Lucien Barbeau with local helicopter community pilot eager at developing another new product

Jacob Chenard busy assembling a towcart

Helitowcart is a helicopter hangaring solution specialist.  We focus on two helicopter handling concepts: towing and carrying. We are known for offering multiple models and thus can meet needs particular to most operators. There are well over 500 Helitowcart units operated worldwide and this number is continuously growing.

We started manufacturing small devices for the Robinson market but have since substantially widened our product list to service the majority of light to medium helicopter types in the world. Most customers require that we cater to their Eurocopter, Bell, Robinson or Enstrom helicopters but we have designed our products to be compatible with MDs, Schweizers and Agustas as well.

We are the right match to operators looking for:

• More traction & power to meet challenges posed by tough weather and terrain,

• Hassle Free machine positioning & quick attachment,

• Equipment versatility to as many helicopter types as possible,

• Confidence in a brand with a proven reliability record,

• Attentive, dedicated and efficient long term customer support.

Helitowcart is also a provider of practical accessories for helicopters. This second activity is also a steadily growing part of our business.

All products in that category have been introduced following requests and suggestions submitted by our friends from the helicopter community.  These individuals had been facing somewhat irritating situations pertaining to availability, affordability or practicality in their daily operations and have turned to us to create products to fill these gaps.

This is what has lead us to create our own products such as sturdier higher lifting wheels, pocket free streamlined bearpaws and seat cushions offering better long haul body support for crews.  We also have been distributing products brilliantly created and manufactured by partners such as sturdy tool free quick connect Cargo Baskets and retractable Tow Bars that can be carried into helicopters to remote bases.

The accessories we offer have one characteristic in common: they serve the purpose of improving pilots and mechanic's quality of life at work by adding swiftness & ease to their daily tasks; one well-thought accessory at a time.

Helitowcart is blessed with an impressive web of satisfied customers and highly regarded  friends from the helicopter community. This business endeavour has been a decade of brilliantly rewarding experiences, and we are now thrilled to dive into our second decade expecting the pleasures of initiating new projects, generating more brilliant solutions, and enjoying sharing them with an enthusiastic helicopter community. Join us!

Note: "Helitowcart enterprises" and "Vanair inc" are two officially registered names for a single company created in 1984.  The Helitowcart name was added when this brand name became better known than the original company name. The Helitowcart product line was initiated in 2001.  The company is a small enterprise owned & run by a father-daughter team.

On Celebrating Helitowcart's 10 Years

It started as a game - Just for fun

Already ten years since that fateful evening when my father Lucien who had just obtained his helicopter licence invited my mother Helene for a first ride. The ride went well but the following helicopter handling session was not so popular with them. A few days later my partner Bruno, a specialist in motorized wheelchair engineering, was called by my father to help him find a solution to electrically operate the cart he was thinking of building. From a first unit, another one was made for a friend of a friend in Florida, then additional units were requested from another contact from Australia who had seen the unit in Florida.  That is when Helitowcart was truly started - Just for fun.

At first this game was played by Lucien and his close knit group of retired friends. I think of Eddy St-Laurent and Laval Duquet who had the infinite patience to contribute to multiple designs, prototypes and tests. These two created the first marketing tools to help Lucien and were for a long time the only ones believing in this venture.

It was on a Saturday morning in August 2004 that Eddy first convinced me of the value of this endeavour (I had up to then wished my father would take to more simple retirement projects) and then strategically followed in the same conversation by convincing me to get involved by helping my father with customer service as incoming internet requests were now a seven days a week affair coming from all continents. I now realize that this moment was a turning point in my life. A couple of years later I joined the company full time.  Since then my partner has also spent most of his free time helping us with Engineering, IT and website support. He and I eventually became shareholders.

From the moment I joined in my father was able to focus on what he likes best: product development. He added continuously to our product line. He created multiple models of  tow carts, wheels, bearpaws, and replacement cushions. All this was made possible with the immesurable help of kind long time friends, of mechanics, pilots and managers from our local aviation community and from the contribution of exceptional sub-contractors and suppliers. Some say it takes a village to raise a child. I would say the same applies to a small business. I am awed by the support we have from all of them. Life within this web of goodwill is a major source of motivation and pleasure. It fuels us.

Among the key sub-contractors that have significantly contributed to our progress Jacob Chenard JC inc stands first. This enterprise has continuously provided us with impeccable product assembly and technical support services. Invaluable patience, care for detail, contagious optimism and customer dedication makes this supplier stand-out by far. The owner Jacob makes sure that fun is always part of the game. I am deeply grateful for that.

In the summer of 2009 a major turn was made regarding our product line: we added Carriers. It was a perfect complement solution to our tow carts. This is when we started working with Fabrication JDMB ltd. This project lead us to develop a full product line with Michel Brousseau and Jean Desbiens. Working with these two brilliant, colorful and dedicated individuals has brought us immense pleasure. The challenges encountered were multiple and kept us on our toes, but the experience has bonded us and the resulting product line is a true jewel.

As I write these lines I look back on those ten years and am grateful for what transpires most: this venture has brought us meaningful contacts with fascinating and charming people. We are still awed by the number of new people we have met not only in our own community but extending to the whole planet.  It started as a game-just for fun. I wish to maintain this perspective as who knows who we will have the chance to meet next? Awesome.

by Nathalie Barbeau

September 1st, 2011