When Carl met him in Terrace on August 31, Heslop directed him to fly to the village of Kitimat, where he had secured temporary accommodation for him as well as access to supplies at the local store. The helicopter had to be refuelled on the beach, so a fuel cache was brought in by boat to the Kitimat dock and, with Heslop’s assistance, the drums were rolled down the main street to the beach where Heslop had designed an ingenious landing platform. The slope of the shoreline and presence of debris at the high-water mark dictated that, while the helicopter hovered, Heslop had to dig two holes in the sand for the front wheels so that when the helicopter was lowered its axle was level. To raise the rear wheels, he built a frame of logs covered with cedar shakes held down with large rocks to prevent movement by the tide or rotor blast. This novel landing pad worked throughout the operation but had to be repaired after each high tide, which filled the holes with sand. Each day Heslop had to guide Carl into a hover while he re-excavated the holes.
With refuelling completed, they flew to Kemano where they refuelled again and then flew a different route on the return to base, eliminating the need for a second base at Kemano. Fortunately, during the survey period, they had CAVU (ceiling and visibility unlimited), enabling close scrutiny of the terrain. Heslop could note contours, heights, rock formations, water speed, soil composition, high-water marks and timber stands. He was also able to identify areas at risk for rock slides and flooding and determine possible locations for roads.
Once all of the 16 routes had been examined, Heslop eliminated some as impossible, others as inadvisable, and two or three as possibilities. At the end of 20 hours flying time with an additional eight hours for ferrying from Terrace, Heslop had his data and was able to make his final decision. A ground party would have needed three to five seasons to complete the same work. Heslop was impressed with the helicopter and assured OAS that if the contract did go ahead the company would be involved. Carl had already realized the magnitude of the project and was convinced they should start planning immediately to expand the OAS fleet. In fact, Alcan’s Kitimat-Kemano project would become the turning point for OAS as well as the entire civilian helicopter industry.
*
In the spring of 1949 A.L. Johnson, OAS’s new vice-president, began final negotiations with the BC Electric Company and the Vancouver Water Board on the Palisade dam and reservoir project. The dam, built to increase Vancouver’s water storage capacity, was located at the 3,000-foot (915-metre) level at the headwaters of the Capilano River. Base camp, which was on a jeep trail that started at Britannia Beach, was about five miles (eight kilometres) from the dam. The contract provided for a monthly patrol of the power lines as well as lifting 500,000 pounds (225,800 kilograms) of equipment—everything from a two-storey bunkhouse, 13 men and their gear, construction materials and a concrete mixer pump to rock drills and boats.
Within days of the contract signing, Okanagan hired pilot Paul Ostrander, who had flown CF-FZN for Skyways, and Carl checked him out on airlift work. The Palisades job involved as many as 40 trips in a day, each of them 12 to 15 minutes in duration. Most of the materials went into the lightweight carriers installed on the helicopter’s outer airframe, with no component exceeding 200 pounds (90 kilograms). The mixer barrel, which weighed over 400 pounds (180 kilograms), was transported by a hook attached to the four wheels and positioned to maintain the machine’s centre of gravity. As work on the dam progressed, Ostrander also picked up company directors from downtown Vancouver and flew them to the site for the occasional inspection.
In July Douglas Dewar announced that the company had concluded a contract for a topographical survey in the Hazelton, BC, area. With Carl on that survey with CF-FZX and Paul on the Palisade project with CF-FZN, Alf had to commute between Hazelton and Vancouver to do the maintenance. When he was in Hazelton, he usually worked through the night to have the machine ready for next day. Fortunately, CF-FZX was equipped with a 300-hour transmission bearing that required very little attention other than 25-hour checks. Cracking in the engine’s high-tension cables did not cause any serious downtime, and the blades, which were made of wood, were easily repaired with household glue. The Palisade machine, CF-FZN, had two incidents of tail-rotor damage from rocks and experienced fairing on the leading edge of the rotor blade due to water freezing. While looking after CF-FZN in Vancouver, Alf also analyzed the progress on the Palisade dam and acted as the company’s expeditor.
Carl’s report on the dam project, which was based on Alf and Paul’s detailed notes, became part of the OAS flight-operations manual.
*
The fall and winter of 1949 were quiet. Snow had brought an end to the Palisade dam project for the season and the departure of Paul Ostrander from the company. Meanwhile, a well-known mining entrepreneur approached OAS about a helicopter operation and, confident they would get the contract, OAS provided comprehensive details. A few weeks later, however, management discovered that the individual who had approached them was actually setting up a rival company.
By the end of the decade OAS had successfully made the transition from a local flying school to a crop-spraying operation and then to a province-wide service. Most importantly, in their move from fixed-wing to helicopters, they had gained experience in high-altitude flying on topographic surveys and airlifting construction material.
Chapter Two
The Second Decade: 1950–60
1950
With more work on the Palisade dam project, a second Alcan survey and construction of a test transmission line, the company’s outlook for 1950 was positive. However, the first job of the year was a small one in the Bridge River–Lillooet area, delivering supplies to the Bralorne Mine and carrying out a power-line patrol after a heavy snowfall blocked the railroads and roads leading to the mine.
Although the company’s helicopters had been busy moving from one job to the next in 1949, OAS had still not broken even, and as most financial institutions felt helicopter ventures were far too risky, it was difficult to obtain further financing. The situation was eased somewhat when a bank extended a line of credit and Douglas Dewar contributed a modest personal loan.
Over the course of the summer of 1950, the financial situation improved as funds from the various contracts came in, though it continued to be a hand-to-mouth existence. There was simply no money to hire additional staff or buy another helicopter. Cash flow for the fixed-wing side of the company was barely covering expenses, and after a devastating accident that killed a student pilot and destroyed one of the company’s Cessnas, the directors agreed to sell that part of the operation for any reasonable offer.
At one of the directors’ meetings Carl and Alf’s optimism clashed head-on with the financial team led by Douglas Dewar. Carl pointed out that the company needed financing for more equipment or the competition would move in and take the work. While Dewar respected Carl’s skills as a pilot, he felt that he did not have business sense. In the end they reached a compromise: even though Carl did not get his expanded fleet, he did get funding to hire more operational staff, with a priority on engineers to assist Alf who had been stretched to his limits the previous year. As a result, by the end of the year, CF-FZX and CF-FZN each had a dedicated aircraft engineer.
The company had no problem attracting aircraft engineers as they all wanted to work on the “egg beater.” The first to be hired was John “Jock” Fraser Graham who had trained with the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and worked on flying boats for Coastal Command. He’d had a colourful career as a flight engineer, including time spent as a prisoner of war just outside Casablanca. Two Canadian pilots had encouraged him to emigrate to Canada, and on arrival he had joined Queen Charlotte Airlines (QCA), which had a diverse fleet of Norsemen, Stranraers, Cansos, Ansons and DC3s. He had hoped to become a commercial pilot and was trying to build up his hours in anticipation of a position flying float planes, but in the summer of 1949 he had encountered his first helicopter (CF-FZN) after OAS rented space in a corner of the QCA hangar at Vancouver Airport. He was impressed with Alf and Carl’s ability to handle problems without getting excited: the first time they met, Carl was running the machine after a transmission change when a swarm of bees settled on the tail boom. As the bees were not bothering the run-up, Carl continued until he had finished the checks, then shut the machine down and went to find a beekeeper. Toward the end of that