Model 107 Commercial Use
The H-46 Sea Knight was designed with military and civil use in mind, a fact often overlooked. Granted FAA certification on January 26, 1962, the first production Model 107-II helicopters were in fact configured as helicopter airliners and flown in scheduled commercial operations for many years. This airline use predated the H-46's delivery to the Navy and Marine Corps by two years.
New York Airways-a scheduled mail and passenger helicopter operator since the early 1950s-placed its first Model 107-II into service on July 1, 1962. Equipped with soundproofing, seating for twenty-five passengers, and a roll-out baggage container in the tail ramp, this and other 107-IIs linked midtown Manhattan with Idlewild (later Kennedy), La Guardia, and Newark airports. NYA's fleet of Sikorskys and Vertols eventually included eight Model 107-IIs including three Kawasaki-built examples purchased by Pan American World Airways for joint services to the roof of the Pan Am building and back.
Passenger helicopters operations ultimately proved too costly, however, and NYA went out of business in 1979. Before then, it sold four of its 107-IIs to Columbia Helicopters of Aurora, Oregon, for logging operations and other heavy use. Columbia has operated them ever since.
Today, one of Columbia's ex-NYA 107-IIs is believed to be the highest-time helicopter in the world. Built by Boeing in 1962, N6675D (called "seven-five delta" or just "seven-five" by its operators) has today flown just over 50,000 hours-proof of this Boeing helicopter's versatile design and rugged construction.
"Boeing developed a helicopter that is capable of providing high numbers of flight hours with a minimum of maintenance," states Dan Simmons, president of Columbia Helicopters. "With our regular maintenance and overhaul plan, 'seven-five' has once again proven why the Boeing Vertol is the backbone of our fleet."