OUR HISTORY

The history of VIH Aerospace (VIHA) begins with the history of VIH Aviation Group.

VIH Helicopters (formerly Vancouver Island Helicopters) was founded in 1955 by Ted Hensen and Bill Boeing Jr., a Seattle-based aircraft dealer and son of the founder of Boeing Aircraft. Canada’s oldest privately held helicopter company started with one single Bell helicopter providing services on Vancouver Island. Soon after, Frank Norie, an avid pilot and pioneer in the BC logging industry, became a shareholder in Vancouver Island Helicopters, flying in his Bell 47 between his home in Cobble Hill to the company’s head office located at the Victoria International Airport Airport (YYJ - 48.481° N, 123.4287° W). Frank’s eldest son, Ken, also became involved in the company in the early 1970s, beginning as a pilot and quickly moving into management roles. Utilizing Kamov Ka-32A11BC heavy-lift helicopters from Russia, Ken developed a very successful logging division, “VIH Logging Ltd.”

After much hard work and persistence, Ken became the sole owner of both Vancouver Island Helicopters and VIH Logging Ltd. in the late ’90s. Under Ken’s leadership, VIH expanded rapidly, acquiring Northern Mountain Helicopters in British Columbia and Cougar Helicopters on Canada’s East Coast. Shortly following these acquisitions, VIH Helicopters was soon transformed into the VIH Aviation Group of Companies. To this day, the VIH Aviation Group headquarters continues to operate its original North Saanich, British Columbia office housing not only office staff, but additional divisions of the VIH Aviation Group including VIH Aerospace.

VIHA is a state-of-the-art division, operating a service center staffed with technicians and aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs) trained to repair every component of a helicopter including increasingly sophisticated communication and navigation systems. VIHA was incorporated on the 19th of May 2000 as VIH Aerospace Inc. under Registration No. BC0607496. VIH Aerospace Facility and Capabilities. From our west coast facilities, which offers direct access via land, sea, and air to markets across North and South America, Europe, and Asia, VIHA can offer our distinctive helicopter MMRO services. Due to our level of industry experience and success, we have a deep understanding of operator requirements and use this knowledge to provide quality helicopter services that meet or exceed customer expectations.