Heli-Support hiring goes vertical for skilled workers

FORT COLLINS – A newly earned certificate will translate into about a dozen highly specialized new jobs and has already created six new positions at Heli-Support Inc. in Fort Collins.

Those jobs might have been filled in Wyoming.

In late 2003, Heli-Support began moving its operations from north Fort Collins to a hanger facility near the Cheyenne Airport. But the company retreated from those plans and is now set for continued long-term growth in Northern Colorado.

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Heli-Support is a subsidiary of Wyoming-based Roberts Aircraft Co., founded in 1953. Heli-Support was formed in 1981 with the goal of providing maintenance support for Roberts, which focuses on selling and leasing helicopters.

In the early 1980s, Heli-Support consisted of three employees. The bulk of its work came from the oil and gas industry, which was using helicopters for exploratory purposes. By 1985, the company had received several important certifications from the Federal Aviation Administration and from French helicopter manufacturer Aérospatiale, now known as Eurocopter.

“As the years went by, we gained a reputation for our expertise in repair and overhaul,” explained Kevin Shields, vice president and general manager. “The business just grew a little bit each year.”

Not much has changed for Heli-Support as far as its business focus is concerned. The company is again seeing a surge in oil and gas customers and is still known for its repair and overhaul expertise.

Global customer base

However, the firm now employs about 80 and claims a customer list from around the world and in the private and public sectors. About 25 percent of its business is from international customers and one of its biggest clients is based in Japan.

The company has worked for the past two decades on securing additional certifications. It is currently certified for complete overhaul of two engine models and deep maintenance of three others.

In July, Heli-Support finalized a certificate allowing it to overhaul the Turbomeca Arriel 1 helicopter engine. The company spent five years readying its facility and staff to gain approval from the manufacturer and is now the only independent company in the nation that is authorized for the work. A company press release indicated that the manufacturer has produced more than 7,000 Arriel engines and that about 70 percent of them are in service in North America.

In preparation for gaining the certificate, the company hired six technicians and will likely add about 12 more in support of it.

“With this new certificate, we are expecting to move into growth mode,” Shields said.

Attractive proposition

A company decision several years ago almost made the addition of those jobs a gain for Cheyenne rather than Fort Collins.

Shields said that Cheyenne officials offered “an attractive proposition” to invite the company to Wyoming. The move would have allowed Heli-Support to join its parent company in Cheyenne.

“We took the steps to get ready for the move but had to retreat,” Shields said.

Among the factors that made the move undesirable for Heli-Support, Shields said, was that the hanger facility available was not adequate for the company’s specialized needs.

Another major issue was the weather. Heli-Support tests all of its engines on a machine that simulates actual flight situations – the engines are monitored to assure that they meet all manufacturer specifications under various conditions. An engine in a test cell requires a significant amount of airflow. Shields said there was concern that the velocity and consistency of the wind in southern Wyoming could throw off the instrumentation.

Finally, most of Heli-Support’s personnel lived in Fort Collins.

“Ultimately, that played into our decision to re-entrench here,” Shields said.

Although portions of the business had been moved – some of the employees had been in Wyoming for about a year – by fall of 2004, the company was settled back in Fort Collins.

While Fort Collins ended up the better choice for Heli-Support, the location is not without its hurdles.

“It’s sometimes a challenge being here,” Shields said. The company often must search nationwide for technicians with the very specialized skills required. “Bringing them here is hard due to the cost of living in Fort Collins.”

Labor force challenges

However, others say employment issues are an industry-wide problem that the company would be facing anywhere.

Mike Hansen, general manager of Fort Collins-based Century Helicopters, explained that the issue is the amount of training required for helicopter maintenance and repair.

Hansen explained aviation schools typically graduate students with an airframe and power plant license – known as the A&P – the minimum requirement by the FAA for aircraft technicians.

“None of the training is specific to rotorcraft,” he said.

Both Century and Heli-Support often take on employees with a good mechanical background and train them internally for the specialized work. The training can take several years.

“We’re actively recruiting for additional mechanics,” Hansen said, adding that the company could use two or three more right now. “We’ve had to turn away work because we don’t have enough people.”

Century, founded in 1978, currently employs 15.

Hansen said that while the labor force difficulties are acute for the helicopter maintenance sector, it is only a piece of a larger trend away from mechanical skills and blue-collar labor careers.

Despite the difficulties, Heli-Support is already looking forward to continued growth. Shields said the company is filling up in its current location and will eventually need to consider its options.

“As we grow, we may want to look for a new site,” Shields said, adding that any such move would be many years off as the company is in a long-term lease for its current location.

When the time to consider expansion does come, though, Shields said the company would likely look for property in Northern Colorado.