Notes for Speech at Enshrinement Ceremony for Frank N. Piasecki
At National Aviation Hall of Fame
July 20, 2002

Thank you, DON.

Ladies and Gentleman,

My name is John Piasecki.

I am the son of Frank Piasecki and I am pleased to be here tonight to receive, on his behalf, the honor of his enshrinement in the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

My Father wishes me to express his sincere appreciation for such recognition and he apologies for not being able to attend personally due to health reasons.

I have had the great privilege of working with my Father for almost 14 years in the field of rotorcraft research and development, and I thought it would be fitting to share with you some of my observations about a man for whom I have a tremendous amount of love and respect.

Much has been made of my Father’s accomplishments as the developer of the tandem helicopter and founder of what is today the Helicopter Division of Boeing, as well as his continued efforts to push the envelope of vertical flight technology at Piasecki Aircraft Corporation, through the development of high speed compound helicopters and heavy lift hybrid vertical lift aircraft. However, he would be the first to recognize that these achievements are not the result of a lone individual, but rather the product of a dedicated group of enthusiasts. There are too many people to mention here, but I would be remiss if I were not to recognize Don Meyers, who so graciously introduced me as the presenter of this award. Don deserves a substantial amount of credit for these accomplishments. He has been a close collaborator of my Father’s since the beginning of their relationship as fellow students at the University of Pennsylvania. As Vice President of Engineering, Don Meyers had a key role in ensuring the technical success of these efforts. It has been a great personal honor for me to work with Don and many of my Father’s other associates over the years.

From my perspective, such capacity to draw great people together has been key to my Father’s successes. Great people are attracted to great ideas. Bringing into being great innovations require a unique combination attributes:

(a) perception of a genuine need,
(b) a firm grasp of the technical and economic fundamentals,
(c) the imaginative genius to develop effective solutions within these constraints,
(d) the persuasive capacity to convince other people of the merits of your concept, and
(e) finally and most importantly, the courage and persistence to see it through.

The development of the tandem helicopter is a great example of such innovative spirit. In 1945, when my Father developed the first tandem helicopter, the Navy determined that this configuration was not technically feasible. By sheer force of persistence and persuasion, the Coast Guard was convinced to sponsor the project, and within 13 months of contract signing the world’s first successful tandem helicopter flew. This new configuration demonstrated a useful load over three times greater than any helicopter then flying. This significant increase in capacity led to the expansion of the helicopter into critical roles in military operations, such as air assault, Anti-Submarine Warfare, Airborne Mine Counter Measures Warfare, cargo, utility , and rescue applications. Today, the tandem configuration lives on in the Army’s CH-47 Chinook, and the Marine’s CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters. The tandem helicopter continues to provide unique capabilities to our Armed Forces, most recently in Afghanistan, where the CH-47 Chinook distinguished itself as one of the few helicopters capable of operating in those severe high altitude environments.

Another attribute of my Father and many others of this generation in the aviation industry is personal courage. In the 1940’s, Helicopters were brand new machines about which very little was known, and few people knew how to fly them. In my Father’s case, his group barely had enough money to design and build their first PV-2 helicopter, let alone hire a professional pilot. Thus, considering the prices, my Father with only 14 flight hours on a Piper Cub, took on the responsibilities of test pilot, which he continued to do with his many other designs throughout his career.

In today’s modern environment of Integrated Product Teams and Total Quality Management, where processes seem to have replaced the person, the idea of the chief designer also being the chief test pilot seems total foreign. I admire the courage of such pioneers, and know my Father can personally attest to the positive influence it can have on the aircraft quality assurance.

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to the one characteristic, which if you ask my Father, has been the most important key to success: PERSISTANCE. There were many opportunities during the course of my Father’s career where any reasonable person would have accepted any one of a number of set backs as a reason for giving up, or even major successes as a reason for resting on one’s laurels and avoiding further risk. Not so for my Father. He doggedly pursues continuous advancements in the field of vertical lift technology to this day, and still comes to work constantly pushing my brother Fred and I to move forward.

In closing, I am reminded of a funny comment my Father made to me years ago about always being able to tell a real aviation pioneer, because just like the Old West, these guys were usually walking around with a lot of arrows in their rear end...

Well I am here tonight to recognize, and say thank you, to all the aviation pioneers who have taken their fair share of arrows, so that the rest of us can enjoy the benefits of this great industry and Country. My Father is deeply honored to be counted amongst you. And as you can tell, I am very proud of him.

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