aerospace founded 1957 portland or headquarters aurora oregon u.s. key people wes lematta founder stan wilson chairman of the board jim rankin president & ceo 1 products commercial helicopters subsidiaries helifor columbia helicopters new zealand ltd website colheli.com columbia helicopters inc boeing vertol 107 c fhfw and boeing 234 n245ch rest on the company pad in aurora oregon . columbia helicopters incorporated or chi is an aircraft manufacturing and operator company based in aurora oregon united states . they are known for operating tandem rotor helicopters ; in present times exclusively the boeing vertol 107 and boeing 234 . these helicopters are used in stream restoration and forestry including heli logging oil exploration fire suppression construction government support film production disaster response and many other activities . in addition the company operates a large faa repair station supporting customers around the world . contents 1 history 1.1 founding and early days 1.2 direct visual observational control 1.3 first in heli logging 1.4 type certificates 1.5 chi in the movies 2 fleet 3 wes lematta field at aurora state airport 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit founding and early days edit 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 . 2 3 direct visual observational control edit 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 . 2 3 first in heli logging edit 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 . 4 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 . 2 5 type certificates edit as of december 15 2006 columbia helicopters has purchased the type certificate of the model 107 6 and model 234 7 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 edit columbia helicopters kawasaki vertol kv 107 ii painted in a special grey paint scheme at fox field columbia helicopters aircraft have appeared in several motion pictures more american graffiti starman kv 107 n185ch can be seen in company colors hauling away actor jeff bridges space ship . king kong lives bv 107 n191ch a former us navy ch 46 carries away king kong in his cage . runaway train under siege kv 107 n192ch flies tommy lee jones band out to the battleship . demolition man bv 234 n241ch serves as a los angeles police department helicopter . the lost world jurassic park bv 234 n241ch flies in a large cage to capture dinosaurs . x2 x men united kv 107 n192ch performs various flight sequences and serves in the background of several scenes . straight up helicopters in action chi bv 234 n239ch demonstrates the lifting capability of the super grapple during heli logging operations fleet edit 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 . 8 for fleet support chi operates a beechcraft 200c super king air . 9 when the 234s operate internationally five containers are used for support tasks . 10 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 . 11 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 . 12 wes lematta field at aurora state airport edit 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 . 13 14 see also edit boeing vertol ch 46 sea knight boeing ch 47 chinook columbia helicopters heliport columbia aviation heliport references edit aviation industry exec to lead columbia helicopters . portland business journal . november 11 2014 . retrieved 15 november 2014 . a b c happy birthday to columbia helicopters oregon based company celebrates its 50th anniversary vertical magazine 18 april 2007 . retrieved 24 august 2012 . a b columbia helicopters celebrates its 50th anniversary . 2007 04 17 . archived from the original on october 8 2007 . retrieved 2007 08 23 . 1 the hover barge columbia helicopters . retrieved 24 august 2012 . type certificate data sheet no. 1h16 . pdf . federal aviation administration . 2007 01 17 . retrieved 2007 02 08 . type certificate data sheet no . h9ea . pdf . federal aviation administration . 2007 01 17 . retrieved 2007 02 08 . columbia helicopters acquires eight ch 113 labrador helicopters from canadian military . rotorhub . rotorhub.com . archived from the original on 22 december 2007 . retrieved 5 december 2010 . n111ns on airliners.net huber mark . erickson and columbia keeping the big blades flying ainonline 5 october 2014 . accessed 18 october 2014 . columbia helicopters website company history . retrieved on 2008 12 12 . columbia helicopters adding army surplus heavy lift helicopters aero news march 30 2014 . accessed april 18 2014 . oregon legislature renames aurora state airport in honor of wes lematta senate joint resolution 8 external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to columbia helicopters . official company website helifor canada corporation retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title columbia helicopters & oldid 740483600 categories helicopter operatorshelicopter airlinescompanies based in marion county oregonairlines established in 1957aurora oregonprivate military contractorsaerial firefightingloggingprivately held companies based in oregon1957 establishments in oregonmanufacturing companies established in 1957american companies established in 1957hidden categories commons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog 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