Van Horn Aviation | Composite Rotor Blades

Spotlight on Dillon Aero

Dillon Aero in Scottsdale, Arizona

Our customers do some amazing things with helicopters. If those amazing things include suppressing enemy fire or strafing an enemy column with miniguns blazing, chances are that a Dillon Aero minigun or ammunition feed system is involved.

Former TWA pilot Mike Dillon founded Dillon Aero—an offshoot of his Dillon Precision firearms accessories and ammunition reloader business—in the early 1990s while consulting in the movie industry. He had obtained a handful of surplus miniguns and had been contracted to fire them on a film shoot in northern Arizona. When the guns continued to jam, threatening the entire shooting schedule, Dillon and his team decided to redesign the ammunition feed mechanisms.

It took quite a few years to perfect the design, but the Dillon team finally unveiled a new feeder/delinker mechanism that fed the ammunition to the minigun without significant jamming issues. While Dillon and his team were merely trying to get their miniguns to work well, the US Army caught wind of the improvement and asked for a demonstration. During the demo, the Dillon mechanism (DADF-2000) fired 50,000 minigun rounds without jamming, the US Army replaced their systems with the Dillon system, and Dillon Aero was born.

Why Dillon Aero and not Dillon Minigun? Because Mike Dillon had an extreme passion for aviation, restoring and flying several warbirds over his lifetime, including a UH-1 Huey that had been retired by the U.S. National Guard with only a half-hour of flight time left. The restored Huey served as the main platform for the minigun project, with Mike Dillon often piloting the ship.

By 2002, Dillon Aero had redesigned every component of the minigun. Soon after, Dillon introduced its all new production Dillon M134D, which the US Army began to purchase to replace its older miniguns.

Today Dillon Aero builds a variety of weapons systems for air, land, and sea vehicles, including high-capacity feed systems for the M134D, various machine guns, and the M19 Grenade Launcher. Dillon weapons, mounts, and ammunition handling systems have been integrated into 16 different helicopter platforms, a variety of land-based vehicles, and various small watercraft for U.S. and foreign navies.

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AD Compliance Reminder for Certain 206L MRB Operators

By Kim VHA • April 25, 2025

For 206L LongRanger operators flying P/N 20633000-101 serial numbers A007-A009 or A012-A104, we would like to remind you that these blades are subject to AD 2022-22-08, which requires recurring tap inspections every 400 flight hours or 2,400 engine starts, whichever comes first. You can learn more about the tap test requirements and procedure in our video . These blades are likely to develop a delamination in the area of the weight pocket on the lower surface of the blade. The AD further requires removing the blades from service if the delamination reaches 6 inches in length. However, extensive company testing indicates that all blades will likely achieve their full retirement life before that occurs. So long as the delamination is monitored and does not exceed the permitted length, the blades are entirely safe to fly with no adverse effects on aircraft behavior or performance. Operators are required to report their findings at every inspection interval to VHA for tracking using the form on the last page of Service Bulletin 33000-4 . Completed forms should be emailed to info@vanhornaviation.com . Providing this data helps to ensure all operators of these blades remain safe. All of the identified blades are likely to have delaminations, so if none are detected please contact us for assistance. In addition, this AD is considered an interim action and once sufficient data is gathered it may be updated to reduce the required frequency of inspection. Refer to AD 2022-22-08 and SB 33000-4 for further information.