PROFESSIONAL HELICOPTER SERVICES was established in 1981 by Ron Newman as a part time training school with a Hughes 300 helicopter, in order to keep his instructing skills current. At this time Ron was the Chief Helicopter Pilot and Chief Engineer for the Victoria Police Air Wing after setting them up with a twin engine «Dauphin» helicopter. The training school grew quickly, mainly due to Ron's background in the helicopter industry and his excellent reputation.
Ron's background in Aviation began in 1955 when, at the age of 14, he became an apprentice Aircraft Engineer with Trans Australia Airlines (now QANTAS). He became a Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (LAME) in 1960, and moved to Ansett Airlines «Helicopter Division» in 1960 and has been involved with helicopters ever since. In 1966, he moved to Proserpine in North Queensland to take charge of their Sikorsky S61 (28 seat helicopter) operation running between Proserpine airport and Hayman Island.
Ron learnt to fly helicopters in 1968 and since that time he has flown extensively throughout Australia, New Guinea, the Pacific Islands and the Antarctic with Helicopter Utilities and Jayrow helicopters before joining the Victoria Police in 1976 in order to set them up in a helicopter operation. In 1983 he left the Police Airwing to concentrate on his growing company and now has over 17,500 helicopter flying hours, with over 9,000 hours of instructional experience in both single and twin engine helicopters.
One of Ron's first students was his son, Brett who then helped part time in the business. Brett gained his Instructor Rating in 1983 and joined the business as a full time instructor in 1984. He now has around 11,000 hours in both single and twin engine helicopters and jointly runs the business with Ron. To complete this family oriented business Ron's daughter, Vicki manages the office.
Professional Helicopter Services is the largest and most respected helicopter training school in Australia. The company now owns and operates 3 Bell Jet Rangers, 1 Bell Long Ranger, 1 Aerospatiale AS 350 BA (Squirrel), 4 Robinson R22's and 2 Schweizer 300 CBi's, and operates several other helicopters on behalf of their owners. Approximately 50% of the company's flying is pilot training with the remaining 50% taken up with Government Contracts, film and video productions, general charter, and tourism. These contracts include lighthouse maintenance & supply runs, power line patrols, line-stringing, fire reconnaissance and back burning. PHS do most of the film and video flying in Victoria with a major credit list that includes the Man From Snowy River (1 & 2), Jackie Chan's «First Strike», the award winning John Farnham «Age of Reason» video clip, the Olivia Newton-John video special, the Little River Band video special, the Advance Australia Commercial and numerous other feature films and commercials.
PHS has also been very active in the tourist business for the past 10 years with 5 helicopters based at Ayers Rock and Kings Canyon.
Carrying sling loads around power stations and onto high-rise buildings is another area of expertise that has been built up over the years with many difficult and precise sling load operations being performed without incident.
The PHS office and hangar facility at Moorabbin Airport is amongst the most modern in Australia with a large visitors foyer, 2 student briefing rooms, a large lecture room and a student flight planning office. On the engineering side of the operation, PHS do all the maintenance and component overhauls on their own fleet of helicopters as well as maintaining several privately owned and corporate helicopters.
Talk to anyone in the helicopter industry and you will be told that we take pride in the standard of service that we offer. Our motto says it all:-
«Professional Helicopter Services» - more than JUST a name.
The Company has won two awards from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority for it's standard of helicopter training and has even been used by the CASA for the training of their personnel.