AIRFRAME AIRFRAME Jim Campbell | Contributing Author


MAKING IT NEW AGAIN


Nestled in the heart of the Okanagan Valley, otherwise


known for its wineries, golf courses and ski hills, is Alpine Aerotech in Kelowna, British Columbia. Alpine Aerotech is a Bell Helicopter Plati- num-Level Customer Service Facility (CSF) that has developed its business over the past 23 years based on a few simple principles: technical expertise, quality workmanship and delivering what it promises. This philosophy seems to be working — Alpine Aerotech


has grown from three employees and 4,200 square feet in 1990 to 100 employees and 64,000 square feet in 2013, with another 18,000 square feet being added this summer. To highlight its principle of technical expertise, all depart- ment managers have been with the company for more than 10 years and have, on average, more than 25 years of industry experience each. This experience level was nudged upward when vice president Jim Campbell was recruited in 2011 to run and


6 HelicopterMaintenanceMagazine.com October | November 2013


grow the business. Campbell has a 44-year history in aviation, from field maintenance on Bell, Sikorsky and Eurocopter helicopters, to running various shops and businesses. He has been involved with the expansion of a number of companies including Associated Helicopters, ACRO Aero- space, Helipro Component Services (for which he and Mike Druet won the Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1999 for the Pacific Region


Emerging category), and CHC/Heli-One. Campbell is now into his third year at the helm and the


growth and success of the business has caught the attention of its owners (Intrawest, a holiday resort developer whose foray into helicopters began with the acquisition of Canadian Mountain Holidays, the largest heli-skiing operation in the world; and its parent, the Fortress Investment Group LLC, based in New York). “When they recruited me, they wanted me to be 10 years younger, so I told them I would give them three years and


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