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Intercompany

News
Volume 26, No. 2 Autumn 2004

Chinooks Head
to South America
After a short absence from
South America, three of Columbia
Helicopters’ Chinook helicopters
are back at work in the Southern
Hemisphere.
One Chinook (N241CH) is in
Ecuador working for Agip in the
Villano field. A second Chinook
(N245CH), configured as a combi
for passenger as well as cargo
transport, began working for
Occidental Ecuador in late Novem-
ber. A third Chinook (N242CH)
began the summer working in Peru
for Occidental Peru, then moved
north to work for Oxy Ecuador until
their present aircraft, 245, was released from a fire contract in the US. 242 is now back in Peru getting ready
to make a second rig move for Occidental there. It has also acquired the contract to move a drilling rig for
Repsol after the Oxy move.
One new aspect of Columbia’s operations in South America is the establishment of our own company in
Peru. Previously, Columbia worked through Heliunion de Peru, an established subsidiary of the French heli-
copter company. General Manager Jose Miguel Raffo and Project Manager Reto Schwarz lead operations in
Continued on Page 4

Vertol and Chinook Crews Conduct Ski Lift Tower Projects


Ground crews — dressed in an mountain managers and their
From a distance, it looks like odd assortment of safety helmets, crews are still busy preparing their
a small dust storm has taken ski goggles and duct-taped clothing slopes for the coming season.
over the hillside. – work quickly to secure the im- This can be as simple as main-
High above the valley floor, a mense structure. taining existing runs and equip-
massive helicopter hovers over It’s summer on the slopes, and ment, or as extensive as installing
the ski run. Instead of ejecting a time when most people’s brand new lift equipment.
skiers in a mad frenzy to experi- thoughts are centered on warm- When it comes to installing
ence fresh powder, the aircraft weather recreational opportunities. new lift equipment, accessibility to
hovers patiently over one of the However, it’s also construction steep double black diamond
lift towers on the steep slope, time on the mountains. slopes becomes an interesting
spreading clouds of dust away During the summer, while issue that demands attention.
from the base of the tower. skiers are otherwise preoccupied, Continued on Page 6
Fires Leave Environmental Destruction and Rehabilitation Needs
For nearly two weeks in the summer of 2002, N6672D helped to fight the Malhuer Complex Fire in Eastern
Oregon. That complex, made up of a number of small, lightning-started fires, left behind thousands of acres of
burned forests and badly damaged watersheds. Also, it left behind a critical need for forest rehabilitation, the
first step of which is to remove dead and dying timber.
This summer, after two years of environmental haggling, two of Columbia’s Vertols were back in the same
area, working to recover as
much of the rapidly decay-
ing timber as possible.
There would have been
considerably more timber
available last summer, just
one year after the fire.
“We’d been con-
tracted to remove 15 million
board feet from each of the
two Monument Sales,” said
Columbia Forester Dave
Horrax. “However, we were
able to get only about 12.5
million feet from each one.”
“We also removed 5
million board feet from the
Flagtail Fire area, out of the
contracted 5.4 million board
feet,” Dave added.
Despite removing
what sounds like a rela-
tively large amount of
timber, Dave has deter-
N194CH hovers against a burned hillside within the area burned mined that the Forest
during the Monument Fire in 2002. The hillside in the background is Service was limited to
indicitive of how salvage logging takes place; only a portion of the timber selling timber on only 6-8
percent of the areas
is felled and removed, while the remaining trees remain to decompose
burned by fire. This figure
naturally. The remaining trees provide nutrients for new growth, as well
includes several small,
conventional logging sales
as well.
“The only timber we cut was what the Forest Service left unmarked,” said Dave. “Most of the “leave trees”
are in no-cut areas or riparian zones. In other areas, we were able to cut anything left that’s merchantable.”
Columbia had two crews working on the Monument I & II and Flagtail projects most of the summer.
N194CH had spent most of its time on Monument I, while N191CH had worked on primarily on Flagtail and
Monument II. Due to operational requirements, crews on both aircraft changed on and off throughout the
summer. Our apologies to those employees whose names are not included in the list below.
N191CH: Project Manager: John Stafford. Loggers: Gabriel Alvarado, Ramiro Ambrocio, Guadalupe
Briceno, Bertin Flores De Jesus, Denton Dewberry, Jaime Alberto Garcia, Darrell Green, Glen Gussman,
Gilberto Hernandez, Moises Lorenzo, Antonio Mendoza, Orlando Mendoza, Raul Rangel, Jose Rodriquez,
Steve Speer, Jason Stewart and Rolando Valtierra. Ticket Taker: Charlene Powell. Field GSA: James and Joan
Worth. Pilots: Dwight McCoy, Frank Nigro, Steve Bandy, Pete Bradley, Mark Ehle, Stuart Feaver, Colin Franklin
and Scott Janetsky. Copilots: Joe Macci and Cody Barton. Crew Chiefs: Ian Hansen and Elias Breen. Assis-
tant Crew Chiefs: John Decker, Travis Gross and Chad Greening. Mechanic: Nathan Fries.
Continued on Page 3
2
Logging Middle Earth
CHI Sets Up Operations In New Zealand
If you saw any or all of the Lord of the Ring film
trilogy, chances are you’ll recall the stunning New
Zealand scenery that Hollywood magic transformed
to the J.R.R. Tolkien setting of Middle Earth.
Columbia Helicopters sent a Vertol and crew to
New Zealand’s North Island in March of this year,
where the aircraft joined that country’s heli-logging
industry. After a slow start, the helicopter and crew have spent a busy spring and summer (the U.S. autumn
and winter) conducting logging projects in a number of locations.
While in New Zealand, the company also plans to pursue other lift work in addition to logging operations.
To get the helicopter to New Zealand, crews in Aurora disassembled N6675D and put the majority of the
aircraft in a 40-foot Conex shipping container and the tail section on a flat rack. The shipping container was
then trucked to Oakland, where it was loaded aboard a ship for the roughly three-week trip to New Zealand.
The shipping container arrived in New Zealand about March 10th, and it took the maintenance crew seven
9-hour days to reassemble the helicopter.
New Zealand Manager John Carroll and Project Manager Erik Stamatz were joined by two pilots who are
native Kiwis, Project Pilot Brian Pilmer and Flight Operations Manager Craig Keighley. As Flight Operations
Manager, Craig has the responsibility of serving as a liaison with the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority
(CAA) on all flight issues. Craig was also responsible for coordinating the CAA’s inspection and certification
of the helicopter after it was assembled. Erik Stamatz has now left the project after helping get it started,
leaving John Carroll and Craig to carry it forward.
In addition to logging operations, the crew on’75 has also started fighting forest fires. The crew spent
three days fighting fire near Nelson, New Zealand in December.
The crew is currently engaged in salvage logging wind-thrown Radiata Pine for the Weyerhaeuser Com-
pany, as well as a variety of jobs for customers selectively harvesting some Rimu out of the native forests.
Rounding out the Columbia team is Crew Chief Mike Jones, Assistant Crew Chief Chad Greening and
Mechanic Mike Maruszcak.

Salvage Logging Creates a Balance


Continued from Page 2

N194CH: Project Manager: Scott Taylor. Loggers: Elias


Alverez, Pedro Alverez, Charles Busig, Michael Busig, Thomas
Gemaehlich, Ronald Hazelton, Walter Johnson, Anthony Marinello, Paul
Myers, Robert Pendarvis, Henry Schurman and Johnny Stewart.
Ticket Takers: Nela Bennett and Sabra Johnson. Field GSA: Carole
and Talmadge Lester. Pilots: Andre Hutchings, Dann Immel, Mark
Ehle, Glen Beavers, Mark Poole and Rick Puckett. Copilots: Mike
Jones, Raf Miloszewski and Juerg Abplanalp. Crew Chief: Abe Abel.
Assistant Crew Chiefs: Chris Callahan, Mark Abraham and Aaron
Rawley. Mechanic: Jo Evans.

Right: N191CH lifts a turn of salvaged logs from the Flagtail


Fire near John Day, Oregon. As a result of two years of environ-
mental haggling, decay had set into the timber, making multiple log
turns very common.
3
Chinooks Operate
in Peru, Ecuador
Continued from Page 1

Peru, working from the company’s office in


Lima. They are assisted in the office by
Carlos Cuba Zevallos, Operations Manager;
Valerie Boutteville, Finance and Administra-
tion Manager; Jorge Pinto, Maintenance
Manager; Karina Iraheta, Secretary; and
Florentino Ramillán, Assistant.
Two of the men in the Lima office also
work in the field. Carlos flies as a Copilot
and Jorge Pinto performs maintenance on
the Chinook. Columbia’s office staff in Peru includes (from left) Karina
The aircraft working in Ecuador will Iaheta, Valeria Boutteville, Reto Schwarz and Florentino
continue to work through our partner there, Ramillán. Not shown are Jose Miguel Raffo and Carlos Cuba
Icaro, under the direction of Captain Guido Zevallos.
Saltos and Project Manager Wayne Nix, who
are based in the capital city of Quito. Wayne is assisted by Office Administrator Gabriella Rojas.
N242CH’s first project in Peru involved moving a Petrex oil rig for Occidental in northern Block 64. Barges
delivered the oil rig and support equipment to a river
port at Sargente Puno, where the Chinook then
transported the loads over 31.5 KMs to the Situche 1
rig site. Including the rig and support loads, N242CH
carried 265 loads totaling nearly 5.75 million pounds
in just over 121 flight hours. The Load Coordinators
and aircraft averaged a hefty 21,655-pounds per load
over the course of the rig move.
These Chinooks join a fourth Chinook, currently
in Papua New Guinea working for Oil Search Ltd, in
assisting oil companies in exploration efforts around
the world. The Chinook has become popular with
the oil companies because of its massive 26,000
lifting capacity. With the greater lifting capacity, the
Chinook is able to move oil rigs faster because the
rigs require less disassembly and re-assembly.
Columbia’s crew on N241CH includes Pilots:
Mike Danforth, Remigio Davalos, and Mike Mead-
ows. Copilots: Abbas Gholhaki and Jorge Montalvo.
Crew Chiefs: Roy Toavs and Dan Thompson.
Assistant Crew Chiefs: Jim Luscomb and Scott
Parcell. Mechanics: Derek Falk, Josh Luker, Fran-
cisco Castillo, Pat McCue, Felix Montero, Luis
Chiluisa, Ian McGillvary and Mike Krueger. Load
Coordinators: Bill Bletcher, Eric Hansen, Pete
The crew on N242CH’s Peru rig move included (top Molnar and Tim Fitzpatrick.
of helicopter, from left): Jorge Pinto, Tim Schamm and
Columbia’s crew on N242CH includes Pilots:
Paul Jones. (Mid-aircraft): Kevin Graham. (Bottom
Dwight McCoy and Art Gillidette. Copilots: Hernan
Row, from left): Darrell Birkes, Kim Blitchfeldt, Dwight
Cornejo and Carlos Cuba Zevallos. Crew Chiefs:
McCoy, Roberto Saenz, David Sodicio , Art Gillidette
and Hernan Cornejo.
Blaine Erlenbush, Paul Jones and Gene Hunt.
Continued on Page 5
4
South American Chinooks
Continued from Page 4

Assistant Crew Chiefs: Dave Edwards and


Kim Blichfeldt. Mechanics: Mike Ohman, Tim
Schamm, Doug Soulek, Delton Dietz and
Kevin Graham. Load Coordinators: Darrell
Birkes, David Sodicio and Roberto Saenz.
The company’s crew on N245CH includes
Pilots: Steve Bandy, John Harris, Remigio
Davalos and Jorge Montalvo. Crew Chiefs:
Mike Anzaldua and Gene Hunt. Assistant Crew
Chief: Daryl Larkin and Jon Guyer; Mechan-
ics: Chuck Bolger, Jessy Gulledge, Jesse
Shepard, Aaron Tabacczynski, John Webb and
Dion Greenwalt; and Load Coordinators:
Darrell Birkes, Bill Bletcher, Lee Bradford and
Eric Hansen.

Upper right: N241CH sits on the ramp in the fog in


Ecuador. Above, Top: Some of the crew on N245CH in-
cludes (left to right): Jon Guyer, Pat McCue, Julio Salazar,
Felix Montero, Gene Hunt, Jorge Montalvo, Remy Davalos,
John Harris, Dion Greenwalt, Arron Tabaczynski and Abbas
Gholhaki. Above, Lower: N245CH prepares to lift off from
a ramp in Ecuador. Right: N242CH conducted the majority
of work for the Occidental rig move from a barge along a
nearby river.
5
Helicopters Install Towers at Two Resorts
Continued From Page 1
Additionally, the U.S. Forest Service has identified slopes in some ski areas as being environmentally sensitive.
These sensitive slopes, which are generally protected by snow during the winter, cannot sustain the weight of
heavy construction equipment when bare of snow in the summer. As a result of these obstacles and con-
cerns, Columbia Helicopters, Inc., has become one of the industry leaders in assisting with ski lift tower instal-
lation.
Working high above the ground, the highly skilled pilots wait as ground crews hook the tower to the helicop-
ter using steel cables. In most cases, the seasonally-empty parking lots serve as staging areas for all of the
equipment that needs to be flown to the slopes. After lifting and carrying the tower to its reinforced concrete
foundation, the pilot leans out a large bubble
window on the side of the aircraft, keeping a
practiced eye on the load below him. Crews on
the ground are in radio contact with the pilot,
telling him which way the tower needs to go in
order to slip onto the foundation. Once the tower
is settled onto pre-set bolts, the ground crews
quickly secure it using massive wrenches. The
crews then head off to the next foundation,
because the helicopter is already on the way
with the next tower.
The helicopter isn’t cheap, so the work is
fast. In most cases, two ground crews leapfrog
one another to keep up with the speed of the
aircraft. Their only rest comes when the aircraft
makes brief landings to refuel.
Depending on aircraft availability and factors
such as altitude and air temperature, the towers
may be flown by the Vertol 107 in sections, with
the base and cross-arms placed separately. If
the Chinook isn’t busy fighting summer forest
fires, it is capable of flying a complete tower,
greatly speeding the installation process.
Two Columbia crews recently worked on a
couple of ski lift tower projects in the hot, dry
weather of the Sierra Nevada Mountains near
Reno and Lake Tahoe.
The first project, located at Mount Rose Ski-
Tahoe using N184CH (Left), took place on July
25 and involved the installation of towers on two
ski lift lines. The first line, replacing the Zephyr
on the mountain’s East Bowl, involved the
installation of 15 complete towers, including the cross arms and travelers. Since the first few loads went to the
highest part of the mountain (9,700 feet) the project began just after sunrise in order to take advantage of the
coolest part of the day. The Vertol crew completed the 47 lifts for the project in 3.6 flight hours.
Once completed, the new Zephyr line will carry up to 3,600 people per hour on six-passenger, detachable
chairs, giving them access to the East Bowl’s 550 acres of blue and black runs. It also features chairs weigh-
ing approximately 1,000-pounds each, which is heavy enough to operate in high winds during Lake Tahoe’s
stormy periods.
The second project of the day involved the installation of the towers on the “Chuter” chair lift. This project
involved lifting and placing 12 complete towers, encompassing a total of 25 lifts. The helicopter crew com-
pleted this project in 2.3 hours.
Continued On Page 7
6
Ski Lift Work
Continued From Page 6

The Chuter chair provides an exit chair for


skiers enjoying “The Chutes” – roughly 200 acres
of black diamond and double black diamond runs
in a north-facing bowl. The Chuter lift returns
skiers to the East Bowl, where they can catch the
Zephyr back to the top of the mountain.
Both ski lifts at Mount Rose Ski-Tahoe were
designed and constructed by Doppelmayr CTEC,
Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Just across the mountain from Mount Rose
is Lake Tahoe, and Heavenly Lake Tahoe ski area.
Here, the second project took place in two phases
split between July and September. On July 26 &
27, a Vertol crew began the first phase of replacing
two older lifts with new high-speed chair lifts. The
Vertol crew first removed 10 of the old towers that
are being replaced along the old Powderbowl lift,
as well as flying in the steel foundations. While
this phase of the project didn’t involve installing any
towers, it did “pave” the way for them by placing
the foundations and 135 loads of concrete– totaling
over 100 cubic yards.
To build the foundations, the Vertol crew first
placed the steel foundations into pre-dug holes.
After ground crews leveled the frames the Vertol
began flying buckets of concrete which ground crews emptied into the foundation using a hopper on the bottom
of the bucket. Each foundation required an average of 15 loads of concrete.
The second phase of the project, conducted on September 13, involved using one of Columbia’s big
Chinook helicopters, N239CH (Above). This stage began with the Chinook installing nine of the 11 new towers
that will make up the high-speed, six-passenger Powderbowl Express line. Working from the staging area at
Heavenly’s California Lodge parking lot, the Chinook carried each fully assembled tower up to the line. To
place the tower, the Chinook pilot held it directly over the foundation... Holes in the bottom of the steel founda-
tion were lined up with massive bolts – covered with protective sleeves – and the tower was lowered onto the
base. Once the tower was in place, the ground crews quickly tightened large nuts onto the bolts.
After the new Powderbowl Express towers were in place, it was time to remove the 13 remaining towers
on the Waterfall line. Workers had used cutting torches to cut away most of the tower, leaving only three small
tabs of steel to hold the tower in place. Ground crews first hooked the tower to the Chinook, which then pulled
the line tight. At a signal from the Project Manager, one or two of the three tabs were cut and crews moved out
of the way. When the crews were safely away, the Chinook pilot leaned the tower to one side and broke off the
remaining tab, and then flew the tower to the staging area. Some parts of the old lines will be used on other
equipment, and the remaining material will be recycled.
The new Powderbowl Express will take the place of both the Waterfall and Powderbowl lift lines. It was
also built by Doppelmayr CTEC, Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Columbia’s Project Manager on both ski lift projects was Jerry Martin. The crew on N184CH included
Pilots Dave Stroup and Peter Schneider, Crew Chief Matt Nash, Assistant Crew Chiefs Joe LaRue and
Ryan Baker, Driver Luis Sanchez, and Load Coordinator Bill “Windsock” Bletcher.
The crew on N239CH included Pilots Dave Stroup and Andre Hutchings, Crew Chief Casey Jones, Assis-
tant Crew Chief Tracy Hebrock, Mechanics Jeremiah Knutson and Rodney Rice, and Rigger Jim Crider.
7
Moving The Mustang Ranch
Before we begin, too many jokes come to mind to make this an
easy story to write. There are too many words with double meanings,
too many chances to offend readers by writing about a lift job that
was unusual even without its even more unusual location.
The project was simply to move a building from its existing loca-
tion, to a point approximately five miles away. Since most buildings
are not designed to undergo the strain of flight, this in itself was
unusual.
Considering that the building belonged to Nevada’s Mustang
Ranch – yes, THAT Mustang Ranch – and that it was being moved to
a newer brothel just a few miles up the road, that’s when the story got
really interesting.
The new owner of the Mustang Ranch, Lance Gilman, contacted
Columbia Helicopters earlier this year about the project. The build-
ing, which was the central parlor at the ranch, was too tall to fit under
a nearby train trestle. Gilman also hoped to avoid lengthy disman-
tling procedures, so he opted to fly the massive, steel-framed struc-
ture instead. In addition to the steel frame, extra supports stretching
from the roof to the wall beams were added for additional stability in
flight.
N239CH arrived at the site early on a Sunday morning, and began the lifting procedure. The only
problem was that the building was too heavy to set precisely among other buildings. So the building was
set down, and crews went to work reducing the weight of the building and the aircraft. N239CH’s mainte-
nance crew pulled doors, floor panels and extra baggage, while construction crews removed the wooden
beams from the ceiling of the building.
The next attempt to lift the building proved successful (Above), and the Mustang Ranch was success-
fully relocated to its new location at the Wild Horse Ranch (Below).
Project Manager on the crew was Jerry Martin. Other Intercompany News is published by Columbia
Helicopters, Inc. It is written for employees of the
crewmembers included Pilots: Dave Stroup and Andre Hutchings; company and serves as a direct line of communi-
Crew Chief: Casey Jones; Assistant Crew Chief: Tracy Hebrock; cation among all headquarters and field person-
nel. Articles and article ideas are invited. The
Mechanics: Jeremiah Knutson and Delton Dietz; and Rigger: Jim company grants permission to any other publica-
Crider. tion to reprint articles provided credit is given to
Columbia Helicopters. The company reserves the
Editor’s Note: There is no truth to the rumor that crewmembers right to publish any material received unless
volunteered to work on this project for free. marked not for publication. Send correspondence
to Intercompany News, Columbia Helicopters,
Inc., P.O. Box 3500, Portland, OR 97208.

Jon Lazzaretti Vice President, Marketing


Dan Sweet Editor, Media Services Manager
Marci Abel Editorial Assistant
Yvonne Myrand Editorial Assistant

Aurora Airport, Aurora, Oregon


Tel: (503) 678-1222
Fax: (503) 678-5841
E-mail: info@colheli.com
Internet: www.colheli.com
P.O. Box 3500, Portland, OR 97208
An Equal Opportunity Employer

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