Homestead Helicopters, Taking You to New Heights When It Comes to Seeing Missoula and Surrounding Areas
Story by: Erin zollars
Photos by: Sol tucker
Missoula, MT: Our staff has tried many different ways to see cities over the past eight years. Nothing has been able to defeat the way of seeing a city than from a helicopter and this time a trip to Missoula, Montana, revealed one of the classiest businesses we have had the pleasure of working with in some time in Homestead Helicopters.
While there are other tour companies that will service Missoula from the Glacier area, Homestead just caters to customers at a level that most tour companies have long forgotten about.
Very rarely do we have the chance to bring our readers a different take on an area when it comes to visiting a city and this time we left it up to the expertise of veteran pilot and experienced firefighter Todd Donahue.
Todd who has established himself as the premier helicopter company based in Missoula, has done so from the ground up. His story of success comes from a business owner that started his business with next to nothing and has blossomed into a company with great staff members and one of the premier helicopter fire-fighting companies and tour companies in the State of Montana.
Since the inception of Homestead in 1996, Todd has since landed contracts from the United States Government to survey land and to fight fires nationwide. One of his helicopters is a mint condition Bell Ranger Helicopter that he bought used and reconditioned that would make most million dollar corporate helicopter owners jealous. Homestead has also established itself as a top firefighting company and had controlled many of the major fires that occur in the state each Spring and Summer. He has even gone as far as New Mexico to lend a hand in dousing fires from the air.
Our recent helicopter trip required about 2 hours of traveling to see the sights of Missoula and what the surrounding areas had to offer.
Throughout the picturesque views we discovered many lakes that we had no idea existed. Not even the best maps will show some of what we saw from above. The lakes and the wildlife we viewed were fascinating and well worth taking more than one photo. This area we hovered over was just a few miles north of the city of Missoula and goes unexplored by many of the locals. Some of these areas it would take a true hiker days to climb, if not half of the week. Once winter settles in, some of these areas are even tough for a helicopter to venture inside of.
It is always amazing what you can see from a helicopter that you can not see from the ground or even from an airplane as you approach the city you are landing in. While riding in the helicopter with Todd you can see his dedication to safety and keeping customers happy as well. We felt a bit more comfortable with Todd than we have with past pilots that claim to have a great service and excellent knowledge of a particular area. It was very close to having a pilot and tour guide onboard.
The staff at Homestead is extremely knowledgeable on what it will take to get any job done. From a quick photo flight to surveying the land, Homestead has the equipment for any job.
Homestead has full ground support and a mobile truck, which will allow the helicopter to overnight in remote locations. From these locations, Chad, Todd's mechanic, can bring additional fuel and any maintenance can be performed from the field. Many who operate helicopters our staff has flown in for photo assignments can barely afford to keep the Jet A in the tank to keep them flying.
For more information about making a reservation for a private tour of Missoula or to fly into Glacier or any other parts of Montana, contact Todd or any of his staff directly at (406)544-0402.
