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.