Our History

Topflight can trace its roots back to 1947 when its founders (Carl Agar and Barney Bent) pioneered the use of a single light helicopter for aerial application of insecticides on fruit tree orchards in British Columbia.

The fledgling company, known as Okanagan Air Services, operated the first commercially licensed helicopter in Canada.   That company, now known as Canadian Helicopters (Topflight’s sister company), grew to become the largest helicopter operator in Canada.

In those early years, Carl Agar developed and perfected techniques for landing and taking off in mountainous areas.  This allowed Okanagan Air Services to expand its service offering to high altitude surveys and mineral prospecting and for transmission line construction through mountain passes.    As the demand for these services increased, so did the need for training programs that could teach these valuable mountain flying techniques to the company’s pilots.   Both Carl Agar and Barney Bent were former Royal Canadian Air Force flying instructors, so it wasn’t a far stretch for them to envision a flight school.

And so, in 1951 Okanagan Air Services established the training school in Penticton, BC.   The school’s reputation quickly spread and by 1955 it was teaching pilots from the Canadian, U.S., French, and Indonesian militaries.    To this day, the school continues to teach its students in the same training grounds where its founders perfected the mountain flying techniques.

Today, the school has established a world-renowned reputation for the caliber of its training programs.   Over the past 60+ years, the school has trained thousands of military, police, corporate and civilian pilots from all over North America and around the world.

Milestones

  • 1951

    Okanagan Air Services establishes a training school in Penction BC for training its company pilots

  • 1955

    The school opens its doors to non-company pilots and begins teaching pilots from the Canadian military, as well as other international military clients.

  • 1987

    The school becomes the Canadian Helicopters School of Advanced Flight Training

  • 2009

    Eurocopter Canada (Airbus) endorses the school’s Advanced Mountain Flying Training Program

  • 2012

    The school moves into a new purpose built training facility

  • 2014

    The school introduces Night Vision Goggle (NVG) training

  • 2018

    The school becomes Topflight Elite Training and Charter Services

  • 2019

    Bell Helicopter endorses the school as an  Approved Bell Training Centre for Mountain Flight Training

  • 2020

    The school is awarded a BC Export Award in recognition of its excellence in the Professional Services Category