Since its inception in 1997, Arrow Aviation has grown from five employees occupying a 10,000-square-foot facility to 110 employees operating out of its current 150,000-square-foot home.
Cyril and David Guidry started the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) part 145 repair station in Broussard, Louisiana, steadily growing the company over the last quarter century. Today, its team includes FAA-certificated airframe and powerplant mechanics, FAA-designated airworthiness representatives, and designated engineering representatives.
“Our years of collective experience in aviation maintenance and completion services runs deep,” said Cyril Guidry, CEO of Arrow Aviation. “When customers turn to Arrow Aviation, they can rest assured knowing they’re getting quality service from our highly experienced and qualified experts.”
Right from the beginning, Arrow Aviation has operated as a fully integrated turnkey company, committed to providing quality services at reasonable prices. Arrow Aviation specializes in providing helicopter maintenance and completion services to the commercial, offshore, corporate, emergency medical, and private aviation sectors.
The company is a customer service center for Bell and Airbus Helicopters, as well as an authorized maintenance center for Sikorsky and Rolls-Royce, and an excellent service center for Leonardo. In fact, Arrow Aviation is the only excellent service center in the Western Hemisphere, excluding Leonardo’s facilities in Philadelphia and Brazil.
Its list of accreditations runs long. The company has maintenance organization approvals from the FAA, South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC).
It has also received AS9110 (B) certification from the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB), which places Arrow Aviation in a select group of service facilities that have enacted a quality management system that goes beyond the FAA and EASA certification requirements.
Arrow Aviation’s extensive knowledge was put to use during one of the company’s most notable projects — refurbishing Eagle One, the Bell 206L-1 helicopter that played a pivotal role in rescuing passengers of Air Florida Flight 90 from the icy Potomac River on Jan. 13, 1982. The aircraft had crashed into a busy bridge shortly after take-off from the Washington National Airport.
When the National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington, D.C., opened its doors, guests were greeted by a monument to one of the U.S. Park Police’s most intense rescue missions. Arrow Aviation is proud to be a part of working on that historical piece.
“We have had the pleasure of supporting the maintenance and equipment needs of many law enforcement aircraft from offices around the country, and are very pleased to be able to give back to the community, which we have supported for so long,” Guidry said.
Arrow Aviation also completed the first single pilot instrument flight rules Bell 407 for HEMS service, installing Helifab’s EMS interior including patient and isolette transport litters, AC electrical system, and medical oxygen, suction, and air systems.
Located in the same facility, Helifab holds supplemental type certificates (STCs) and parts manufacturer approvals (PMAs) for various installations. The two companies work in partnership to bring new STC-approved products to market. The on-staff designated FAA representatives also provide an efficient FAA product approval process for the development and certification of new product designs or improvements to existing systems.
Recently, Bell announced an agreement with Arrow Aviation to sell the Helifab emergency medical kit configuration for the Bell 505. This installation consists of much of the same equipment used in the Bell 407 and Airbus H130 T2.
