Calvin G. Dorn

Calvin started his flying career with the U. S. Marine Corps in 1979 at Pensacola Florida. After receiving his wings he chose to return to his home state of California and was stationed at Camp Pendleton in Southern California.

In 1990 Calvin and his family moved to Kauai and began to fly tours on that island as well as continuing to fly utility flights.  In 1992 he moved to the Island of Hawaii to fly primarily utility work with the Federal, State, and county governments as well as private companies and served as Chief Pilot his employer. 

In 1995 Calvin changed companies and continued to fly utility work and tour flights while also serving as Chief Pilot.  In 1999 he took over K&S Helicopters, Inc. with a partner and began to fly tours and utility work out of Hilo.  Now 4 years later he is flying primarily out of Kona doing utility work throughout the state as well as conducting tours in Hilo and Kona.  Calvin has completed a wide variety of jobs with helicopters including, firefighting, cement pouring, tower setting, pole setting, demolition cleanup, search and rescue, archeological survey, agricultural applications and all manner of external load jobs.

Joyce Seyferth

A League of her Own

San Diego native, Joyce Seyferth never considered a job in aviation.  She had a tendency to be airsick, one which was confirmed at the age of 21 when she flew for the first time (having eaten Taco Bell beforehand) and spent most of the flight in the bathroom!  It wasn't until 15 years later that she took a class about learning to fly helicopters and, remembering her first flight, she said, "I was totally mesmerized by the view and I just fell in love with it." 

It took her many years and a lot of determination to acquire her Private, Commercial, and Instructor licenses. For much of the time she worked part-time and/or volunteered to get the hours and experience she needed to further her career in aviation.

When Joyce was ready to take a break from teaching, she was offered at job at a first-time tour site at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.  She had a great time flying tours that summer. 

Upon returning to San Diego, Joyce realized that the next step was to acquire an instrument rating.  This took another year to do.  After that, she was incredibly marketable and set out to work in Hawaii.  She soon found Tropical Helicopters and has spent the past 5 years flying our tours.  Joyce still loves her job and explains that, "it is the Volcano that keeps it interesting."

Female pilots are a rarity in this historically male dominated business of aviation.  In a sense, Joyce is in a league of her own, but one which is growing in numbers each year.  For this very reason, she was featured in the   November-December 2003 edition of Women in Aviation.  Check it out and learn more about Joyce!

Robert Blair

Bob's flying career began in 1960 when, fresh out of college, he participated in the ROTC aviation program. While he flew only helicopters for the army, they taught him to fly fixed-wings as well.  After his service time, he was able to use his fixed-wing knowledge while teaching at an aviation school for the   University of Illinois.

Two years later when Bob started looking for something new, he found out about a job for individuals who can fly both helicopters and fixed-wings.  The job was on the tiny Island of Kwajalein in the South Pacific, an island measuring .5 miles wide by 3.5 miles long. Bob spent 15 of the next 30 years on "Kwaj." The island was a missile test zone receiving missiles sent from California (5000 miles away) in just  23.5 minutes. Hundreds of people worked on the island tracking radars, satellites, missiles and, some even practiced intercepting and destroying the incoming artillery. Bob's job entailed transporting all of these people to their work sites.

In between his intervals on the island (he had to take breaks from the confinement), Bob spent the other 15 years flying in Hawaii, working for the FAA, attending law school, and even practicing law for several years on the mainland! 

He has been with Tropical Helicopters since 2000.