Columbia Helicopters receives first three ex Swedish BV107s
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 02-Apr-13
Columbia Helicopters has taken delivery of the first three of ten heavy lift helicopters purchased from the Swedish Department of Defense. The total order includes six Boeing Vertol 107-II and four Kawasaki Vertol 107-II models. The price was not disclosed. According to Columbia Helicopter’s Public Relations Manager Dan Sweet , the three Boeing Vertol 107-II [...]
Columbia Helicopters buys ten Vertol 107s from Swedish military
Source: Nordic Rotors, 27-Feb-13
The Swedish Defence and Security Export Agency (FXM) has recently sold ten retired HKP 4s to the large American operator Columbia Helicopters Inc (CHI). The agreement was settled in December 2012 and the deliveries were started this month. The aircraft, which includes six Boeing Vertol 107-II and four Kawasaki Vertol 107-II helicopters, will join the [...]
Columbia Helicopters names new President
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 20-Feb-13
In a long-planned move, Columbia Helicopters announces that Stan Wilson would assume the office of President of the company. Mike Fahey remains Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as Columbia Helicopters initiates the first of several actions to focus the leadership team on future growth opportunities. “Our company’s current global economic outlook has finally offered us the [...]
Columbia announces Memorial Fund for families of Peruvian crash
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 16-Jan-13
Columbia Helicopters announces the establishment of a memorial fund that will assist the families of the seven employees who perished in a recent helicopter crash in Peru. The funds raised will be distributed equally among all families. The “CHI 241 Peru Memorial Fund” has been created at Wells Fargo banks, which can accept donations at [...]
Columbia Helicopters confirms Peru accident
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 09-Jan-13
Columbia Helicopters sadly confirms the loss of seven employees in a crash of a Model 234 helicopter in Peru. The employees included five American citizens and two Peruvian citizens. The helicopter was working near Pucallpa, Peru, under contract to support petroleum exploration operations. No other persons were on board the tandem-rotor helicopter when it was [...]
Columbia Helicopters Chinook down in Peru with 7 fatalities
Source: HeliHub.com, 08-Jan-13
This news item is part of the accident data provided by HeliHub.com on this site. Information provided in this update may potentially be incomplete or inaccurate as we frequently post these stories only a very short time after the accident has occurred. Users of HeliHub.com are advised to carry out their own checks and searches, [...]
Columbia Helicopters awarded $97M for Afghanistan work
Source: US DoD, 05-Nov-12
Canadian Commercial Corp./Canadian Helicopters Ltd., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, $72,393,145 (HTC711-10-D-R025); AAR Airlift Group Inc., Palm Bay, Fla., $161,544,147; (HTC711-10-D-R026 TO 0001 and 0002); Vertical de Aviacion Ltd., Bogota, Columbia, $214,259,924 (HTC711-10-D-R027 TO 0001 and TO 0002); Evergreen Helicopters Inc., McMinnville, Ore., $24,628,600 (HTC711-10-D-R028); Columbia Helicopters Inc., Aurora, Ore., $97,795,019, (HTC711-11-D-R021 TO 0002 and 0003); and [...]
Columbia Helicopters to diverisfy into military engine maintenance
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 23-May-12
Seeing a growing business opportunity in military helicopter engine repair services, Columbia Helicopters has built upon its long-time relationship with engine manufacturer Honeywell International, and is in the process of opening a second test cell at its Aurora, Oregon, maintenance base. Under its new agreement with Honeywell, which was finalized in March, 2012, Columbia Helicopters is now [...]
Columbia Helicopters opens T55 engine testing facility
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 24-Jan-12
Columbia Helicopters is pleased to announce the official opening of their new turbine engine testing facility. The $4 million project will allow the company to work on a wider variety of turbine helicopter engines, and will result in the addition of several new customers. The new facility, commonly called an engine test cell, is specifically [...]
Columbia Helicopters identifies key to growth
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 30-Dec-11
“Our pursuit of commercial, and military helicopter maintenance and operational contracts in new areas has resulted in our ability to grow and hire more people,” said Michael Fahey, President of the Aurora, Oregon-based company. “At the same time, we are continually developing new contracts with our global petroleum and logging customers. Columbia Helicopters owns, operates, [...]
Columbia Helicopters awarded $54M more for Afghanistan work
Source: US DoD, 04-Nov-11
Columbia Helicopters, Inc., Portland, Ore., is being awarded a $54,670,930 option year modification for rotary wing aircraft, personnel, equipment, tools, material, maintenance, and supervision necessary to perform passenger and cargo air transportation services. Work will be performed in Afghanistan, and the option will start Nov. 1, 2011, to be completed by Oct. 31, 2012. This [...]
Ramco Systems signs Columbia Helicopters
Source: Ramco Systems, 20-Oct-11
Under the agreement, Ramco will deliver Series 5 M&E and MRO, Ramco’s Aviation Analytics®, ePublications®, Financials and eSignatures® as well as Ramco’s extensible tools known as EDK, ITK and PDK. CHI will utilize the Series 5 suite to manage all aspects of their operations including aircraft manufacturing, helicopter maintenance operations and MRO under their FAA Repair [...]
Columbia Helicopters promotes two in Maintenance Dept
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 14-Sep-11
Columbia Helicopters is pleased to announce the promotions of Kurt Koehnke to vice president of Maintenance and Roy Toavs to director of Maintenance. The Aurora, Oregon-based company owns, operates and maintains the world’s largest private fleet of heavy-lift helicopters. “As part of our continuing effort to support our business challenges and growth, we are promoting [...]
Columbia Helicopters awarded $17M for transportation services in Afghanistan
Source: US DoD, 25-Jul-11
Columbia Helicopters, Inc. ofAurora, Ore., is being awarded a $17,065,000.00 task order for rotary wing aircraft, personnel, equipment, tools, material, maintenance and supervision necessary to perform passenger and cargo air transportation services. Work will be performed in Afghanistan and will start July 1, 2011 to be completed by Oct. 31, 2011. This contract was a [...]
Columbia Helicopters starts construction on T55-714 engine test cell
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 08-Apr-11
Columbia Helicopters (CHI), a 26-year operator of the Model 234 aircraft (the civilian version of the CH47 Chinook), has broken ground for the expansion of its T55 engine maintenance capabilities to include a T55-714 engine test cell. The test cell is located at the company’s maintenance headquarters at Aurora, Oregon. This expansion will add T55-714 [...]
Columbia Helicopters receives CARB certification
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 28-Feb-11
Columbia Helicopters proudly announces that the Commercial Airlift Review Board (CARB) recently certified our Oregon-based company for Department of Defense (DOD) passenger and cargo operations. With this and prior certifications, Columbia Helicopters is now eligible to bid on a more comprehensive variety of contracts for heavy-lift helicopters for all U.S. government agencies. The CARB audit, [...]
Columbia Helicopters achieves EN/AS9110 quality standards
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 24-Jan-11
Columbia Helicopters is pleased to announce that the international risk management firm Det Norske Veritas recently registered the Oregon-based company to the aerospace quality standard of EN/AS9110. This certification establishes quality standards for work performed by aerospace Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) organizations within the United States. Columbia Helicopters’ certification also recognizes that the company [...]
Massive storm in Nebraska gave Columbia Helicopters extensive power line restoration work
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 02-Sep-10
Columbia Helicopters of Portland, Oregon, has successfully completed one of Nebraska’s most complex and extensive power line reconstruction missions in recent years. This followed a massive storm which raced across Buffalo and Dawson counties, Nebraska, with winds up to 100 miles per hour. The July 17 storm, which included two reported tornados, destroyed approximately 32 [...]
Columbia Helicopters deploys second BV107 to GOM oil spill
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 03-Jun-10
Columbia Helicopters is pleased to announce the deployment of a second heavy-lift helicopter to Louisiana to assist with efforts in preventing the further spread of the Gulf oil spill. The helicopters will also assist with clean-up operations already underway. Working currently under contract to British Petroleum (BP), the two Columbia 107-II helicopters will carry sandbags [...]
Columbia Helicopters to Deploy Two More Chinooks to Papua New Guinea
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 22-Apr-10
Columbia Helicopters is pleased to announce that it will soon deploy two additional Columbia Model 234 Chinook helicopters to the southern Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG). This will bring the total number of Columbia aircraft and crews in PNG to four. Each aircraft will work on petroleum exploration operations, flying entire petroleum [...]
Nancy Lematta Named Chairman of Columbia Helicopters
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 19-Feb-10
Columbia Helicopters is pleased to announce that the company’s Board of Directors has named Nancy Lematta as Chairman of the Board. She assumes the role held by her late husband, Wes Lematta, until his passing in December, 2009. Wes Lematta founded Columbia Helicopters in 1957, and served as president and Chairman of the Board until [...]
Columbia Helicopters To Clarify Unfounded Allegations Related to Fatal Carson S61 Crash
Source: Columbia Helicopters, 12-Feb-10
Columbia Helicopters will hold a press/industry briefing at 10:00 AM Monday, February 22, 2010, regarding certain unfounded allegations related to the crash of a Carson Helicopters’ S-61 in 2008. Members of the media and all interested industry personnel are invited to attend. Columbia Helicopters’ Vice President of Marketing, Todd Petersen, and General Legal Counsel, Tonya [...]
Obituary: Wes Lematta, Columbia Helicopters
31-Jan-10
“no ordinary guy, the second of four sons born to Ed and Hilda Lematta, offspring of Finnish immigrants who had fled North Dakota in 1934 for a fresh start in Brush Prairie”
HAI Announces Recipient of the 2010 Rolls-Royce Excellence in Helicopter Maintenance Award
Source: HAI, 11-Jan-10
HAI is pleased to announce the 2010 Rolls-Royce Excellence in Helicopter Maintenance Award recipient, Robert Peterson; Consultant, Columbia Helicopters, Inc., Aurora, Oregon. Over a span of 46 years, Robert Peterson has become a renowned authority on aircraft hydraulic systems. As such, he is routinely sought after as an instructor and speaker at conferences around the [...]
Obituary: Glenn Wesley “Wes” Lematta 1926-2009
Source: Rotornews, 29-Dec-09
HAI is deeply saddened at the passing of Columbia Helicopters’ Founder and Chairman of the Board, Glenn Wesley “Wes” Lematta. With over 50 years in the helicopter business, Lematta’s accomplishments and contributions to industry were nothing short of amazing.
Columbia Helicopters Receives FAA Production Certificate
Source: Vertical, 17-Sep-09
Columbia Helicopters, Inc. is pleased to announce that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has completed its evaluation process, and has awarded the company a Production Certificate for the Columbia Model 234 and Columbia 107-II helicopters.
Aurora State Airport to be renamed in honor of Columbia Helicopters founder Wes Lematta
Source: Vertical, 28-May-09
Columbia Helicopters Completes Work on Nevada Army National Guard Chinook Helicopters
Source: Vertical, 07-May-09
Columbia Helicopters Celebrates 40 Years of Tandem Rotors
Source: Rotorhub, 11-Apr-09
Columbia Helicopters, the world leader in heavy-lift helicopter operations, is pleased to announce its 40th Anniversary in the operation of tandem-rotor helicopters. The company acquired its first three Boeing Vertol 107-II helicopters from Pan Am Airlines on April 10, 1969, followed by the purchase of four more from New York Airways in 1972.
