Columbia Helicopters

Founding and early days

Columbia Helicopters was founded on April 24, 1957 by Wes Lematta with a single Hiller 12B helicopter. With help from his brothers, he supported his young company with many odd jobs ranging from carrying Santa Claus to trapeze acts. He performed most of his flying on the weekends while still working as a truck driver during the week. Lematta gained great notoriety on September 15, 1957 rescuing 15 sailors from a sinking dredge near Coos Bay, Oregon. For his heroic actions the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded him the Army Air Medal.

Direct Visual Observational Control

After purchasing the more powerful Hiller 12E, Wes began to operate more lift jobs. One of these large jobs was working on the John Day Dam on his company's name sake Columbia River. Here Wes began performing precision lift jobs by using a longer than average cable. The concept was the pilot could lean out the side of the aircraft and see directly where they are placing the load. A few years later Wes' brother Jim was flying a Sikorsky S-61 in the Colorado Rockies. Jim was so cold he was forced to land. In need of an enclosed cockpit Columbia went on to develop the first pilot bubble window.

"First in Heli-Logging"

Jack Erickson, of Erickson Air-Crane fame, and Wes Lematta were able to demonstrate the first financially successful run of helicopter logging, or "Heli-Logging" in 1971. This was done with Wes' Sikorsky S-61, registration number N318Y, on a U.S. Forest Service log sale near Taylorsville, California in the Plumas National Forest. The following year the 107s were used. Since the project used Wes' helicopter and Jack had purchased the timber, both Columbia Helicopters and Erikson Air-Crane claim to be the first successful "Heli-Loggers". Another unusual feat was to pull a hoverbarge on snow, ice and water in 1982.

Type Certificates

As of December 15, 2006 Columbia Helicopters has purchased the Type certificate of the Model 107 and Model 234 from Boeing. Currently the company is seeking FAA issuance of a Production Certificate (PC) to produce parts, with eventual issuance of a PC to produce both aircraft.

CHI in the Movies

Columbia Helicopters aircraft have appeared in several motion pictures:

Fleet

Columbia currently operates 8 Boeing-Vertol Model 234s and 14 Boeing-Vertol 107-IIs tandem rotor helicopters. Many of the latter were obtained from New York Airways. In addition to the flying fleet CHI in 2005 purchased 8 surplus Canadian Forces CH-113 Labrador helicopters for fleet expansion. For fleet support CHI operates a Beechcraft 200C Super King Air. When the 234s operate internationally, five containers are used for support tasks.

Columbia's past fleet includes the Hiller 12B, Bell 47-G2, Hiller 12E, MD 500, Sikorsky S-58, Sikorsky S-61 and Sikorsky CH-54.

In October 1991 Columbia Helicopters bought four Boeing Vertol 107II-14 from the Swedish Government, all formerly operated by the Swedish Air Force as the HKP 4A.

In December 2012 Columbia bought four Boeing Vertol 107II-14s (originally Swedish Air Force HKP 4As, modified from 1988 to 1991 to Swedish Navy standards as HKP 4Ds), two Boeing Vertol 107II-15s (HKP 4Bs) and four Kawasaki KV-107IIA-16s (HKP 4Cs) from the Swedish Government, all ten formerly operated by the Swedish Navy.

In 2014, Columbia bought five US Army Chinooks for utility service, as they are not allowed to carry passengers.

Wes Lematta Field at Aurora State Airport

On May 26, 2009, the Oregon State Legislature passed a resolution identifying Columbia's home airport as Wes Lematta Field at Aurora State Airport. Wes Lematta is the founder of Columbia Helicopters located on the northeastern corner of the field.