J Allen

I had a meeting with Maverick Helicopters, a major tour company in Las Vegas, to present my cockpit cover for the H130. The VP of Maintenance said he was very busy and I had 5 minutes to show my product. He told me, let see you cover the H130. When I covered the aircraft he said, “I can’t believe you covered the aircraft within 30 seconds, wait here. 10 minutes later he returned and handed me a purchase order for 6 covers. I let him use my demo cover until I returned 2 weeks later with his covers. He took me to the H130 parked outside with the cover on and said feel this and opened the door. “That is cool air coming out. Normally the air is so hot you can’t touch the controls.” He told me that he has to replace the complete interiors every 3 years at a cost of $22K per aircraft. Maverick is one of my biggest customers having ordered about 80 covers for their 50+ H130T2s plus spares since 2013. The VP of Maintenance for Maverick stopped by my booth at HeliExpo 2017 and shared with me that their company did a financial study on the cost savings on their cover purchases and found that the covers are saving them $250,000 per year. When you consider they were replacing the interiors every three years, replacing cracked windshield from temperature changes, and a reduction in avionics problems, it is easy to understand.

Hangar One Avionics (a completions company) was in a booth next to me at a trade show, and listening to my presentation. When finished the owner of Hangar One told me that I am presenting my product all wrong. He suggested that I should be stressing the maintenance cost reduction of my products. Hangar One Avionics who did the completions for the 14, LA Sheriff’s H125 aircraft, and also does their maintenance, told me they have notice a major reduction in avionics problems with their Astars since the Sheriffs have been using their California PopTop covers. As Maverick and Hangar One both told me, “these covers pay for themselves!”

In late 2016, Airbus Helicopters tested then endorsed my covers by selecting the California PopTop cockpit covers as the cover they would supply to specific customers when they received their new aircraft. Over the years they have ordered over 200 cover for the H125, H130 and H145 helicopters.

I was invited to the Airbus Dallas facility to use a H145 helicopter to design my new H145 cover. While there on my 4th visit having completed my design, I was asked to build a H145 cover for a special customer that would be picking up an executive-styled modified H145 in two weeks. That special customer turned out to be Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys. Mr. Jones was very pleased as the cover I provided had the Dallas Cowboys star on each side of the cover.

In the summer of 2018, I met with Robinson Helicopters to present my covers.  They were impressed that my cover weighed less than 4 pounds, and was easier to use than most covers. I stressed the sun blocking abilities of my cover and gave them a cover to test.  They had an opportunity to test my R44 cover during the 110+ degree heat-wave in Los Angeles with very positive results. Robinson was so impressed with our covers that now every R22, R44, & R66 aircraft ships with our cover.

I was contacted by the sales personnel at Leonardo Helicopters regarding a quote they were preparing for the U.S. Navy. In the RFQ it stated that each helicopter supplied must ship with a light-weight cover. The sales group were wondering where they were going to find a light-weight cover for their AW119, when someone mentioned that there was a company in California that makes great light-weight helicopter covers. After review of my AW119 cover and a trip to their Philadelphia facility California PopTop was selected to provide 130 covers for the Navy’s new AW119 training aircraft beginning in January 2021.