FRANKLIN D. ROBINSON (1930-2022)

BY INDERJIT CHOPRA AND EARL H. DOWELL

FRANKLIN DAVIS ROBINSON was born in Carbonado, Washington, on Jan. 14, 1930, to Royal and Elizabeth Davis Robinson. The youngest of four children, he grew up during the Great Depression on Whidbey Island. At the age of 9, he saw a photograph in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of Igor Sikorsky hovering in his VS-300 prototype helicopter. The idea that a machine could remain stationary in the air fascinated him and set the course for his life’s work.

After graduating from Langley High School on Whidbey Island in 1948, Frank joined the Merchant Marines. He later enlisted and spent two years in the Army before working his way through college, focusing on helicopter design. In 1957, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington and later attended graduate school at the University of Wichita.

Frank began his career in 1957 at the Cessna Aircraft Company, working on the CH-1 Skyhook, a two-seat, piston-engine helicopter. After 3 1/2 years at Cessna, and one year at Umbaugh Aircraft Corporation working on the certification of its two-seat, jump-takeoff gyroplane, he spent 4 1/2 years at McCulloch Motor Company conducting design studies on low-cost rotorcraft. He then went on to devote a year at Kaman Aircraft working on a gyrodyne-type rotorcraft before joining Bell Helicopter, where he earned a reputation as a tail rotor expert. In 1969, he moved to Hughes Helicopter Company, working on research and development projects, including a new tail rotor for the Hughes 500 helicopter and the company’s Quiet One helicopter program.

Unable to generate interest from his employers in his vision for a small, low-cost helicopter, he founded Robinson Helicopter Company (RHC) in his Palos Verdes home in June 1973. The first R22 prototype was built in a tin hangar at Torrance Airport, and in August 1975 he flew the R22’s first flight. After 3 1/2 years of rigorous testing and technical analysis, the R22 received its Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Type Certificate in 1979. The first R22 was delivered later that year, and the model quickly became the world’s best-selling civil helicopter. The R22 holds the most world records in its weight class, including for speed and altitude. It won the VFS Igor I. Sikorsky International Trophy in 1990 “in recognition of the clean sweep of all Class E-la light helicopter records now held by the Robinson R22”— and then again in 1991 “for the second year in a row for establishing three more world records.”

In the mid-1980s, Frank began developing the four-seat R44 helicopter, which took its first flight in March 1990. It received FAA certification in late 1992, with deliveries beginning in 1993. As demand for the R44 grew, he expanded the product line to include the Newscopter — and a specially equipped police helicopter. In 2002, the newly introduced Raven II, an R44 enhanced with a fuel-injected engine, quickly became the company’s best-selling model. By the end of 2010, over 5,000 R44 helicopters had been delivered worldwide. Since 1988, RHC has been one of the world’s leading manufacturers of civilian helicopters.

Preliminary designs for a five-seat turbine helicopter began in 2001, but it was in 2005 that engineering efforts accelerated following an agreement with Rolls-Royce to develop the RR300 turbine engine. On Oct. 25, 2010, the R66 Turbine received FAA certification. The first R66 was delivered in November 2010, and by the end of that year, the company had amassed a backlog of more than 100 orders. By 2023, the R66 had become RHC’s best-selling model.

In June 2010, with FAA certification of the R66 imminent, he retired at the age of 80. Kurt Robinson, his son, has led the company until 2024. To date, RHC has delivered over 14,100 helicopters, approximately 30 percent of which were delivered within the United States, while the remaining 70 percent were exported worldwide.

The company he built prioritizes engineering excellence. He assembled a small team of engineers, mostly recent graduates, whom he trained to focus on simplicity and minimizing weight. Many of these engineers spent their entire careers at RHC, with Frank himself serving as their mentor to carry forward his design philosophy as the Robinson product line evolves. He encouraged his engineers to become helicopter pilots themselves, providing them not only with a deeper understanding of the products they were developing but also a greater appreciation for the needs of the operators.

Rejecting the trend of outsourcing as a means of improving efficiency and profits, he insisted on keeping much of the manufacturing in-house at the company’s 617,000-square-foot factory in Torrance, California. Unlike other aircraft manufacturers that pursued military contracts to fund research and development, he deliberately avoided this approach to retain full control over the design process.

Frank’s contributions to aviation have been recognized with numerous prestigious awards and honors as well as countless magazine covers recognizing him and his many achievements. In 2013 he received the prestigious Daniel Guggenheim Medal “for his conception, design, and manufacture of quiet, affordable, reliable and versatile helicopters.” Among his many other distinctions, he was the 2010 Cierva Lecturer, an annual honor awarded by the Royal Aeronautical Society to honor the work of Juan de la Cierva. In 1997, he received the Society of Experimental Test Pilots Doolittle Award, and in 1991, he became a Vertical Flight Society Technical Fellow.

Committed to giving back, he donated $2 million to the University of Washington — $1 million for an endowed tuition scholarship fund for South Whidbey High School graduates with financial need and another $1 million for engineering students. He also donated property that became the public Frank D. Robinson Beach on Whidbey Island, as well as $1 million each to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and the American Helicopter Museum & Education Center in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Frank passed away on Nov. 12, 2022, at the age of 92 at his home in Rolling Hills, California. He is survived by his six children, Jami Christen, Kurt Robinson, Terry Hane, Lincoln Robinson, Mark Robinson, and Cindy Mullen.