Pilots
Meet the pilot
Calvin Dorn , Owner, PilotPilot Stats
Calvin “Cal” Dorn has more than 35 years of aviation experience spanning more than 17,000 hours of flight time. In addition to routinely serving as one of the company’s pilots, where he specializes in tours, external load work, remote site operations, and aerial film work, Cal oversees day-to-day operations from the Paradise headquarters in Kona.
It only took a handful of helicopter flights while fighting forest fires as a Humboldt State University forestry student to spark Cal's love of aviation.
After graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps as a helicopter pilot, where he served for eight years. He then flew the UH-1E and MD 500 as a defense contractor in Southern California before moving to Kaua'i with his family, where he worked as a Certified Flight Instructor, and piloted tour and utility flights.
Cal soon relocated his family to Kailua Kona on the Island of Hawai'i to open a new base for Mauna Kea Helicopters, where he served as the chief pilot for tour and utility operations from 1995-1999. Cal purchased K&S Helicopters, Inc. (dba Paradise Helicopters) with one base in Hilo and two helicopters.
