The Road Behind: The Road Ahead

In 1998, one-year after acquiring McDonnell Douglas, Boeing’s aspiration to sell MD’s civilian helicopter line to Bell was subverted by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The following year—while retaining the robust military facet of McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems, to include the lucrative AH-64 Apache program—Boeing unceremoniously spun off MD’s line of civilian rotorcraft to MD Helicopter Holdings Inc., an indirect subsidiary of RDM Holding Inc.—a Dutch infrastructure and technology concern.

After a protracted period of floundering and dismal commercial performance, MD Helicopters was purchased in 2005 by investment fund Patriarch Partners and recapitalized as the independent, Mesa, Arizona-based, MD Helicopters Inc. The new entity was led by CEO Lynn Tilton. In March 2022, MD Helicopters Inc. filed for U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Comes now September 2022, and MD Helicopters has emerged from bankruptcy, its assets acquired by a new entity dubbed MD Helicopters LLC. As part of its post-bankruptcy restructuring, the nascent company has appointed a new board, CEO, and senior executives. Three of MD Helicopters LLC’s seven board seats are held by New York-based holding company MBIA—the subsidiaries of which provide financial guarantee insurance and other specialized financial services. Following the elimination of Patriarch Partners’ and Lynn Tilton’s ownership interests in the old MD, MBIA stands now as a 62% majority shareholder in the restructured company.

MD Helicopters LLC’s board will be chaired by Ed Dolanski—former president of Boeing Global Service’s $10-billion U.S. government services business. The company’s day to day operations will be overseen by CEO and inveterate aerospace wheeler-dealer Brad Pedersen, whose path to MD Helicopters LLC included stints at Breeze-Eastern—a manufacturer of hoists and related equipment for civil and military aircraft—Airborne Systems Group, Sikorsky, and Boeing.

Pedersen asserts the next two-to-five years will see MD Helicopters LLC and its 250 employees remain in Mesa, Arizona, where they will focus on rebuilding product support for all MD civilian helicopter models while gradually ramping up production of the company’s popular 500 series single-engine helicopters. Pedersen concedes achieving these goals presupposes significant investment—particularly in spare parts—as well as stabilization of both the new company’s management and its building processes.

“Most of our injuries have been self-inflicted,” Pedersen concluded.

FMI: www.mdhelicopters.com