+ WHO WE ARE
Blackcomb Helicopters has been operating since 1989 and was founded in Whistler, British Columbia where we have very deep roots. The McLean family has been in Whistler since 1967 and John Morris was the Whistler base manager for Okanagan Helicopters when they operated from the parking lot at Creekside in the early 1980’s. From our owners right through to any of our newest employees, we share a passion for this unique place – the Coast Mountains of BC – and its rugged mountain environment that has become part of our aviation DNA. While Blackcomb Helicopters has grown to some twenty helicopters and sixty aviation professionals over six main bases, working all over Western Canada, our connection to place and purpose has not changed.
+ WHAT WE DO
We are a team of aviation professionals who are passionate about providing remote mountain access and a variety of aviation and related services to our customers. While our Sea-to-Sky base network supports our tourism, search-and-rescue, heli-skiing, and heli-biking activities, we also mobilize for work outside our home areas such as utility, mining, film, and fire-fighting when we can add value. Generally, we add the most value when the work demands an expert team and the highest standard of equipment. These significant qualities matter, and we maintain a strong portfolio of customers who echo these demands.
+ HOW WE DO IT
With our customers – one size does not fit all. With this differentiated approach comes additional complexity and our operational environments require deep technical knowledge. For much of what we do, our pilots need specialized skills and significant experience. Our maintenance operation and safety systems are designed to support a high level of technical expertise and complex operational capabilities. Over 50% of our work requires a formal pre-qualification process of some kind such as a custom safety audit. We are heavily invested in specialized work methods (hydro, SAR) and innovative equipment and technology (bike racks, communications systems).
As part of the McLean Group, we are able to take advantage of group management talent (finance, HR, legal, communications) and common customers such as film productions (Vancouver Film Studios) and remote communications companies (Signal Systems). Like other McLean Group companies, we also put a high priority on giving back through community engagement and charitable activities. We actively support our people getting involved in community service and our charitable committee (Blackcomb Helicopters Employee Endowment) is very active. Over the past five years, we have donated over $1M to charities in our base communities. Based on what we learned in making Vancouver Film Studios the first major Canadian studio to go carbon neutral, we have applied this knowledge to Blackcomb Helicopters beginning with our tourism operations. We are more than the sum of our parts and we care deeply about the communities in which we operate.
The quality of our people is central to our success and we put a lot of energy and focus into recruiting and training. We aspire to be an employer where helicopter professionals may not always be able to start their careers with us, but they certainly strive to end up with us. This desire to be a part of something special translates into a positive company culture which delivers proficient helicopter services and great experiences for our customers.
