I came across this very cool East Texas business this morning. It’s an air charter service called East Texas Helicopters (ETH). As a kid I was watching television in the eighties when shows like Air Wolf, Blue Thunder and most especially Magnum PI ruled the ratings market. Back then, the idea of having one’s own helicopter charter business seemed like the coolest job in the world to me. Much cooler and more attractive than teaching! And as much as I admired “Thomas Magnum,” it was his friend “T.C.” whose job I most wanted. Remember T.C. was the one who owned his own Chopper and flew patrons around the Hawaiian Islands on special tours. I’m fairly sure the day to day ins and outs of the job are not really as glamorous as they were portrayed on television however.
Anyway, come to find out, there is a Helicopter charter business here I East Texas. It seems they service the Tyler, Longview, Kilgore, Jacksonville region. As far as I can tell they’re largely a one ship operation (again much like T.C.), the primary chopper being an R44 Raven II. On their Facebook page however, they do have a couple of other choppers pictured, so I’m not sure how many they actually run. In terms of advertising and public relations, the only web page they operate is linked through KLTV, which is not a terrible strategy in guess, since that’s how I found them. (As I mentioned earlier, they also have a Facebook page). On the site, ETH lists the services they offer. They’re available for tours, aerial photo shoots and surveys, patrolling power lines, or just public rides. The cost comes to almost a hundred dollars for every half hour, which given the cost of fuel these days seems pretty reasonable to me. If I read their pages correctly, it seems they also frequent Canton Trade Days where they offer rides to the fair going public. For more information on this fascinating business, visit their webpage at http://www.kltv.com/category/174993/east-texas-helicopter . Readers can also go to their Facebook page by clicking on the following link: http://www.facebook.com/EastTexasHelicopters?sk=wall . To contact the business directly simply call their office at (903)570-2840; or e-mail them at easttexashelicopters@gmail.com .
Tags: Aerial Photo, Air Charter Service, Air Wolf, Blue Thunder, Charter Business, Chopper, East Texas, Eighties, Hawaiian Islands, Helicopter Charter, Helicopters, Kilgore, Kltv, Magnum Pi, Photo Shoots, R44, Ship Operation, Texas Business, Thomas Magnum, Tyler Texas, Watching Television