The Billings Gazette from Billings, Montana • 10

ISA Tuesday, January 31, 2006 CIHuuy (gazette on fast Grevuii mmhm Tim oivhr grew in. rat bote i J. J'll IN I. .11 Ml I. ,11, I fl nu Ln, I.

Ifl I I 'N 1 1 Airplanes owned by Hawkins Powers Aviation have been used to fight fires and as props In Hollywood movies. Some of the remaining planes may be sold to museums as part of a deal to pay off creditors. is risky business that places tremendous stress on the aircraft. "You're flying up and down mountains and valleys, in and out of fire, where you barely have enough room to pull up after dropping your retardant" he said "You're flying just above stalling speed. There's going to be trouble if anything happens." Support planes, helicopters and other tankers are also nearby, Reiner said, and the whole point of the operation is to get as close to the fire as possible.

Reiner had flown in both planes involved in the 2002 accidents, and said there was no way that inspections could have uncovered the stress fractures. "After the accidents in 2002, the firefighting agencies started to downsize the use of the existing larger air tankers," Powers said. "And then by 2004, they completely cancelled all of the large air tanker contracts in the U.S. for every company." Debt and sale This left scrambling to pay its bills and service the debt on equipment that was generating no revenue. Conscious of its importance in the Greybull community, also continued to pay its pilots and mechanics, even though they weren't flying airplanes or fixing them.

The company quickly accumulated around $14 million in debt, according to Jim Taggart, a turnaround specialist brought in last summer to restructure and manage the company. To pay off creditors, sold its fixed assets everything from giant cargo planes to the last screwdriver to a liquidation firm, Great American. The company, which specializes in acquiring and liquidating assets of failed corporations, is in the process of selling about 50 planes once owned by The last profitable sector of the company was a group dedicated to repair and refurbishing of aircraft like the C-130s used in firefighting and military operations. "The board made the decision to go out of business and try to find a successor company" to take over the refurbishing operations, Taggart said. Efforts to find that successor company continue, with around two dozen employees still working on a C-130 expected to be completed next month.

It is the last job scheduled for the remaining employees. "When that happens," Reiner said, "Hawkins and Powers will have fulfilled all they work they were ever going to da Period." Aerial firefighting pioneer lost its government contracts after accidents Story and Photo By RUFFIN PREVOST Gazette Wyoming Bureau GREYBULL, Wyo. A World War I-vintage bomber flying low over a raging forest fire to drop flame retardant became a familiar sight in the inter-mountain West, but four decades ago it was a radical idea. Realizing that vision took the right combination of circumstances, including affordable planes, veteran pilots willing to take the risk, and a large, well-equipped airport close to forest fires. That's how Hawkins Powers Aviation of Greybull grew to be an aerial firefighting pioneer and industry powerhouse.

At the height of its operations just a few years ago, employed about 200 people and boasted the best fleet of aerial tankers in the business, according to former company executive Duane Powers. 1 Though a series of recent challenges including two deadly accidents and more than $14 million in debt may ultimately result in the dissolution of the company, it leaves behind a history rich in innovation and achievement Started with spraying Hawkins Powers was built from an earlier company. I Mel Christler and Morris Avery started Christler-Avery Aviation after World War offering aerial spraying services. In 1961, Christler moved to Thermopolis, selling his interest in the Company to Avery. With funding through local investors, Avery built a hangar and developed the facilities at the Greybull airport I "Avery started adding helicopters to his commercial fleet" and was a pioneer in their commercial use, Powers said.

-They would do spraying, search and rescue, survey of power lines and support mining operations." When Avery died in 1969, pilots Dan jlawkins and Gene Powers bought the company from his widow, Pelete. I "They flipped a coin to see whose name went first" said Duane Powers, son of Gene Powers. The partners still own the company, although neither is active in its daily management Protecting crops against pests such as grasshoppers, fire ants and spruce budworms became big business. The U.S. Forest Service paid pilots to spray herbicide on sagebrush.

"That allowed grass to grow and generated huge tracts of pasture land for cattle and sheep grazing," Powers said of the program that opened much of the West to expanded ranching operations. "Hawkins managed the helicopters and Gene operated the firefighting," Powers said. "They also started doing the firefighting with small helicopters. "Back in those days, they operated anywhere from three to four tankers and three to four helicopters," he said "Then Hawkins Powers started a gradual expansion of their air tanker fleet, adding additional aircraft and additional helicopters." Helicopters were also in demand during the energy boom of the 1970s for moving oil and gas exploration and testing equipment to remote areas, Powers said. During the 1980s, Powers said the company began converting C-130s a military cargo plane also known as the Hercules into air tankers.

It also created what remains the largest air tanker in the United States, a C-97 with a capacity. "The C-97 had the world's first com puter-controlled retardant-delivery system," an innovation that allowed pilots to more accurately drop retardant over a wider area with each pass, Powers said. The company saw an expansion in the use of helicopters in wildlife capture and tracking programs during the 1990s, using them to assist in tracking and transporting wolves, deer, elk, bighorn sheep and even bison. That era also brought an increased focus on improvements in the airport facilities and upgrades to the fleet's electronics and avionics systems, Powers said. The accidents The slow and steady growth that enjoyed for more than 30 years was dealt a crippling setback in 2002, when two similar accidents involving its planes resulted in five deaths and the eventual grounding of all heavy air tankers.

The crashes made national headlines, with a Reno, Nev, television station capturing footage of the wings separating from a C-130A before it crashed near Walker, Calif. Just a month later, a PB4Y-2 owned by lost a wing and crashed while lighting a fire near Estes Park, Cola The Forest Service, which had con tracted for decades with and a handful of other companies for firefighting services, implemented new worthiness standards that did not allow the use of many of older planes. The move effectively grounded much of the company's fleet along with many heavy air tankers used by other aerial firefighting companies. Federal accident investigators concluded that the accidents resulted from fatigue cracks in the metal where the wings were joined to the planes, an area that can't be inspected without disassembling the aircraft Powers said the exhaustive federal investigations following the crashes were "a very intense period," and he defended the company's safety record overall. "Hawkins and Powers has flown more hours of accident-free firefighting time than any company in the history of the United States," he said.

"In every case, it was determined that had met and exceeded all requirements of maintenance and safety," Powers said. "There were no charges of wrongdoing or regulatory violations determined." Ralph Reiner of Emblem is a retired pilot and curator of the Museum of Flight and Aerial Firefighting at the Big Horn County Airport Though he never flew for he said frying fire missions Nil -f 7 Hawkins Powers timeline Mel Christler and Bud Watson form Big Horn Flying Service in Greybull, offering flight instruction and general aviation services. 1950: Morris Avery joins Mel Christler in forming Christler-Avery Aviation, specializing in aerial spraying services for US. Forest Service and agriculture interests. 1958: Christler-Avery purchases surplus PB4Y-2 airplanes for use in spraying and later for aerial firefighting.

1961: Mel Christler moves to Thermopolis and sells interest in company to Avery, who renames company Avery Aviation 1969: Morris Avery dies and widow sells company to Avery Aviation pilots Dan Hawkins and Gene Powers. 1970s: Pioneers use of helicopters in firefighting operations, develops use of C-119 aircraft, phases out B-18s and B-25s. Flies many oil exploration missions. 1980s: Creates largest air tanker, based on C-97; begins using C-130 aircraft and phases out C-119s. 1990s: Focuses on upgrading avionics systems, develops computer-controlled fire retardant delivery systems.

2002: Two accidents with aircraft, a PB4Y-2 and C-130A, result in grounding of all heavy air tankers throughout aerial firefighting industry. 2003: Government agencies cancel contracts for use of heavy air tankers, develop continuing air worthiness standards calling for smaller, newer planes. 2004: Unable to secure contracts for most of its heavy air tankers, phases out aerial firefighting; closes out helicopter operations; focuses on repair, maintenance operations. 2005: Company changes management structure, liquidates assets to satisfy around $15 million owed to creditors; seeks successor company for refurbishing operation Last refurbishing contract scheduled for completion in RUFFIN PREVOSTGuette Staff Cameron Monasmlth of Hawkins Powers Aviation prepares metal surfaces for painting along the rear section of a C-130. "The company looks like it's doomed to fail And yet they still keep coming to work and performing with such discipline.

It speaks a lot ofdieir integrity Planes Continued from 1A steady revenue, mainly by refurbishing and repairing planes. has continued operationally over the last two years Relying on the manufacturing division," said Duane Powers, a Former executive with the company who was instrumental in establishing the refurbishing business. Powers is the son of Gene Powers, who ran the company with partner Dan Hawkins for more than 35 years. Gene Powers and Dan Hawkins still own the company, but are ready to retire, according to Duane Powers. Duane Powers said he has resigned from the company and, along with a group of local investors, he has started his own business called Aerospace Fabrication, or AeroFab.

Powers said he hopes to see AeroFab become a successor to "Over the next five years, this new company would be moving forward with its own new customers and its own new direction in the aircraft maintenance, modification and repair industry," he said. Powers said he has been working with Big Horn County officials to secure funding for improvements to the airport, including an advanced fire suppression system and a larger hangar. Currently, only the fciil section of the C-130 will fit inside the I hiingar. Work on the rest of the aircraft takes pLure outside, exposed to tlic elements. Ready for a buyer Some employers are weary of talk about new hangars and Improved infrastructure, and wonder why the business hasn't attracted investors on its own merit.

"We've pruvrn we can Ic profitable dning this wiih what we luvc here rij'Jit row," said John Olio, a mechanic with JlftP who ha alvi worked at an insx-ctor and supervisor. "Going Into rral debt with a multimillion-dollar hangar wouldn't make good business K-nsr," he Said. "In the List year, when we let a 1 of our nun 'hank we lost a of good people." Olin said. "I krxnv of a cooplr guy working In mine tvw, and mmx? have Fiitr into construction, and some have gone to work In tlic ben-tonilr plant in GrrylnjIL "in)rr have gone to oflirr like that and building and developing them," said Paul Galovich, co-owner of "We think we can make that happen here, too. "Some people think it's crazy trying to tike over a company tliat has no work." he said Galovich said he has been Impressed by the I KVP employees he has worked with, and is pleased with how they've performed since the sh.ike-up In the company business.

"The company kioks like it's doomed to fail," he laid "And yrt they still keep coming to work and performing with such discipline. It peak a lot of their Integrity." LiicrativQ rxrtets It also speaks of the sltrrr number of hours required to ovrrlwiul a GDO, and tlic potential profits to be made by wlv "ever can iRcrsfuIly tike on contract tike theme performed by ILVPfor tr-ar Siller. 'Pie latest C-D0 contract have typk'ally pmrratrd profit of anmnd for ll.P, Sim tui.L iVpiie rlTori by both Tajjyrt and iViwrr In bring In more lucrative deal, (lie work 1 fx likely to come from I far Sirp.ler or clsrwltnr until WaMe im crv ir company In In pUr, Sim ai.L aid he i. frustrated by the inability of the board to move forward with plans to sell remaining assets to a successor company. Differences In opinion between the two ownership fiuni-lies have been part of the problem, he said.

He also cited longstanding confusion over the status of Duane Powers, who Taggart said must cither act as a member of the board or an independent party but can't be both without creating conflicts of interest Duane Powers ha said he has severed tie with I and that Acrof ab is a separate and Independent company. Tajul said he has asked that future contact talks between Power and I kP management be conducted through attorneys, but declined to clalxrate on what led to that request. Sim aid he has had the occasional disagreement with Powers a well, but hopes rither AeroFab or fUvG stq in quickly. These mechanics are established In Greybull," Sims aid. "People here want to t.ty and continue to work for thi company.

IVij'le here care about their "If thi all gor away and evrrylxKly gor to work at the brnfonile plant or the railroad, that would lc really sad." Paii Gaiovich co-owncr of BfaG Industries an exceptionally good work force." Because many of tlic aircraft that Great American bought from are not fully airworthy, Lccsy hope to repair them, thrn sell them for more than he could if they didn't fly. For that, hell need the I employees. But since Great American hope to repair and sell by September nearly 50 planes acquired from I UP, it won't be a long-term presence at the airport. two takers Although ix ffroup looked Into taking over after tlirre now appear to be only two serious parties eirprrssing InlrrcsC Aerolab and Industries of Thermojiolis. Is a prn Ukm manufacturer of custom fabricated machine pari, acciiritintf to ro-ownrr Paul Galovk lu It lu rm-turner nationwide and ha worked on pro with I "We have kind of a history if taking 011 dislrrwd companies towns or areas, trying to stay In aviatioa" he said.

At one time employed around 200 people, but now has about two dozen employees, some of whom are part-time. Mechanics at earn between $15 and $20 an hour, according to Sims, wit the clean-era who do sanding and basic labor grtting around $10 an hour. Those wages would mike any successor company a premier employer in Big Horn County. It's apparent by the way tliry work tluit the remaining HM employee appreciate their Job. They have been working for months witlumt direct management, essentially supervising tlicmvfvc.

"We don't rwed supervisors," Sims s.iid. "We just come up with a plan and nuke it luppm." Working as a suU-ontrlor for I4r Sirplrr Sorvum. a major defense contractor, I employer received the only perfect wore ever issurd by the Department of Defense for a 130 refurbishing job, Jim Taggart said Taggart is a turnaround specialist brought In by List summer to restructure the company and manage Its dissolution. "Everybody should know how extraordinary those guy are," Taggart wid of the refurbishing crew. "They've done phenomenal work while knowing there may not be jobs for them in the future." ConHcatcd interests Coming up with a workable plan for a iucrmsor company complicated, Tayrt said, thanks to tlic numlirr of players at tlie table and a tanpjed Web of legal and finand.il Iriterrsts.

To pay off more Own million owed to creditor. I sold Iti fixed awrt to Grr.it American, a liquidator that brokered a deal to buy all the planr parts and cvrn tool owned I7 the company. "We're keenly Intcrmted In seeing thewe rmployrr May," Mid Kon Ircy. a senior vk resident with Great American "Ihry are.