{"id":10829,"date":"2026-02-12T19:57:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T19:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fecheliports.com\/?p=10829"},"modified":"2026-02-16T16:28:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:28:50","slug":"30th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fecheliports.com\/blog\/30th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Thirty Years of Partnership, Purpose, and People: A Heartfelt Thank You"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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We, at <\/span>FEC Heliports<\/span><\/a>, would like to thank our incredible partners and loyal customers for their support in achieving a remarkable milestone\u201430 years in business. Truly, we couldn\u2019t have done it alone.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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How It All Started<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Our story began not with a grand plan, but with a strategic opportunity and a keen eye for an unmet need. Back in 1996, our company began as a diversification move for our parent company, Federal Equipment Company. From there, we identified a key gap in the market, our <\/span>President<\/span>, <\/span>Tom Schuman<\/span><\/a>, recalls:<\/span><\/p>

\u201cIdentifying a void in the elevated and ground helipad market: the use of <\/span>aluminum<\/span><\/a> instead of concrete in the hospital market.\u00a0 It was already being used <\/span>offshore<\/span><\/a>, but we focused on the <\/span>US hospital market<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Secondly, we focused on Customer Service, and becoming a <\/span>one-stop shop <\/span><\/a>for our clients; design, manufacture, and install….we do it all!!\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Thanks to this approach, we became an industry leader within a decade.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Our First Partnership<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In the same way, a small business might frame its first dollar, we hold the story of our first client with a similar reference. It represents the pivotal moment when trust was first placed in our name. That honor belongs to the Flagstaff Medical Center in Arizona.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Tom fondly recalls how this first project \u201chelped put us under the gun and we ultimately designed what is now the <\/span>Helislat product <\/span><\/a>along with our <\/span>snowmelt system<\/span><\/a>.\u201d We are very proud to say this installation is still in use today.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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A Milestone Forged by Trust and Partnership\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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We are humbled by the trust that has sustained us since our founding in 1996. We know when our clients choose us, they need a reliable product, not just for a successful project, but to save lives. Through our partnerships, FEC has the honor of being a small part of <\/span>lifesaving missions<\/span><\/a> worldwide, and we couldn\u2019t be more grateful.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The People Behind the Mission: An Insider\u2019s Perspective<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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The legacy we speak of is built by employees like <\/span>Kim Swisshelm<\/span><\/a>, our Director of Sales & Consulting. When asked what she ascribes the company\u2019s success to, she stated:<\/span><\/p>

\u201cI’ve been with FEC heliports for 28 of its 30 years, and I can tell you that customer service, backed by expertise and the willingness to go beyond expectations with our clients, is what sets us apart. Our desire to be the people you can trust because of our experience drives us all to be at the top of our game. Just as importantly, we are always learning… from our clients, flight teams, and other industry leaders. We are proud to be a small part of saving lives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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A Family-Owned Business, Built on Teamwork<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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This sense of being \u2018on the same team\u2019 starts at home. As a family-owned and operated business, we\u2019ve worked intentionally to foster a unique culture. This culture fosters what Kim describes as \u201ca built-in foundation of trust that carries over to the rest of the employees, with everyone on the same team.\u201d This collaborative environment is maintained by focusing on roles and expertise first. This professional discipline ensures that we bring out the best, solution-oriented selves to work. We believe that ultimately, this internal culture of mutual trust and collaboration is the foundation for the reliable, dedicated partnerships we build with our clients and collaborators.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Our Commitment, Today and Tomorrow\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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This foundation of internal trust and teamwork is what has sustained our external mission for three decades. Our dedication to relentless innovation for safety, high-quality, complete solutions, and our commitment to our clients and partners have enabled us to successfully continue our mission for the last 30 years. We are honored that this commitment has been met with your continued partnership, and with gratitude as our compass, we look forward to the work ahead for decades to come.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We, at FEC Heliports, would like to thank our incredible partners and loyal customers for their support in achieving a remarkable milestone\u201430 years in business. Truly, we couldn\u2019t have done it alone. How It All Started Our story began not with a grand plan, but with a strategic opportunity and a keen eye for an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fecheliports.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fecheliports.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fecheliports.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fecheliports.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fecheliports.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10829"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/fecheliports.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10837,"href":"https:\/\/fecheliports.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10829\/revisions\/10837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fecheliports.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/10827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fecheliports.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fecheliports.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fecheliports.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}