Columbia Helicopters

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, by 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]

After purchasing the more powerful Hiller 12E, Lematta began to operate more lift jobs. One of these large jobs was working on the John Day Dam on his company's namesake, the Columbia River. Here Lematta began performing precision lift jobs by using a longer-than-average cable. The concept was that the pilot could lean out the side of the aircraft and see directly where the load would be placed rather than relying on visual instructions from the ground crew or a mirror. A few years later, Wes' brother, Jim, was flying a Sikorsky S-61 in the Colorado Rockies. He was so cold that he was forced to land. Columbia developed the first pilot bubble window to fill the need for an enclosed cockpit.[2][3]

Jack Erickson, of Erickson Air-Crane fame, and Lematta were able to demonstrate the first financially successful run of helicopter logging, or "heli-logging", in 1971. This was done with Lematta's 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 Lematta's helicopter and Erickson had purchased the timber, both Columbia Helicopters and Erikson's Air-Crane claim to be the first successful "heli-loggers". Another unusual feat was pulling a hoverbarge on snow, ice, and water in 1982.[2][5]

As of December 15, 2006 Columbia Helicopters had 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.

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:

• Coogan's Bluff
• Demolition Man - BV-234 N241CH serves as a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter.
• King Kong Lives - BV-107 N191CH, a former US Navy CH-46, carries away King Kong in his cage.
• The Lost World: Jurassic Park - BV-234 N241CH flies in a large cage to capture dinosaurs.
• More American Graffiti
• Runaway Train
• Starman - KV-107 N185CH can be seen in company colors hauling away actor Jeff Bridges' spaceship.
• Straight Up: Helicopters in Action[8] - CHI BV-234 N239CH demonstrates the lifting capability of the Super Grapple during heli-logging operations.
• Under Siege - KV-107 N192CH flies Tommy Lee Jones' band out to the battleship.
• X2: X-Men United - KV-107 N192CH performs various flight sequences and serves in the background of several scenes.