Prairie Helicopters Inc.

Prairie Helicopters Inc. is a helicopter charter operator and flight school based at Gimli Airport on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg, about 45 minutes north of Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was founded in 2000 by Michael Persoage and Derek Longley. The company says it regularly works across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Northwest Ontario and Nunavut, and describes itself as Manitoba's only turbine helicopter flight school.

Fleet

The fleet page lists Bell helicopters in several sizes:

• Bell 407: 4 available, up to 6 passengers, 5,250 lbs internal and 6,000 lbs external gross weight
• Bell 206L: 6 available, up to 6 passengers, 4,150 lbs internal and 4,250 lbs external gross weight
• Bell 206B: 4 available, up to 4 passengers, 3,200 lbs internal and 3,350 lbs external gross weight
• Bell 427: 1 available, with a crew of 2
• Bell 212, named on the home page as part of the fleet

Flight training

The school is a Transport Canada approved flight training facility in a hangar of 7,634 square feet, and qualified students can apply for Canada Student Loans. All training is done on the turbine powered Bell 206B JetRanger, which the company also uses for charter. Class sizes are limited so each student gets one-on-one instruction, and the school notes that the low traffic volume at Gimli helps students build radio skills.

Bases and safety

The company operates four bases in Manitoba: Gimli (head office and main hangar), The Pas, Thompson and Churchill. It also owns and operates Hudson Bay Helicopters in Churchill. All aircraft carry SkyTrac units that combine satellite tracking with Iridium voice and text communication, and the company says it runs regular self-audits. The site also advertises fall colour tours.