Dallas

Georgina Hunter-Jones

HELICOPTER LIFE flew out to Dallas Texas to attend the HAI Heli-Expo.

The 2006 HAI HeliExpo was held at Dallas in Texas. Outside the temperature varied from 50 to 90, inside the temperature changes were modest but the excitement was high with a total of 16,629 helicopter professionals visiting: a record attendance.

One press conference, in particular, had journalists glued to their seats, fighting to ask questions and talking for hours afterwards: Lynn Tilton, Chairman of the Board of Directors at MD Helicopters.

It is well known that MD has been in trouble for some years. With each HAI there was another assurance from the current MD that he would not be deserting the company, that orders would be fulfilled and that debts were not as bad as reported. Now we have Lynn Tilton.

She says the company is in a mess, that suppliers were not providing, that neither the money nor the commitment were there and that it takes "a woman like me" to sort it out. A woman like her is rare. Lynn Tilton owns 67 companies under her 5 billion dollar investment fund Patriarch Partners, allegedly only sleeps four hours a night and, although she is reputed to be wary of the press, she certainly knows how to give...