Enstrom marks 60 years
Celebrates 480B sales to Botswana police
Enstrom Helicopter Corp. is marking its sixtieth anniversary during HAI Heli-Expo 2020 in Anaheim, California. An Enstrom 480B—one of the company’s demonstrators—is adorned with decals commemorating the occasion.
“Enstrom is celebrating 60 years in business, which is exciting for us. Not a lot of aerospace companies have been around that long,” said Dennis Martin, Enstrom director of sales and marketing. And even fewer when you consider that all Enstroms have been built in the same factory, under the same production certificate. “Not a lot of people can say that. We couldn’t do it if we didn’t have the support of our customers.
During the show Enstrom announced that it sold three Enstrom 480B turbine helicopters to the Botswana Police Air Support Branch. Mr. Keabetswe Makophe, the commissioner of police for the Botswana Police Service, was on hand for the announcement. The new helicopters, to be built in March and April, will be customized to Botswana Police Service specifications and include state-of-the-art Trakka Systems day/night cameras and searchlights, navigation and communication equipment, and cargo slings.
“The versatility and flexibility of the helicopter configuration allows the Botswana Police to [fulfill] a host of missions, including training, crime prevention, wildlife conservation, medical evacuation, command and control, and search and rescue,” said Shai Shalem, managing director of dealer Safomar Aviation, which arranged the transaction and will provide service and support.
“We believe the Enstrom 480B will be a great addition to the Botswana Police fleet,” Martin said. “We are looking forward to a long relationship with them.”
