Summit Helicopters
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| Founded | 2013 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hubs | Yellowknife Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 30[1] | ||||||
| Parent company | Ledcor Group of Companies | ||||||
| Headquarters | Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada | ||||||
| Website |
summithelicopters | ||||||
Summit Helicopters is a Canadian aviation company that provides charter services throughout remote areas of western and northern Canada as well as the United Kingdom and Indonesia.[2] Summit Helicopters is a member of the Ledcor Group of Companies and is a sister company to Summit Air.[3]
Summit Helicopters operates 6 different types of helicopters and they are all equipped with "onboard satellite phone, portable phone, next generation satellite tracking, and Transport Canada approved medevac kit."[4] Depending on the service required optional equipment includes "wildlife antennae, camera mounts, utility baskets, and emergency and fixed floats".[4]
History
The Det'on Cho Corporation and three Yellowknife residents, Rob Carroll, Kevin Lang and Geoff Furniss, founded Trinity Helicopters in 2009.[5] They quickly grew to a fleet of 17 helicopters operating in all three northern Canadian territories.
In January 2013, Ledcor Air Limited, a member of the Ledcor Group of Companies, purchased Trinity Helicopters and subsequently renamed the company Summit Helicopters.[6]
Later that year, Ledcor Group announced that it would be merging Summit Helicopters with Wood Buffalo Helicopters (the operating name of Aurora Helicopters), based in Fort McMurray, Alberta.[7] The new entity would carry the Summit Helicopters name, and operate from Summit’s existing bases of Yellowknife Airport and Northwest Regional Airport in Terrace, British Columbia, as well as Wood Buffalo Helicopter's base at Fort McMurray International Airport.
Summit acquired CC Helicopters of Kamloops in 2014. CC Helicopters had over 30 years of experience in the British Columbia Interior and operated a fleet of light, intermediate, and medium helicopters with instrument flight rules (IFR) and visual flight rules (VFR) crews based at Kamloops Airport and Lillooet Airport. CC Helicopters also specialized in BC Air Ambulance medevac, oil and gas exploration and support, forestry survey and protection, environmental and wildlife survey, and power line support.
In addition to its headquarters in Yellowknife, Summit Helicopters now operates out of five bases: Kamloops, Terrace, Fort McMurray, Lillooet, and Norman Wells (Norman Wells Airport).
Fleet
As of March 2016, Summit and Aurora Helicopters has the following aircraft registered with Transport Canada (TC).[1]
| Aircraft | No. of Aircraft | Variants | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus Astar 350 | 8 | AS350 B2, AS350 B3-DH | Listed at TC as Aérospatiale or Eurocopter. All registered to Aurora Helicopters. Seats 5 plus pilot, has a cruise speed of 130 mph (210 km/h; 110 kn) and can carry 1,700 lb (770 kg) internally and 2,750 lb (1,250 kg) externally.[8] |
| Airbus 355 | 1 | AS355 N | Listed at TC as Aérospatiale and registered to Summit Helicopters. Seats 5 plus pilot, has a cruise speed of 150 mph (240 km/h; 130 kn) and can carry 1,700 lb (770 kg) internally and 1,800 lb (820 kg) externally.[9] |
| Eurocopter EC120 Colibri | 2 | EC120 B | Not listed at Summit Helicopters site. Registered to Aurora Helicopters. Seats 4 plus pilot, has a cruise speed of 223 km/h (139 mph; 120 kn) |
| Bell 206 | 4 | 206B, 206LR, Bell 206L-4 | Of the 4 206B, 3 are registered to Aurora and all the other 206s to Summit. The 206B seats 4 plus pilot, has a cruise speed of 110 mph (180 km/h; 96 kn) and can carry 990 lb (450 kg) internally and 1,000 lb (450 kg) externally. Both types of LongRangers can seat 6 plus pilot, have a cruise speed of 125 mph (201 km/h; 109 kn). The 206LR can carry 1,300 lb (590 kg) internally and 1,200 lb (540 kg) externally while the 206L-4 can carry 15,500 lb (7,000 kg) internally and 1,525 lb (692 kg) externally.[10][11][12] |
| Bell 407 | 4 | All registered to Summit Helicopters. Seats 6 plus pilot, has a cruise speed of 150 mph (240 km/h; 130 kn) and can carry 1,900 lb (860 kg) internally and 2,550 lb (1,160 kg) externally.[13] | |
| Bell 412 | 4 | Bell 412SP | Two are registered to Summit and two to Aurora. Seats 14 plus pilot, has a cruise speed of 150 mph (240 km/h; 130 kn) and can carry 4,200 lb (1,900 kg) internally and 3,000 lb (1,400 kg) externally.[14] |
| Sikorsky S-76 | 4 | S-76A++ | Listed by TC as 76A. All registered to Summit. Seats 13 plus pilot, has a cruise speed of 178 mph (286 km/h; 155 kn) and can carry 3,900 lb (1,800 kg) internally and 10,800 lb (4,900 kg) externally.[15] |
References
- 1 2 "Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Quick Search Result for Summit Heliopters". Transport Canada. Retrieved 2016-03-28. and "Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Quick Search Result for Aurora Heliopters". Transport Canada. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
- ↑ Summit - About
- ↑ "Transportation Infrastructure Construction | Ledcor Group". www.ledcor.com. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
- 1 2 Fleet
- ↑ Administrator. "Det'on Cho Corporation Announces Sale of Trinity Helicopters". www.detoncho.com. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
- ↑ "Ledcor acquires business and assets of B.C. based Trinity Helicopters". journalofcommerce.com. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
- ↑ "Major moves in Canadian West| Vertical Magazine - The Pulse of the Helicopter Industry". www.verticalmag.com. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
- ↑ Airbus Astar 350
- ↑ Airbus 355
- ↑ Bell 206B
- ↑ Bell 206LR
- ↑ Bell 206L-4
- ↑ Bell 407
- ↑ Bell 412
- ↑ Sikorsky S-76