Canadian Helicopters Limited
Porcupine Caribou heard filming project in the Richardson Ranges - Inuvik, NT (July 2019)
IATA ICAO Callsign
— CDN CANADIAN
FoundedOkanagan Helicopters (1947)
Commenced operationsSt. John's, Newfoundland (1987)
AOC #Nova Scotia: 18373[1]
Quebec: 11988[2]
Operating basesAB, BC, MB, NB, NL, NT, NS, NU, QC, YK
Fleet size112 (110 & 2)[3]
HeadquartersLes Cèdres, Quebec, Canada
Websitewww.canadianhelicopters.com

Canadian Helicopters Limited, formerly a part of the Canadian operations of CHC Helicopter Corporation, operates 112 aircraft from 26 bases across Canada and provides a broad range of helicopter services to support the following activities: emergency medical evacuation; infrastructure maintenance; utilities; oil and gas; forestry; mining; construction; and air transportation. Canadian Helicopters Limited also operates an advanced flight school; provides third party repair and maintenance services; and provides helicopter services in the United States in support of specialty operations including forest fire suppression activities and geophysical exploration programs.

History

An early production Sikorsky S-76A owned by Canadian Helicopters and used in the air ambulance role for the Ontario Ministry of Health.

Commercial helicopter flying began in British Columbia in the summer of 1947. Three former Royal Canadian Air Force 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.

Toronto Helicopters was founded by Len Routledge and Douglas Dunlop. It was a pioneer in air ambulance services in Ontario and operated helicopters for the Ontario Ministry of Health. [4] [5] [6]

Sealand Helicopters was founded by Newfoundland businessman Craig Dobbin in February 1977.

In 1987, Dobbin headed a group that purchased Okanagan Helicopters and Toronto Helicopters and merged them with his own company, Sealand Helicopters to form Canadian Helicopters.[7]

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 by way of a management buy-out. The company continued operations as Canadian Helicopters until it was renamed HNZ Group Inc. after acquiring that company. In December 2017, the company was taken private as Canadian Helicopters Limited.[8]

As of September 2019, Canadian Helicopters Limited has two air operator's certificates. The first, 18373, is Canadian Helicopters Limited - Hélicoptères Canadiens Limitée trading as Canadian Helicopters Offshore in Enfield, Nova Scotia with two helicopters in Goffs (Halifax Stanfield International Airport).[1][9][10] The second, 11988, is used for the rest of the fleet in Les Cèdres, Quebec.[2][3]

Bases

The following are bases in Canada:[11]

Heliports

Canadian Helicopters Limited operates the following heliports:[12]

Fleet

As of September 2019, Canadian Helicopters Limited has the following aircraft registered with Transport Canada:[3]

Sikorsky S-61
Bell 212 (C-FOKV) registered to Canadian Helicopters at Cambridge Bay Airport, Nunavut, Canada
AircraftNo. of aircraftVariantsNotes
Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil (Aerospatiale AS350)38AS350 B2, AS350 B3Single engine
Aerospatiale AS 3558AS 355-NTwin engine, listed at Canadian Helicopters as an Airbus
Bell 20610206B, LongRangerSingle engine
Bell 2128212Twin engine
Bell 4075407Single engine
Bell 4121412EPTwin engine
Eurocopter EC1204EC120B ColibriSingle engine, listed at Canadian Helicopters as an Airbus
Sikorsky S-613S-61NTwin engine
Sikorsky S-764S-76A++, S-76C+, S-76DTwin engine

The aircraft are listed by Transport Canada as being registered to Canadian Helicopters Limited - Hélicoptères Canadiens Limitée registered in Quebec.[3][9][10]

The Transport Canada list also shows an Aerospatiale AS350D,[13] an Aerospatiale AS 355F1,[14] a Bell 212,[15] a Bell 206B,[16] a Robinson R22 BETA,[17] and two Sikorsky S-76A[18][19] all with cancelled certificates.

References

  1. 1 2 Transport Canada (2019-09-09), Civil Aviation Services (CAS) AOC. wwwapps.tc.gc.ca.
  2. 1 2 Transport Canada (2019-09-09), Civil Aviation Services (CAS) AOC. wwwapps.tc.gc.ca.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Quick Search Result for Canadian Helicopters". Transport Canada. Retrieved 2019-09-09.
  4. ↑ "ATAC mourns the passing Len Routledge". Air Transport Society of Canada. Retrieved 2017-09-03.
  5. ↑ "Leonard Victor Routledge obiturary". The Toronto Star. June 1, 2013. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
  6. ↑ "Douglas Weir Dunlop Obituary". The Toronto Star. 29 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "Canadian helicopter operators shake up" (PDF). flightglobal.com. 23 May 1987.
  8. ↑ HNZ Group Inc. "HNZ Group Inc. to be acquired by President and CEO Don Wall and PHI, Inc". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  9. 1 2 Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Aircraft Details C-GNZH
  10. 1 2 Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Aircraft Details C-GICB
  11. ↑ Locations
  12. ↑ Canada Flight Supplement. Effective 0901Z 16 July 2020 to 0901Z 10 September 2020.
  13. ↑ Civil Aircraft Register: Aircraft Details C-GCKP
  14. ↑ Civil Aircraft Register: Aircraft Details C-GVHK
  15. ↑ Civil Aircraft Register: Aircraft Details C-GOKY
  16. ↑ Civil Aircraft Register: Aircraft Details C-GBHE
  17. ↑ Civil Aircraft Register: Aircraft Details C-GEBO
  18. ↑ Civil Aircraft Register: Aircraft Details C-GFFJ
  19. ↑ Civil Aircraft Register: Aircraft Details C-GIMR
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