Wiltrout to receive helicopter lifetime achievement award

Much of Gary Wiltrout’s life has been spent up in the air, literally.

The 1966 Columbia Falls High School graduate, who now lives in Boise, Idaho, will receive the Helicopter Association International’s Salute to Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award in January, 2020 after accumulating more than 26,500 flight hours over his 50-plus year career.

Wiltrout has spent the years flying a variety of helicopters around the world, but got his start flying missions for the Army in Vietnam from 1968-69 after his girlfriend’s father (now father-in-law) talked him into giving helicopters a try.

“The Vietnam War was going strong at that time and he suggested I give it a try. So, I went down and passed the test and that got me started. That’s where this all began,” Wiltrout said.

While in Vietnam, Wiltrout flew with the 335th Assault Helicopter Company out of Bearcat Base near the city of Biên Hòa, flying missions in the Mekong Delta in support of the 7th Armored Division.

“I flew more in that one year in Vietnam than I have in any single year in my civilian career. I flew 1,280 hours,” Wiltrout said.

After returning from Vietnam, Wiltrout married Maureen Johnson and served as a flight instructor at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

After leaving the Army in 1971, Wiltrout moved to Alaska and began working for Anchorage Helicopters, where he fought forest fires and even helped shuttle crews and equipment for the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.

Wiltrout then spent several years flying missions in Idaho on the construction of the Lewiston Grade power line before returning to Alaska to fly missions delivering fuel for power generators to telecommunications repeater stations in the mountains.

In 1999, Wiltrout became chief pilot for Salmon River Helicopters in Riggins, Idaho, where he worked 20 years before recently retiring.

During his career, Wiltrout flew more than a dozen different kinds of helicopters in a number of foreign countries, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Costa Rico, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Afghanistan, Bali and Sri Lanka. Among all the helicopters flown during his career, Wiltrout said the Sikorsky S-61 – in which he flew more than 14,000 hours - was his favorite.

“It’s a very dependable aircraft that can lift its own weight, but it does burn a 55-gallon drum of jet fuel in 15 minutes,” he noted.

Wiltrout said his favorite job with his helicopters was logging.

“Helicopter logging takes the most skill. It’s very demanding because you are flying a helicopter that costs a minimum of $2,500 an hour to operate and you have to do enough work to make the job profitable. You have to be quick and accurate,” he said.

Wiltrout has survived three aircraft accidents ­ — including two catastrophic engine failures — and the death of his pilot brother Timothy Wiltrout in 1990. One accident left Wiltrout with a broken back and claimed the life of an Alaska State Trooper.Undaunted, Wiltrout recovered and returned to the air.

True to his days as a flight instructor, Wiltrout is known throughout the helicopter community for helping mentor young pilots, selflessly passing on his knowledge to help others.

Despite all of his hard work, Wiltrout was surprised when he found out he had been nominated for the award and was “speechless” when he learned he had won it.

“Everyone did all this work putting the nomination together and nobody told me about it until they asked me to sign the nomination. At first I thought no, but then I realized how much work they put into it so I signed it figuring I had no chance,” he said. “There are a lot of good helicopter pilots out there. I represent all the pilots from my era that have been in the industry for all these years. I am proud to have been selected and I am grateful, but I realize it is an award that any one of those pilots could have won.”

The award, presented by Bell, salutes excellence in management and leadership and is given to an individual for long and significant service to the international helicopter community. It will be presented Jan. 29 at HAI’s Salute to Excellence Awards luncheon at HAI Heli-Expo 2020 in Anaheim, California.