Canadian Helicopters
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Subsidiary | |
Industry | Transportation |
Predecessor | Sealand Helicopters & Okanagan Helicopters |
Founded | St. John's, Newfoundland (1987) |
Founder | Craig Dobbin |
Headquarters | Les Cèdres, Quebec, Canada |
Area served | Canada |
Key people | Don Wall (President and CEO) |
Services | Helicopter services |
Revenue | $154 million CAN (2010) |
Parent | HNZ Group, Inc. |
Website |
www |
Canadian Helicopters, formerly CHC Helicopter Canadian operations, operates 132 aircraft from 43 bases across Canada which provides a broad range of helicopter services to include: emergency medical services, infrastructure maintenance, utilities, oil and gas, forestry, mining and construction, and helicopter transportation services. CH also operates three flight schools and provides third party repair and maintenance services. Canadian Helicopters also provides helicopter service in the United States in support of specialty operations including forest fire suppression activities and geophysical exploration programs.
History
Commercial helicopter flying began in British Columbia in the summer of 1947. Three ex-RCAF officers, pilots Carl Agar and Barney Bent, and engineer Alf Stringer, were operating a fixed-wing charter company, Okanagan Air Services Ltd., out of Penticton. In July 1947 they raised enough money to purchase a Bell 47-B3 and pay for their flying and maintenance training. Okanagan Air Services moved to Vancouver in 1949, was renamed Okanagan Helicopters Ltd. and, by 1954, had become the largest commercial helicopter operator in the world.
In 1987, Newfoundland businessman Craig Dobbin headed a group that purchased Okanagan Helicopters and Toronto Helicopters and merged them with his own company, Sealand Helicopters to form Canadian Helicopters.
Until November 2000, Canadian Helicopters was the domestic operating arm of Canadian Helicopters International, a wholly owned subsidiary of CHC Helicopter Corporation. In 2000, Canadian Helicopters was divested to form Canadian Helicopters, Inc which was then renamed in 2012 as HNZ Group, Inc..
Bases
Canada
- British Columbia - Fort Nelson, Fort St. John, Penticton (Flight School), Smithers and Terrace.
- Alberta - Western Head Office Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie.
- Manitoba - Southport (Kf Aerospace Defence Programs)
- Northwest Territories - Inuvik, Norman Wells,
- Nunavut - Cambridge Bay, Hall Beach, Iqaluit
- Quebec - Corporate Head Office: Montreal, Les Cèdres, Chevery, Radisson (Whapchiwem)and Sept-Îles
- Newfoundland - Bishop’s Falls, Goose Bay and Pasadena
- New Brunswick - Fredericton
- Nova Scotia - Halifax (Air Ambulance)
- Yukon - Whitehorse
Air fleet
CH operates 132 aircraft
- Bell 206B and 206L
- Bell 212
- AS 350
- AS 355F-1
- Sikorsky S-76A
- Sikorsky S-61N
Gallery
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Bell 206L
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Sikorsky S-61
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Eurocopter AS350
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Bell 206