Paradise Helicopter Newsletter: Fall 2007

Paradise helps with Wailua Fire

The Wailua fire covered about 8,000 acres. It was an unusual fire in that it was an actual forest fire that burned to the edge of the rain forest instead of a grass fire. The dry conditions allowed the fire to progress further up Mt. Ka'ala than it normally would have. For five days Paradise Helicopters provided two Bell 407's for 10 hours each day and rotated between three pilots: Victor Baratti, Josh Lang and Richard Potts. Also aiding in the fire relief were two Marine H-53 helicopters, one Army CH-47, Pacific Helicopters MD 500 and Bell 206L, the Honolulu Fire department's MD 500, and the HPD's MD 500. This was a busy fire compared to most on Oahu. It was a community effort.

All said and done there was no loss of life and no property damage. There were areas impacted that contained some endangered plant specie and Hawaiian snails, but the severity of that impact is yet to be determined and thankfully wasn't as severe as first thought.

Company president Calvin Dorn states, "It's nice to be able to contribute to the community in times of need. I feel our company is so blessed to be able to give back in hard and trying times like these."

Mauna Kea's Beach and Hapuna Courses

The Mauna Kea Golf Course, located out on the Kohala Coast, is everyone's old favorite. One of the first fields of play to be carved out of the black lava, the dramatic, always-challenging, par-72, 18-hole championship course is still one of Hawaii's top three.

Hapuna Golf Course

The Arnold Palmer/Ed Seay-designed Hapuna Golf Course rests in the rolling foothills above Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel and provides a memorable links-style golf experience along with one of the best views of this unusual coast.

Mauna Lani Frances I'i Brown Championship Courses

Mauna Lani's two resort courses, North and South, feature a combination of oceanfront and interior lava-lined holes; both offer wonderful scenery accompanied by strategic, championship-level golf.

Employee of the Quarter

Maluhia Williams has been with us for a little over a year and has continuously shown that she is a valuable addition to our company. She works in a professional manner with all customers and coworkers, and her friendly personality comes through when checking in and conversing with passengers. She is able to handle difficult situations that arise in reservations and customer complaints with a pleasant and courteous attitude.

Malu is a team player and is willing to help her coworkers increase their knowledge of Alpro in the areas of reservations and paperwork. She produces consistent quality work and is very thorough in finding errors. Sometimes this may be a bit annoying to others, but we enjoy correcting them when needed.

Thanks Malu! We are happy to have you part of the Paradise team!

Top Sales of the Quarter

Ashley Davis has been working with us about a year and is a great addition to our Hilo Staff! She is detail oriented and a hard working reservationist.

She does a great job in the office along with juggling college classes as well. She helps us by training our new employees with the night reservations.

She also does great by ensuring all our seats are sold.

Ashley is our, "Top Sales Queen." She has won Top Sales almost every month since the program first started. She never lets the phone ring more then once before picking up the line to sell those seats. She has a quick reaction to a ringing phone and it definitely pays off when that commission check comes in with the top sales bonus. Ashley is awesome and we are happy to have her on our team!

Congratulations Ashley!

Summer 2007 Statistics

Turtle Bay: 924 passengers
Our most popular tour is our Oahu Experience, a 60 minute flight showing all of Oahu

Hilo: 3025 passengers
Hilo features an exciting tour option called Doors Off Experience. You can feel the heat as you fly over the volcano!

Kona: 1759 passengers
See the whole island; even land in a private valley for a picnic lunch.

New Helicopter Joins Fleet!

Exciting news of a new addition to our fleet! In September, we took delivery of a very nice, incredibly well-maintained MD500. All though it is not new, the aircraft looks and feels like new. We had extensive avionics work done and the interior is pristine. All the pilots say it is the smoothest 500 they have flown and is a great addition to our fleet.

If you have an idea for a name for our new blue beauty, please send them to Angela@paradisecopters.com.

In addition to N551CR, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new MD530 from the factory. We are anticipating arrival late this year! The new aircraft will be N530PH. Again, any name ideas can be sent to Angie.

Paradise helps Historic Kohala Ditches

Since the earthquake hit the Big Island last October, Paradise Helicopters has rendered assistance to the evaluation and repair of the ditch systems in the Kohala Mountains. We had already participated in a contract to rebuild some water intakes for the Hamakua Ditch, and had provided aerial support for the Kohala Ditch as well when the earthquake shook our Island. The day of the earthquake, Paradise Helicopters provided service to the Island Civil Defense to assist in damage assessment. The day after the earthquake, we flew into the Kohala Mountains to retrieve a worker trapped by landslides and did the first assessment of the Kohala Ditch. We also provided volunteer service to Waimea Irrigation to make an initial assessment of the damage to the Hamakua Ditch. Since the earthquake, many of the landslide areas in the valleys have remained unstable making it difficult to conduct any repairs. The first workers and engineers to go in and evaluate the ditches were flown in by Paradise Helicopters. We look forward to continued support for this major reconstruction program.

On the Hamakua Ditch, Paradise Helicopters has flown workers and their equipment to the ditch to begin emergency repairs to try and bring water to the farmers who depend on the ditch for their irrigation needs. To date, the workers have repaired one stream crossing tunnel and have been successful in getting water to customers within the first few miles of the ditch. Close to 100 external loads of material were taken into the Waima Valley to repair that crossing. Without helicopters this would have been impossible to accomplish such a short amount of time.

The Upper Waimea Ditch did not suffer any immediate damage in the earthquake, but two months later a flume collapsed and within days Paradise Helicopters was flying external loads of pipes to make an emergency repair. This ditch is especially critical because the reservoir system for Waimea was damaged in the earthquake and it was providing the additional water supply needed.

Further north on the Kohala Ditch, Paradise Helicopters has continued to work with Surety Corporation to evaluate the ditch. We have also flown in Army National Guard personnel who will provide assistance by lifting in a tractor with their Heavy Lift Helicopter from Oahu. The most significant damage on the Kohala Ditch was to a flume in the West Branch of Honokanenui Valley which was completely destroyed in the earthquake. Some of you may have even flown into the valley and had a picnic at the cabins which were built to house the ditch workers in the 1930s. These houses will soon serve as quarters for workers to begin the reconstruction of the flume and Paradise Helicopters will be there to fly the workers and equipment into the valley.

Final Word from the President

Since our last newsletter, we continue to be blessed as we serve the Islands and communities making up the State of Hawaii. Our tours are growing in popularity and we even had an article written about us in the Sacramento Bee newspaper. By sticking with our corporate goals and emphasizing the value of our employees and customers, we have managed to maintain strong growth thoughout the year. This time of year, before the holidays, tends to be slow. But you would never know it if you looked at the schedules at our bases. In Hilo, we rarely have a day that has any open flights two to three days in advance. In fact, most days all seats are sold out 24 hours in advance. The schedule in Kona continues to expand and our 407's have been busy throughout the year. In the last 19 months, we have flown 2,500 hours on 807PH, our new 407, and almost 2,300 hours on 402SH, our first 407. Our 407's are the only ones in Hawaii and the versatility of the aircraft has been obvious as we fly tours, fight fires, and do external loads with ease. I am very proud of our company and the work we perform for all the various agencies in the State of Hawaii while we also share our beautiful Islands with visitors from around the world. As we move into the holiday season, all of us at Paradise Helicopters are thankful we can continue to provide a quality helicopter service to visitors and kama'aina alike.

-Calvin Dorn

Older Issues

Summer 2007