Hillcrest Aircraft Co Inc

Hillcrest Aircraft Company is a helicopter operator and repair station based at the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport in Lewiston, Idaho. It has a satellite base in Orofino, Idaho. The company was formed in 1956 and has offered specialty aviation services for more than 60 years.

Hillcrest began with four Stearman biplanes used for crop dusting. In the late 1950s it added firefighting, using World War II aircraft such as B-25s, B-26s, Grumman TBMs and a B-24. In 1960 it became a Cessna dealer and an FAA repair station, and it used Cessna airplanes for charter and flight instruction. It bought its first Bell helicopter in 1961. By the end of the 1960s it owned 10 Bell 47s. The business has been passed down through three generations of one family.

Today the company flies helicopters across the contiguous 48 states and Alaska for government agencies. Missions have ranged from work for the U.S. Geological Survey during the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption to many large wildland fires. In 1984 it supplied 10 helicopters as security aircraft for the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Its other services include air taxi work between airports and to remote sites, forest management, timber and animal surveys, aerial ignition and crew transport. It also does power line construction and patrol, setting poles and cross arms, and vertical lift work for building projects such as setting HVAC units and trusses. It flies emergency search and rescue and aerial photography, with still and video work for commercials, films and public television.

Hillcrest has been an FAA Part 145 repair station and a Bell Authorized Customer Service Center since 1968. It maintains Bell 205, 206, 212, 407 and 430 helicopters. Its maintenance staff have Bell factory training and over 80 combined years of helicopter maintenance experience. The company also offers avionics and an FBO.

The Lewiston site has five buildings. The main hangar covers 28,000 square feet and holds offices, a maintenance hangar, an overhaul shop and storage for company aircraft. Three more buildings give over 36,000 square feet of rental space for customer aircraft.

Services

• Air taxi
• Forest management
• Aerial photography
• Power line construction and patrol
• Firefighting
• Vertical lift construction
• Search and rescue
• Helicopter maintenance
• Avionics
• FBO