Drills, crews and core,
above the last road.
Helicopter support for exploration and operating mines across Idaho and the Northwest: drill and camp moves on the long line, crew changes, core and sample runs, survey flying and the site reconnaissance that comes before any of it. Flown under Part 133 and Part 135 by a crew that works this terrain all year.
A drill move is a lift job with a deadline on it.
Exploration programmes run on a season and a permit window. The question that decides whether the drill turns this week is usually not the geology; it is whether the rig, the fuel and the crew got to the pad. When the pad is above the last road, that is a helicopter question.
We fly the drill in pieces, the pads and fuel to go with it, then the crews and the core every day until the programme is done. One aircraft and one crew for the loads and the people, so the foreman has one number to call and one schedule to plan around.
The numbers are honest. What a load weighs at 8,000 feet on a warm afternoon is arithmetic, and we would rather split a lift than guess one.
- FAA Part 133 external load and Part 135 crew operations
- Long-line precision from year-round construction work
- Loads planned to the site's altitude and the day's temperature
- Fuel logistics worked out before mobilisation
Six ways a programme
uses a helicopter.
Drill & equipment moves
Heli-portable rigs broken down to component weights and flown between pads on the long line, with the pad material, fuel and water that go with them.
- Drill moves between holes
- Fuel, water and pipe on the line
- Pad and platform materials
Crew changes & daily shuttle
Drillers, geologists and samplers to the site and back at shift change, on a schedule the programme can plan around.
- Shift changes to remote pads
- FAA Part 135 passenger operations
- Evacuation plan agreed before day one
Core & sample runs
Core boxes and samples from the drill to the road, the camp or the lab, with the chain of custody intact and the turnaround the geologist is waiting on.
- Sling or cabin, as the load needs
- Same-day runs to the road
- Chain of custody preserved
Geophysical & mapping survey
Airborne geophysics with your sensor, photogrammetry and LiDAR, flown to the line specification the data needs rather than the one that is comfortable.
- Sensor carriage and provisions
- Flown to your line spacing and height
- See aerial survey for the detail
Camp & site support
Camps in at the start of the season and out at the end, and the generators, propane, water and groceries that keep one running between.
- Camp moves and resupply
- Generators, fuel and water
- Reclamation materials
Reconnaissance & staking
The flying that happens before a drill ever turns: prospect recon, claim staking crews, access checks and the monitoring that follows a programme.
- Prospect and claim reconnaissance
- Staking and sampling crews
- Monitoring and reclamation flights
From the scope call
to the reclaimed pad.
The scope callFirst contact
Site, elevation, programme length, drill type, crew size, season and the permits you hold. We tell you on that call whether the aircraft and the site are a fit.
Site reconnaissanceBefore mobilisation
Pads, landing zones, staging and fuel looked at from the air and, where it matters, on the ground. A pad that does not work gets moved now, not with a drill on the hook.
Load planningWeights, not guesses
Every component weighed against what the aircraft lifts at your site's altitude on a warm afternoon. Rigging, slings and the lift order agreed with your crew.
MobilisationDrill and camp in
The drill, the camp and the first fuel in the order the programme needs them, with your foreman on the radio at the pad end.
Daily operationsThe routine
Crew shuttle, core runs, fuel and water, drill moves between holes. Flown to a daily brief and a daily debrief, with a running record of what moved.
DemobilisationOut and reclaimed
Everything out, pads returned to the state the permit asks for, and the records that show it.
What decides a programme,
and who brings what.
What decides it
- Density altitude against the load
- Weather windows and daylight
- Permits and land status at the pads
- Staging and road access for fuel
- Component weights and rigging points
- Aircraft serviceability, checked that morning
What you supply
- Component weights for everything that flies
- Rigging points and slings on your equipment
- A staging area with road access
- Permits, land status and agency contacts
- A site safety plan and a radio plan
- A foreman on the pad end
What we supply
- FAA Part 133 and Part 135 operations
- Airbus H125 with hook and long line; the UH-1H for the heavier loads
- Pilots who fly this terrain year-round
- Load calculations for your site and season
- Daily briefing and stop-work authority
- Insurance certificates naming your project
We know the ground
before the drill does.
The crew flying your programme spent the rest of the year on long lines, fires, survey blocks and winter access in the same drainages. They know where the wind comes through, which pads catch the afternoon sun and where a staging area that looks fine on the map does not work in practice.
That is why the aircraft side of an exploration season is uneventful, which is the only kind worth paying for.
What a programme
actually looks like.
What exploration managers
ask first.
Heli-portable rigs, yes: the drill broken down to components under the aircraft's hook limit at your site's altitude. Send the component weights and the elevation and we will tell you what moves in one lift and what has to be split.
A rig that is not heli-portable is a different job, and we will say so rather than guess.
Yes. Crew changes and the daily shuttle run under FAA Part 135, external loads under Part 133, on the same aircraft and with the same crew, so the programme is one phone call rather than two contractors.
Fuel decides it more than anything. A fuel cache or a truck at a staging area near the site keeps the aircraft turning; without one, range and payload both shrink. We plan the fuel with you on the scope call.
The permits are yours; we work inside them. We will tell you what the land status means for landing zones and pads, and we handle the agency notifications that fall on the aircraft side.
Yes. We fly this terrain through the winter on heli-ski and access work, so cold starts, short days and snow landings are routine. Daylight and weather windows shape the schedule and we are honest about both.
Call, or send the site, the elevation, the programme length, the drill type and the crew size. A person answers, and the quote comes with what is included spelled out.
Send the site and the programme. We'll tell you what it takes to fly it.
Exploration and operating mines across Idaho and the Northwest, out of McCall.
CALL DIRECT · 208-315-5769