VAI Member Spotlight is a free service VAI provides its small-business members to help increase their visibility. If your company would like to be considered for a VAI Member Spotlight, please sign up here. VAI Member Spotlight: Touchdown Helipads, Canada Family-owned business that provides specialized mobile helipads nears 30th anniversary of serving helicopter operators in Canada. By Jen Boyer While logging in the mountainous western coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, Rick Brown often witnessed precarious helicopter operations using rough, log-constructed landing zones and uneven terrain. The experience gave him an idea. Brown envisioned a lightweight aluminum helipad with mounted ground supports that could create not only a solid, flat, even landing zone for skidded helicopters, but would also be completely portable and reusable. Brown’s visionary concept led to the 1996 founding of Touchdown Helipads. The company has grown to fill a previously unanswered need in the market and today is a thriving family-owned and -operated business. The company’s helipads are designed to work across a variety of terrain levels and in uneven areas. They can be used in many applications, including forestry, utility, communications system maintenance, mining, oil-and-gas, firefighting, search-and-rescue, medical evacuation, and military. The helipads feature a high-strength, weldable aluminum alloy for a lightweight yet robust design. Adjustable legs allow for quick adaptation to variable terrain, meeting the unique needs of each individual site. The helipads must be anchored to firm and stable ground, either directly to native terrain or to concrete footings. Transport Canada, FAA Approved Touchdown Helipad’s products are designed and engineered to exceed structural-loading requirements defined by Canadian Aviation Regulation Standard 325 and FAA Advisory Circular 150/5390. All the company’s designs have been subjected to both software-simulated testing and engineer-supervised physical load testing well in excess of the 150% of max takeoff weight required under the Transport Canada and FAA guidelines. A Touchdown helipad can be constructed easily while in the field. Operators can assemble the helipad at a staging point using basic hand tools before transporting it to the landing zone location via longline. When the helipad is no longer needed at the landing zone, the operator can easily relocate it to another site. This design represents a marked improvement over the single-use log or timber landing zones that Brown witnessed being built laboriously on-site and then left behind to rot. Helping Operators for Nearly 30 Years In 2026, Touchdown Helipads will celebrate its 30th anniversary as a business. Since its inception, the company has delivered its innovative solutions to Canadian operators as well as in the western United States and Alaska. The company recently exhibited at VERTICON 2025 in Dallas, Texas. Today, Brown’s daughter and son-in-law, Kirsten Waddell and Dag Waddell, operate the Canadian division of the company on Vancouver Island. The American division, Touchdown Helipads USA, is led by Dag Waddell’s brother Frank and is based in Arizona. The business seeks to provide a personal touch for every project by blending experience, expertise, and a passion for excellence. Jen Boyer is a journalist and marketing communicator specializing in aviation. She holds commercial, instrument, flight instructor, and instrument instructor ratings in helicopters and a private rating in airplanes.
