Erickson Air-Crane recovered the helicopter [N165AC] the next day to see if there was anything worth salvaging. Much of the structure was damaged beyond repair -- mostly because the front and tail assemblies were damaged while being dragged out of the lake. But the timber hauler and fire-suppression specialist felt the helicopter's center fuselage section could be rebuilt, so it brought it back to its warehouse, where it sat for awhile.

Why save it and look for somebody to restore it? The S-64 isn't made any longer and building a new one is cost prohibitive.

Enter M7 Aerospace, which saw the damaged Aircrane and thought it could help. So the bird was packed off to San Antonio-based M7, which began the painstaking process. M7's MRO unit led the effort, assisted by the aerostructures division.

First, M7 tore down the assembly, looking for cracks as part of a detailed damage investigation. The corrosion was extensive, so the company steam cleaned the section and removed paint with a chemical stripper. M7 then rebuilt and modified the 30 ft. long by 9 ft. wide and 4 ft. high center fuselage section. A substantial tooling fixture was designed to hold the large section in place to ensure that its critical locations and structure were returned to their originally engineered position.

In addition, M7 Aerospace outfitted the center fuselage section with new electrical wire harnesses, hydraulics, fuel plumbing, sheet metal and machined parts.

After nine months, M7 finished the item and sent it to Italy, where Erickson replaced the center fuselage section on one of the Aircranes in the operator's Italian fleet. That old section most likely will wind up back in San Antonio to be rebuilt.

"The center section gets the most wear and tear in these giant helicopters," said Robert Dutton, director of Aerostructures Manufacturing for M7, which has six business units. "By having this spare center section, Erickson can plug and play with any of its helicopters they want to." Dutton said 75 percent of the section was repaired, 25 percent was replaced. The company has the in-house capability to fabricate needed parts in-house "with little reliance on outside sources," he added.

By the time this article is published, a second center fuselage section, which came from an Aircrane [N189AC] that tipped over during fire-suppression work in Los Angeles in October 2006, will be delivered to Erickson for reattachment to the original helicopter.

Having Erickson as a client is a plum for M7 Aerospace, which is located in the former Fairchild Dornier manufacturing facility at San Antonio International Airport. From its beginning on April 1, 2003, the company steadily picked up MRO and parts manufacturing business, said Dutton. While known for its passenger-to-freighter conversions and maintenance work on regional aircraft, the Government Logistics Support Programs is the largest segment of M7's business. At present, it has three government contacts to service military transport- category aircraft.