MENOMINEE, MI (NBC 26) — Enstrom Helicopter Corporation in Menominee, Michigan has a new owner.
"What we do is real serious business. We make machines that fly,” said Dennis Martin, Enstrom Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
The company went bankrupt at the start of the year and later shut down.
That's when Chuck Surack, a businessman from Indiana decided to re-ignite the business.
"I got my helicopter license about 15 years ago and the first helicopter that I trained and the first one I bought brand new were both Enstrom helicopters. As the old saying goes, I loved the company so much I bought it,” said Surack.
The company re-opened its doors in May.
"When Chuck bought the company in May, we started calling people up and they said 'yup, I'm ready to come back.’ Let's get the team back together and start building helicopters again,” Martin said.
Out of all the helicopters they manufacture, the 480B helicopter is the biggest.
The aircrafts are flown by so many people around the world, from the Japanese army, Czech army, Thai army, and many more.
The helicopters can be found on all continents, except Antarctica.
"They have a stretcher in there to haul people to hospitals. You got helicopters in Africa doing agriculture spraying,” Martin said.
Under the new ownership, the company hopes to continue adding success.
"We're the new Enstrom and we're back,” said Surack.
