Heli Logging

Safe, Efficient Timber Harvesting with the Aerial Truck

Swanson Group Aviation / Superior Helicopter began as a helicopter logging company and has maintained an outstanding reputation as a premier helicopter timber operator for over a decade. Superior maintains a fleet of highly reliable, late model loading equipment as well as a fleet of 26 log trucks to support our helicopter operations and ensure excellent log quality. Our highly experienced forest managers and well trained crews are experts at safely and efficiently utilizing our helicopters to harvest wood with minimal impact.

The Kmax helicopter was originally chosen by SGA for forest operations because it was the only commercial helicopter specifically designed for rugged, repetitive heavy lift applications. The Kmax is reliable and features a dual intermeshing rotor system that eliminates the need for a tail rotor.

Some advantages of the Kmax for Timber Harvesting

• The rotor system applies all power to the main rotors, generating tremendous vertical dead lift capability while greatly reducing noise and downwash.
• The Kmax features great pilot visibility from both sides of the aircraft.
• Low noise, low downwash, great visibility, no tail rotor and power to spare make Superior’s helicopters inherently safe for timber removal in difficult conditions.

Swanson Group Aviation designed and built a heavy duty hydraulic grapple system for the Kmax that uses the transmission of the helicopter to actuate a powerful grapple with extra large opening jaws. The grapple allows for removal of single trees as well as grasping large bundles of wildland forest fuels and other awkward loads without any ground crew below the aircraft.

Wildland Fuel Reduction and Environmental Thinning – Without a Trace

Swanson Group Aviation has become a preferred operator in environmentally sensitive areas and urban interface regions where minimal disturbance is required. SGA is uniquely suited for fuels reduction, hazard removal, and watershed thinning due to the professionalism of our crews in sensitive areas and a very quiet aircraft with low rotorwash that allows selective thinning without residual canopy or stand damage.

SGA has been repeatedly selected by the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and various power companies and municipal, county and state agencies for selective forest removal in close proximity to sensitive residential neighborhoods and watershed land because of our environmentally responsible approach to hazard thinning.

Log Truck Fleet

Swanson Group Aviation owns and operates its own fleet of 26 Peterbuilt log trucks. In addition to hauling logs for our internal helicopter operations and our parent company lumber mills, Superior’s trucks are available for hire for outside logging hauls anywhere on the west coast of the U.S. SGA has its own maintenance facility and staff of full-time truck mechanics, and our fleet safety record and on-time performance is among the best in the industry and the result of our experienced pool of drivers.

Contact our Trucking Manager, Dennis Phillips at 541-494-7664 for all your log hauling needs.