve profits. Four years later, she still is trying to turn the company around.

"That was a purchase I made more with my heart than my head," she said.

Ms. Tilton has the added distraction of her personality. Her office uniform usually includes five-inch stilettos, an eight-carat diamond necklace and the occasional black leather jumpsuit. Her office walls are filled with whips and handcuffs sent to her by friends, Hashemite daggers given to her by Middle Eastern royals, New Age paintings and a portrait of her stretched across the hood of a black Mercedes. Ms. Tilton makes no apologies for her unconventional look.

"I am all woman," she says. "Sometimes it makes men uncomfortable, sure. But in business and in life, I have to remain faithful to my inner truth. In the end, I'd hope people judge me on my accomplishments and intelligence."

Ms. Tilton started on Wall Street as a single mother, working 15-hour days and putting herself through Columbia's business school. She had graduated from Yale as a nationally ranked college tennis player and aspiring poet, and married her college sweetheart. Soon after starting work on Wall Street, she got divorced and plunged into her work.

She rose through the ranks of Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Kidder Peabody and Amroc. She had a talent for quickly dissecting balance sheets and distilling complex financial information into simple forms. She won a rare patent for a portfolio-construction model that continues to serve as the foundation for Patriarch.

In 2000, she founded Patriarch, named after her late father. Her plan was to trade debt with her own money. Yet after buying two giant portfolios of distressed debt, she realized the only way to succeed was to take control of the companies in the portfolio. Suddenly, Ms. Tilton had gone from a debt investor to the accidental chief executive of dozens of failed companies. Her turnarounds were so profitable that she went on to buy more companies

She commutes most mornings by helicopter from her New Jersey home to Manhattan, and she owns homes in Florida and Arizona, Hawaii, and a Italian villa on Lake Como, just up the mountain from George Clooney. Ms. Tilton remains close to her 28-year-old daughter, who is one of her deputies. She sleeps only a few hours a night and sips a homemade concoction of clay, salt and chlorophyll. She often stays up late reading science fiction on her Kindle.

Walking down the manufacturing line at her MD Helicopter plant in Arizona on a recent afternoon, Ms. Tilton looked out of place in her shimmering dress and heels. Yet she quickly bonded with workers with her earthy jokes and detailed knowledge of metal alloys and machine-tools.

"Workers really take to Lynn," said Duane Lugdon, a United Steelworkers union staffer who led tense negotiations with Ms. Tilton at the Maine paper plant. "She's just human and honest with people. I don't say that about many CEOs."

Her personal involvement in each company—she's still CEO of MD—can cause friction, former employees say. They say employee churn at Patriarch is high in part because of Ms. Tilton's tough personality.

"I'm a benevolent dictator," Ms. Tilton says. "I like to control things. What we do, the distressed area, is not for the faint of heart."

Her real mission, however, is pushing the U.S. to adopt a more coordinated government policy that better supports the country's manufacturers.

She is doing her own part by preserving jobs at her own firms as best she can, she says. Yet she also is pressing Washington to better enforce antidumping rules and to require companies that sell in the U.S. to manufacture in the U.S.

"If we don't become a country that makes things again, we won't have enough jobs for our people," she said. "Without jobs, we could have social unrest. And that's not science fiction."

Write to Robert Frank at [email protected]

PR machine
 

With PR like that I expect her to run for President, don't know if it will be of a country though ;)

Rumours abound at Staverton that she may be paying them a flying visit to see the Dutchman, and that they have a red carpet for Air Force One in the stores already :E

Lynx-nm

There's a profile of the ex-CEO here which includes his education (all in Netherlands including "Marine engineering", right of up the RDM street) -> Robert Molsbergen - LinkedIn

LT's PPL training?
 

Was wondering if LT completed her PPLH, as there isnt much noise from her at MD these days? :}

Patriarch Partners: Patriarch Partners Photos, Wallpapers, Galleries, 338 lynn tilton pic 3 jpeg

Just the final handling test to do.

Is that a Reference to one of the other Photo's in the gallery link by Wright123 ;) ?

Patriarch Partners: Patriarch Partners Photos, Wallpapers, Galleries, Picture 1284

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1.../Coconutty.jpg

the gallery
 

I wasnt sure if it was the same lady when I saw the cuddly toys and whip in the gallery?

Are they the past ceo's she's whipping into shape ;)

Heli Expo 2011 and LT
 

A "littlebird" tells me that LT will be making a speech on how good she is at Heli Expo. Will it be the news we have been expecting about MD for a few years, and will LT be heading into the sunset?

Did she pass her final handling test with the Boeing chap?

I may go to Florida just to see the outfit this year ;)

Another one bites the dust.
 

Christophe Nurit's resigned effective February 4th.

How many bottles of beer on the wall?

re; another one bites the dust!
 

He wasnt one of Joep's RDM men then?

http://www.mdhelicopters.com/news/pd...0Marketing.pdf

He only lasted 5 months as vice president of sales under the LT whip!

Is the writing on the wall over the other side of the pond? Will Henk head back to sort it all out ;)

Nurit has moved to Sikorsky as Regional Executive in charge of Asia and India.

Nurit has moved to Sikorsky
 

I bet thats a breath of fresh air after the LT whip, will she be taking over the VP job at MD as well :E

$32m lawsuit filed against LT
 

Doesnt sound good for LT in latest trial! I did hear another RDM man was inline for the VP job, personally recommended by Joep ;)

$32M lawsuit filed against MD’s Lynn Tilton and Patriarch Partners | Helihub - the Helicopter Industry Data Source

29 Jan, 11

A $32 million lawsuit has been filed in an Ohio Court against Patriarch Partners and Patriarch’s CEO and founder, Lynn Tilton. The suit was filed on behalf of MA Equipment Leasing I LLC and MA 265 North Hamilton Road LLC.

The suit, (case number 09CVH 08 12912 ) filed in the Common Pleas Court of Franklin County in Columbus, Ohio, follows a previous decision and order of $5.74 million for damages in favor of MA 265 as well as an additional decision awarding nearly $600,000 in attorney’s fees and costs in favor of MA Equipment (case number 07CVH02-2297). The award addressed the material breach of certain building and equipment leases, and a failed attempt to improperly move leased equipment and machinery to Monterrey, Mexico by Zohar Waterworks, which is owned by an affiliate of Patriarch. Zohar Waterworks, a Columbus-based manufacturer and distributor of water cooler systems, filed for bankruptcy in April 2009, just weeks before a judgment was to be entered on these claims.

According to the complaint, Patriarch and Tilton controlled and dominated Zohar Waterworks and were responsible for Zohar Waterworks’ filing for bankruptcy in an effort to thwart that imminent judgment and protect Patriarch and Tilton’s interests. The complaint further asserts that subsequent bankruptcy court rulings preserve any claims that MA Equipment and MA 265 had against Tilton and Patriarch.

The earlier trial court found that an employee of a Patriarch affiliate, John Harrington, “affirmatively” lied to MA Equipment, concealed material information from MA Equipment, “surreptitiously” ordered Zohar Waterworks’ employees to remove and transport the leased equipment and machinery to Mexico, and “intentionally disregarded” an admonishment by MA Equipment not to do so. The court found Harrington’s “truculence” and “belligerent attitude” forced MA Equipment to file a request for a temporary restraining order against Zohar Waterworks, resulting in a court order directing that the equipment and machinery be returned to Columbus. Zohar Waterworks “knowingly and willfully violated” that equipment lease by “improperly removing, relocating or transferring MA Equipment’s equipment to Monterrey, Mexico without obtaining MA Equipment’s prior written consent.” The trial court found that this and other “misconduct” of Harrington amounted to a material breach of the equipment lease.

The most recent lawsuit alleges Tilton, Harrington, Patriarch and other affiliates of Patriarch unlawfully interfered with and prevented Zohar Waterworks’ performance of those equipment and building leases with MA Equipment and MA 265. The suit, filed by the Ohio-based law firm Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP, also alleges fraud against Tilton and Patriarch Partners asserting that they had no intention of permitting Zohar Waterworks to perform its obligations under the leases and that they “… knowingly and maliciously misused the corporate form to defraud and unjustly damage Plaintiffs [MA Equipment and MA 265]….”

The $32 million claim includes $7 million in compensatory damages and $25 million for punitive damages.

MA Equipment is a private investment company specializing in leasing manufacturing equipment. MA 265 is an industrial real estate investment company.

For additional information or comments, please contact MA Equipment and MA 265 attorney John Marsh at 614-233-5102.

50 new a/c?? no just 12 actually!
 

From someone who is supposed to be good with numbers, this was a bit of an over statement from the great LT :E

MD produced 12 helicopters in 2010, not 50 | Helihub - the Helicopter Industry Data Source

Helihub quote; So, where does this leave us? HeliHub.com believes the 2010 production of MD Helicopters was 12 airframes - those listed in section 1 above.

Due to the (lack of) speed with which FAA keeps its data current, it is possible that the 10 airframes in section 2 were also 2010 production, but as all of these are still registered to MD Helicopters and not customers, we feel safe to assume that they were not. We are very open to the fact that there may be other information not available to us which could alter these figures. We will happily run another article in the future if MD Helicopters come to us with different figures substantiated by serial numbers and customer names in the way we have in this article.

wright123 I take it you would like to see MD go to the wall then ?

Is it me or are there a lot of bitter people on this thread? What's the matter kids, didn't LT send you a Xmas card this year? :{ Or are you just intimidated by powerful successful and VERY rich women?

Dry your snot-nosed little faces and man up!!

FF

I think the majority of us really wanted and expected MD to survive and thrive, many still do. But it appears that the good ship has no oars in the water and the helmsman is MIA.

And for that we are deeply disappointed, especially when their competition are running rings around them.

Sometimes throwing money around just doesn't work. You need the passion, vision, leadership and knowledge for the product and it's marketplace. Helicopters and aviation are not commodities to be traded at the drop of a hat.

I do not know Ms. Tilton personally, she does appear to be a successful person. However her track record in this industry does not live up to the hype.

Female or male, it matters not. What does matter is that MD appears to be on a slippery slope and who or how can turn that around. Otherwise I fear this thread will end for the lack of a subject.

But then what do I know.

That’s very true of your workforce, but they don’t buy the product, the customer does.

What the customer has always wanted from MD is a well funded and credible owner who will not only invest in the product, but is also in it for the long run and not just an opportunity to lean and sell for a profit after 5-years.

I genuinely hope MD comes back, but this is only going to happen under the wings of one of the big four commercial players (SAC/EC/AW & Bell) and the further the big four's products evolve, the less likely they are to take on MDHi's stagnating product line.

I don't see EC being interested in anything MD has to offer, AW possibly a few years ago, but with their new AW169 in design, I'd figure them out of the equation too, so that leaves Bell and SAC.

I don't see Bell as having the money or the business case with the 429 in production and as for SAC? 5-years ago maybe, but in spite of desperately lacking something in the 7,000 to 9,000 lb category for the huge EMS/ALE market, I’m not so sure this would still be an option, as I suspect technology is moving on too quickly to make the MD902 production line a worthwhile buy.

It's a great shame as the MD902 is a credible competitor to the EC135, but what chief pilot or owner is going to opt for a platform with an uncertain future, which makes MDHi a high risk option for buyer’s and this is where the problem lies.

Flaxton, you really must take off that blindfold and let the light into your rose-tinted spectacles.

You have supported MD to the end of the road and beyond..... and have faithfully knocked everyone that suggested all was not rosy in the garden. In all fairness your positive defences have not really born fruit in turning around the situation. The production numbers have simply not made it anywhere near the LT predictions year in year out.

No MD are not dead in the water, no their products are not rubbish. They are old, very old, and not recently upgraded but as long as they fly there are positives.

As you know selling aircraft is only part of it. On the whole they make more money for the manufacturer flying and consuming spares.

The sad fact for MD is that they, and their products, do not impress the buyer and they do not buy a worthwhile number of new ones. The exception may be Boeing and the Little Bird.

That leaves LT with an asset that is making money consuming spares. As long as the grounding rates can be controlled that gives her time.... time when she can look to use profits to improve [and maybe even sell more].

Does she have the patience to sit it out?

Blinfolded by PAS maybe?
 

Flaxton, PAN is correct as well as the other commentators from around the world on this thread.

MD management is changing by the month, and the fact that the latest VP to go only lasted 5 months at MD, speaks volumes that something must be wrong at the top, and LT is a the top.

Maybe she thought she would get the military contracts which she didnt, but Helihub seems to have caught her out about her statement about the MD 2010 sales figures.
Judge's in the states dont make damage awards of $5.74million against her, if she didnt do any wrong! The other firm must be confident going for an extra $32m!

I'm in and out of Staverton on a regular basis, and there are lots of rumours from people on the ground about MD and PAS.
What will happen to PAS if it all goes pete tong at MD, if the mighty LT does decide she's had enough?

I hope there are a lot of 902 spare parts being stockpiled for a few of the UK ambulance charities sake.
From an earlier comment in this thread I noticed that most of the ambuance 902's in the UK are running on borrowed money. Lets hope the various charities have a back up plan (especially if they are running 2 x 902's) :ok:

.
Hughes Helicopters (1947-1984) was a great company. Every one of their products either filled or created a niche. Their products were by and large reliable and effective and the company demonstrated innovative solutions in their responses to and development of the market.

In 1975, three years after the US Army cancelled the Cheyenne project, Hughes flew their YAH-64A prototype which was to win out over Bell's YAH-63A in the US Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter competition. The YAH-64A was to become the AH-64A Apache and the rest, as they say, is history.

The post-Hughes timeline:

1984 - McDonnell Douglas purchases Hughes Helicopters.

Everything still okay.

1986 - Schweizer acquires all rights to the Hughes 269/300 helicopter from McDonnell Dougals.

Everything still okay but, the company loses a unique asset in that despite Robinson's success, the 300 represented ongoing commercial potential.

1997 - McDonnell Douglas merges with Boeing.

Everything still okay.

1998 - Boeing's intention to sell MDHC's civilian line to Bell Helicopter is thwarted by the US Federal Trade Commission.

Not realised at the time but likely to have been the last chance café for MDHC's civilian line.

1999 - Boeing sells the civilian line of helicopters to MD Helicopter Holdings.

The death knell for MDHC's civilian line.

2005 - MD Helicopter Holdings is purchased by Patriarch Partners.

You may add your own sentence here ...

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/__.../s512/1975.jpg

The 1975 ad by Hughes Helicopters promoting what would become the Apache. A development which would transform Hughes' fortunes - and the future direction of the company.

S.

"Flaxton, you really must take off that blindfold and let the light into your rose-tinted spectacles"

“You have supported MD to the end of the road and beyond..... and have faithfully knocked everyone that suggested all was not rosy in the garden”

PAN, PAN, PAN. There have been people on PPRUNE who have questioned your journalistic integrity in the past, intimating that you post things without too much concern to the actual facts.

Personally, whilst espousing the virtues of the 902 at every possible opportunity, I can't actually remember defending MD as a company at all, never mind to the extent you are claiming.

So now I am going to give you a chance to prove to all these disbelievers what a top journo you really are. Please feel free to go back over all my previous postings (there are only 117 or so, it won’t take long) and show me where I have “supported MD to the end of the road and beyond” and “faithfully knocked everyone that suggested all was not rosy in the garden”

OK fella….you’re centre stage. Show me your “facts”.

I did actually set off into the 117 but was 'saved' by the first one.... the one that led me to exclaim about blindfolds and specs.....

Is it me or are there a lot of bitter people on this thread? What's the matter kids, didn't LT send you a Xmas card this year? :{ Or are you just intimidated by powerful successful and VERY rich...

I would hate to use that single post by you as a reason for clamping you in irons but it was what I was talking about.

Saved me hours as well!:ok:

Hmmm... looking at one post out of 117 (or around 0.8547% of all my posts) is your idea of good investigative journalism, eh? I am impressed by your professionalism and thoroughness!! Doubt that your critics will have been appeased though....

If I applied the same amount of diligence to investigating your postings I would probably be thinking "Hmmmm.....blindfolds, LT, clamped in irons.....
I think I'm getting the gist of your fantasies now, fella":ok:

All this LT bashing on your behalf is just a smokescreen isn't it? Come on, ditch Eurocopter's "parts-bin special" 135 and come over to the Dark Side, you'll feel much better for it. Might even get back on the Xmas card list, who knows??

FF

PS You dont have to bother reading my other 116 posts as I obviously did that before I posted - it's called research. Give it a go, you might like it!

sorry pa i agree with flax
from reading some of the later posts on here i do wonder what md has done to lynx and wright because they are so bitter and he or them need to chill out
i am the first to agree there has been problems at the ranch at mesa for a while but from a customer point of view LT did make a huge difference
and the company is still trading


also i am getting older and like mutton i dont get any chance with lambs these days LOL

Savoia couldnt have put it better.
 

Savoia, well said, I couldnt have put it better.

I dont think PAN has an axe to grind with MD, I must say his articles are very good and informative. I bet everyone in the UK rotary world logs on to his monthly page to see whats going on. :ok:

This MD debaucle started with the RDM fella who still owns PAS, and we NOW know what he's been upto in the past dont we! I wonder if he pays taxes on his UK PAS earnings with being a non resident of the Dutch now?

The mighty LT (who in her own words, "is tied to no company") thought she was in the running for the big money miltary contract, which is the only reason she bought the reminants of what was once major player in the US avaition world.

Howard Hughes must be turning in his grave.

PAN you should give Savoia a job as his/her article, I couldnt have put it better on the history of MD. :D

I am a bit slow on this... two more posts before I got back! If only the National Police Aviation Service were still causing so much scribbling!

I did read the 116 I missed after I replied [that I guess is retro investigation!] and they do show your flavour of preference... you know a little to much about the MD product to be a person without a preference. Same goes for MD600 ..... it would be a strange handle for a Sikorsky man.

And you know what?

That is OK by me. We are all brought up with preferences and we all do our best to suppress them when we think we ought to. Same goes for me I guess at times. With your chosen 'handle' I guess we might be near neighbours by birth and that is always a recipe for friction. You know Yorkshiremen are ALWAYS right and two rights rarely make a........ So any little digs just blow away in the breeze!

And dear old LT is no angel in this.

I have seen her try, quite successfully, in a very public forum to destroy a man. OK he made a mistake in his writings, got too much of an Enid Blighton flavour in his reporting of an event which she diligently recorded...... but the venom showed she expects and gives no quarter.

Sweet as a pussy cat when she wants to be but there are lots of broken people [mainly men] along the way. I suspect that if I had really spoken out of turn I might have joined them by now.;)