Maintenance and Modifications
Erickson and Columbia: Keeping The Big Blades Flying
Long-range planning and a well trained crew are key.
Erickson’s big S-64 Air Crane doesn’t travel alone. A crew of eight and $1 million worth of parts accompany the aircraft on its various missions around the globe.
Erickson’s big S-64 Air Crane doesn’t travel alone. A crew of eight and $1 million worth of parts accompany the aircraft on its various missions around the globe.

The maintenance and logistics behind keeping big helicopters such as the tandem-rotor Columbia Helicopters 234 and the Erickson Aviation S-64 Air Crane flying can seem downright daunting.

For starters, there is the entourage of personnel, containers, equipment and vehicles that must accompany each aircraft. Columbia operates a mixed fleet of six 234s and eleven 107 Vertol IIs. And it just acquired a half dozen U.S. Army surplus Boeing CH-47D Chinooks it hopes to start operating under the restricted category (no passengers) next year. All but one of the 234s is deployed internationally. Rotating maintenance crews of 10, five on and five off, are assigned to each 234 and a crew of five, half on and half off, go with a 107. And then there is all the stuff that comes along.