Paul Spring, president and owner of Phoenix Heli-Flight, was one of the many visitors today at Eurocopter’s Heli-Expo booth.
His company started operations out of Fort Mc Murray, Alberta, nearly twenty years ago with just one Eurocopter machine. Today, Phoenix Heli-Flight has an all-Eurocopter fleet consisting of 2 EC120s, 1 EC130 B4, 1 AS350 B2, 1 AS350 B3, 1 AS355 N and 1 AS355 NP.
When asked why he has consistently chosen Eurocopter products, Spring cited an array of competitive advantages: “There are obvious reasons for choosing the same manufacturer: pilot familiarity, pilot and maintenance training, common parts. And then there are the machines themselves. I am a big fan of the open cabin concept: the visibility on the EC120 and EC130 is fantastic! We perform a large array of missions such as for oil and gas and animal and environment surveys which require optimum visibility. Eurocopter helicopters are fast and comfortable, and we love the Fenestron which allows our pilots to land in unprepared, confined areas—quite typical in some of the more remote places in Canada. The Fenestron also ensures safety in MEDEVAC missions, as we don’t have to worry about accidents occurring with the tail rotor.”
Paul was anxious to have a closer look at some of the innovations on the booth, and praised Eurocopter on the selection of the aircraft on display: “I am particularly interested in seeing what Air Methods has done with the cockpit configuration of the EC130 for EMS missions.” Up
