Entrepreneur, Rotorcraft Designer

Aero-News has learned of some sad news from California. United Helicopters and Hiller Aviation founder Stanley Hiller, Jr., passed away last week from complications caused by Alzheimers. The noted designer of the first-ever FAA certified helicopter, the Hiller 360, was 81.

Hiller had a nose for business from a young age. By the time he was 15, Hiller had been building stock cars -- based off his original made from soapboxes, and powered by an old washing machine motor that allowed it to travel 60 mph -- for three years, earning an annual gross income of just under $1 million. At 18, however, Hiller's dreams truly took flight... and he started looking at helicopters.

After being told by a professor at University of California-Berkeley that his design for a counter-rotating-blade helicopter would never fly, Hiller set out to prove him wrong -- eventually securing funding to move his company, now named United Helicopters Inc., to Palo Alto, CA. It was here Hiller built his first successful helicopter, the UH-4 Commuter.

He later went on to develop the Hiller 360, the first-ever FAA-certified helicopter -- itself a remarkable accomplishment. But you should see the wide range of aircraft Hiller and company designed.

There was the flying submarine, the flying bridge, the flying jeep, and the 40 passenger "SkyBus" (right). He also designed and built the storied Flying Platform, as well as the one-man, foldable Rotorcycle and the Hornet, which was powered by rotor-tip-mounted ramjet engines. On the more practical side, there was the aforementioned UH-4 -- which, yes, featured counter-rotating blades -- and the remarkably stable NC-5.

United Helicopters Inc. produced over 3,000 helicopters in Palo Alto, before Hiller moved his company again to Menlo Park, CA.

Many of Hiller's aerial inventions are featured at the Hiller Aviation Museum, which is also a big sponsor of the EAA's Young Eagles program. In June, the museum will sponsor its annual "Vertical Challenge," devoted to educating the public about the critical role helicopters play in our national economy.

Stanley Hiller, Jr. died at his home in Atherton, CA April 20. He has gone west... where he now watches as people fly in amazing machines that some said could never take flight.

FMI: www.hiller.org