Vance Roberts incorporates Vance Airways at Seattle, Washington, on March 29, 1949. Douglas DC-3 contract services are inaugurated shortly thereafter and are maintained on a charter basis until December 19, 1962, when the company is given an exemption by the CAB to operate as a scheduled air taxi.
As a result of CAB investigations into the role of supplemental carriers, Vance is one of 10 carriers to receive permanent certification in April 1966. It is awarded traffic rights to Canada and Mexico on December 15.
Revenues for the year total $203,264. Expenses, however, are $252,275, leaving a loss of $54,006.
Revenues total $455,731 in 1967 and additional losses are taken: $$24,920 (operating) and $25,231 (net).
The fleet is now increased by the addition of 1 each Curtiss C-46 Commando and DC-7.
Two DC-4s are acquired and inclusive-tour charters begun. These are traded in 1968-1969 for three Lockheed L-188A Electras, but losses continue to decline. Revenues in the former year reach $410,191. Losses, however, are $70,465 (operating) and $71,779 (net).
Roberts sells his carrier to McCulloch of Long Beach in 1971 and it is renamed McCulloch International Airlines.
VANCOUVER ISLAND HELICOPTERS, LTD.: 1-9600 Canora Road, Sidney, British Columbia, V8L 5V5, Canada; Phone (604) 656-3987; Fax (604) 655-1180; Http://www. vih. com; Year Founded 1955. Theodore “Ted” Henson establishes Vancouver Island Helicopters, Ltd. (VIH) at Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1955 to support mining and construction work in the north woods. Financial assistance is provided by Bill Boeing Jr., son of the founder of Boeing Aircraft, and revenue charters commence from Victoria Airport, near Sidney, with a single Bell 47G-2.
Following a successful first two years, Henson disappears without a trace in 1957 while flying for the BC Power Commission near Tatlayoko Lake. Henson’s widow Lynn marries Alfred Stringer, a cofounder of Okanagan Helicopters, Ltd., in 1959 and he departs his post as operations manager at the pioneer concern and moves to VIH to become president. General charter, sight-seeing, mineral support, agricultural services, heli-logging, ferrying of ship’s pilots to vessels in the ports of Prince Rupert, Sand Spit, Port Hardy, Gold River, and Victoria, as well as other activities, are continued for the next quarter century.
In 1985, Frank Norie, who becomes the company’s principal shareholder, buys out both Boeing and Stringer. His son Ken and General Manager Barry Hewko also acquire smaller stakes. In 1986-1991, the company, in addition to its earlier activities, also provides Bell 205s for fire-fighting activities under contract to the BC Fire Service. The subsidiary VIH Helilogging, Ltd. is established under Vice President Ken Norie in March of 1991 to concentrate on timber harvesting. Initial operations are undertaken with a Sikorsky S-61N leased from CHC (Canadian Helicopters Corporation, Ltd.); however, the American-made machine is replaced six months later by the first Soviet helicopter to operate commercially in North America, a Kamov Ka-32.
Meanwhile, Robinson R22s provide helicopter flight training while Bell 206L LongRangers are employed to install and maintain moun-taintop repeater stations for BC Telephone Company. Sight-seeing and maintenance operations conclude the company’s portfolio of aerial services.
In July 1992, VIH becomes the first helicopter operator in British Colombia to provide a dedicated aeromedical service. Under a five-year contract from BC Ambulance, part of the province’s Ministry of Health, the company provides three Bell 222UTs for Airevac flights from Vancouver International Airport, Victoria Airport, and Prince Rupert Airport.
During the year, VIH and the Pacific Pilotage Authority conduct trials with a Bell 222UT fitted with a Lucas winch that may replace a Bell 206B JetRanger employed to ferry pilots to ships offshore. The Ka-32, under lease from Kamov Helicopter Scientific and Technology Company, completes 1,200 hours of heli-logging during the year and becomes the centerpiece of the company’s timber harvesting operation.
Operations continue apace in 1993-1994. General Manager Hewko oversees a fleet that includes 3 Bell 205As, 22 Bell 206L LongRangers, 4 MD-500Ds, 3 Robinson R-22Bs, and the leased Kamov.
In addition to the helilogging operation, the company continues to provide passenger flights from and between Victoria Airport, Prince Rupert Seaplane Base, Bob Quinn Lake, Sandspit Airport, Stewart Airport, Gold River, Campbell River, Port Hardy, and Bella Coola.
The fleet is increased in 1995 by the addition of four LongRangers and an MD-500D. Operations continue in 1996-1996.
During the summer of 1997, the company introduces or enhances sight-seeing tours, customer charters, golf packages, and its Heli-Picnic and Fly/Dine/Drive products.
Charter and general service is maintained in 1998 and during the year the company’s latest base is opened at Port McNeill.
Heli-logging continues to be the company’s major concern in 1999, but it also continues to serve mining, geology, forestry, silviculture, and fishing interests, while also providing environmental control, ship/pilot transfer, and air ambulance flights.
In July, logging magnate Frank Norie, himself a Bell 47 pilot, becomes board chairman and his son, Kenneth, also a helicopter pilot and manager of the Prince Rupert base, is named president. As 2000 begins, VIH is Canada’s oldest name in helicopter transportation—and still operates from the same principal location at which it was founded 45 years earlier.
World History
