1 Vision growth evident from afar |
1 Vision overflows Big Bertha (Hangar H959) at Salina Regional Airport. (Photo courtesy Salina Airport Authority) |
Tim Unruh
April 2021
A drive-by on Centennial Road is all the proof you need that business is hopping at 1 Vision Aviation.
A major tenant at the Salina Regional Airport and Industrial Center, 1 Vision performs maintenance on regional jets from all over the nation and some from overseas.
A number of aircraft are parked outside of Big Bertha, Salina’s largest hangar, where owner and CEO Jim Sponder opened for business in September 2019.
He started with some 45 workers then, and has plans to employ up to 500 workers at the huge Salina hangar.
The goal is still in the works, but like many other companies, 1 Vision’s roster dwindled to nearly 30 in 2020, during the worst of the Coronavirus pandemic.
That lull has since lifted. Demand for 1 Vision’s services has ballooned, and Big Bertha is bulging with both work and workers. Sponder counts 250 employees, and he’s still hiring.
“We have two shifts,” Sponder said. “We are booking work as far out as March of next year.”
Regional airlines are flying again, and there is a huge backlog of work to be done.
“The airlines parked aircraft that needed major maintenance checks during the pandemic. “They only performed minimal maintenance and were focused on keeping their budgets as low as possible,” Sponder said. “Now it’s catch-up time for airlines.”
Federal Aviation Administration regulations require many repair inspections and maintenance that are scheduled with the calendar, operational time or the number of takeoffs and landings.
“You’ve got to look at certain areas of the aircraft with each inspection,” he said.
There are many good sides to having a rush of demand, but finding enough licensed airframe and powerplant mechanics who do the bulk of 1 Vision’s maintenance, repair and overhaul work, has been a challenge.
“Our recruiter is working hard and bringing a lot of people in, but I finally made the jump to using contract houses as well,” Sponder said. “Half of my employees are now contract workers and half are direct hires.”
Sponder’s pleased to have the growing business, but there can be problems.
“I don’t want to get the cart in front of the horse, and hire too many people,” he said. “I’m trying to do it as smart as I can. When we get caught up, I don’t want to have to lay people off.”
One of six team owners of the Salina Liberty indoor football team, Sponder has some players working part-time at 1 Vision Aviation.
“I need about 100 more mechanics yesterday,” he said. “I wish I was at my goal of 500 right now.”
Another bright side of the current situation, he said, is that parts suppliers are well-stocked.
“I’m happy the airline conventions are opening back up,” Sponder said. “It helps build business.”
He’ll be attending an MRO event soon in Orlando, Fla., and a Regional Airline Association gathering this fall in Phoenix.
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Local flavor graces LifeSave Transport at SLN: owner Air Methods nearly nationwide |
LifeSave Transport's Salina clinical lead, Cassie Markley, poses with an air ambulance helicopter April 16 at Salina Regional Airport. (Photo by Tim Unruh) |
Tim Unruh
April 2021
Change has greeted LifeSave Transport air ambulance service at Salina Regional Airport, with a new owner and aircraft.
The mission to serve around the clock, care for and swiftly fly patients to hospitals, has not diminished, although the pandemic has injected other duties.
LifeSave was purchased this past December by Air Methods, headquartered in Englewood, Colo., with air medical transport bases in most of the United States. The company employs more than 5,000 people.
Locations in Kansas will continue to operate as LifeSave Transport, said Cassie Markley, R.N., the clinical base lead, who manages the service at SLN.
The Salina base has added a new Astar 350 helicopter, equipped for critical care air transport.
The Salina location is staffed by crew members primarily from central and north-central Kansas.
“I’m a local girl, and love being able to serve the people and community where I grew up. We’re very happy with the choice,” said Markley, (her first name pronunciation sounds like Casey). She’s a 1990 graduate of Abilene High School.
The original company was founded by Dr. Martin Sellberg, who hails from the McPherson area.
Two pilots live in Salina, one in Lindsborg, and one in Manhattan. Flight nurses and paramedics are from the Salina and Wichita areas.
“In our line of work, that’s a normal commute,” Markley said. “The pilots share staffing responsibilities and are able to go home many nights.”
The Salina location opened in August 2019 in Hangar 504 just south of the air traffic control tower, at 2013 Kneubuhl Court, complete with living quarters necessary for the 24/7 service.
Crews have been flying up to three times a day, Markley said, and the Salina base logs as many as 20 flights a month.
“Things are really blossoming, and we’re still developing relationships in the area. It’s very positive,” Markley said.
LifeSave / Air Methods just finished a mock drunk driving exercise at Sacred Heart High School, with the Salina Fire Department and several other agencies.
Air Methods offers rotor and fixed wing air ambulance services in more than 45 states, including Hawaii.
Regionally, helicopters and crews are based in Salina, Emporia, Dodge City, and Colby, with fixed wing aircraft in Wichita, Garden City, McCook, Neb., and Austin, Texas.
A 24-hour crew consists of two of the four pilots and medical staff, usually a flight nurse and a paramedic. Occasionally, however, two nurses will go on a mission.
LifeSave regions are typically within a 100-mile radius of the base of operations, but the crews are not solely confined to them. At times, Markley said, Salina flights will venture to other areas, such as when the Emporia base is busy and needs help.
“We do interfacility transfer, hospital to hospital, when someone is sick or hurt or for example, having a heart attack and we need to get them to a cath lab. Maybe we’ll fly from Ellsworth to Salina,” she said. “There are also scene flights, such as for car accidents. We have highways all round us and rural settings. We fly for a lot of outside accidents such as ATV and farm accidents.”
The pandemic has added to the workload, Markley said, especially for fixed wing flights.
“Because of the availability of hospitals, with many of them full, you have to fly further, like to KU Med (University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kan.),” she said. “to be able to provide the best possible care for our patients, in the safest manner.”
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Dave Tarleton, a member of the LifeSave maintenance staff, inspects the rotor assembly early April 16 in the company hangar at Salina Regional Airport. (Photo by Tim Unruh) |
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Midwest Concrete Materials new owner of plant in Salina Airport Industrial Center |
Tim Unruh
April 2021
Manhattan-based Midwest Concrete Materials has joined a growing business community in the Salina Airport Industrial Center.
The company purchased the concrete plant at 2601 Centennial on April 9 from Builders Choice Concrete.
The Salina Airport Authority board approved a change of the land lease at the April 7 special meeting.
“Salina’s a town we’ve always had our eyes on. It fits well with our footprint along I-70, and we’re always looking to expand our business,” said Chris Eichman, vice president of Midwest Concrete Materials.
The third and fourth generations of the Eichman family are the “driving force of the organization,” said Richard Shermoen, Midwest Concrete’s chief financial officer.
The company was founded in 1927 by Henry Eichman (Chris’s great-grandfather) who started dredging sand out of the Kansas River to produce concrete in the construction of a bridge over that same river.
“It stood for more than 60 years,” Chris Eichman said.
His father, Rob Eichman, is the company president.
Midwest Concrete Materials now has plants in Salina, Abilene, Junction City, Lawrence, Perry, Atchison and two in Manhattan, where its corporate office is located.
The company’s primary businesses are ready-mix concrete manufacturing, aggregate production, local trucking, and excavation services.
The company employs 230, including 12 at the Salina plant. A 13th worker starts there May 3.
All of those previously employed by Builders Choice were re-hired by Midwest, Shermoen said, including manager Mark Blaha.
“The good people working at Builders Choice made (the purchase) attractive to us,” Chris Eichman said. “Salina is a concrete-friendly town, and there is definitely a lot going on there.”
The company is looking to add workers at its other sites as well.
“Finding qualified help is a challenge because the job market is tighter than most people realize,” he said Midwest Concrete Materials can be reached at (785) 776-8811, or toll free (800) 813-5195.
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United fares never better |
Tim Unruh
April 2021
This spring, on the heels of a year to forget, United has announced surprisingly low fares for air travel to and from Salina Regional Airport.
At Salina United offers daily nonstop service through Denver International and Chicago O’Hare airports with connections to dozens of cities and beyond.
- SLN - LAX ($157 round-trip) available until July
- SLN - PHX ($231 round-trip) available until 4th week of May
- SLN - FLL ($223 round-trip) available until 2nd week of June
- SLN - LAS ($243 round-trip) available until 2nd week of June
- SLN - SEA ($153 round-trip) available until 2nd week of June
“Round-trip fares to major U.S. destinations have never been better,” said Gary Foss, Salina Airport Authority consultant, and owner of the ArkStar Group.
“Traffic is beginning to rebound from pandemic lows. Fares may not stay this low for long,” he said.
The message is to “book now,” said Tim Rogers, airport authority executive director.
Visit united.com to book flights and check out the new lower fares.
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Greetings!
Another April came and went with snow showers – seems to be the norm now – but was the best kind of snow in spring, here and gone in the same day. However, weather has not had a significant effect on flying … numbers are still rising and some signs of new voices over the radio that seemed somewhat dormant until recent days. Hope your flight(s), experiences were favorable ones.
Early in May we will be filling a vacancy that we have had since last July with a controller who comes to us with 10-years service in the Air Force and another 10 years time in the contract world just recently returning from Kabul Afghanistan. He and his family will be joining our team from the Colorado area and his initial exposure to Salina will be impacted with lots of activities scheduled. He was given choices and he picked Salina over them because of our operation here, which is a definite plus for us. He is looking at new builds in the area and has also been a published writer with Plane and Pilot Magazine.
COVID-19 is hopefully coming to conclusion soon and we are hopeful that tower tours may be an option again – we will update on those possibilities after we see how the mask mandate lessons in the coming days-weeks. If you are interested feel free to call. Until next time, thank you for the flying that you do.
Be safe-fly often and to those that it applies, Happy Mother’s Day…
Scott Hillegeist
Air Traffic Manager
Salina (SLN) FCT
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Feature Facility
Building 520, Unit E
2775 Arnold Avenue
The Salina Airport Authority has available for lease, a 2,886 sq. ft. building located in the heart of the Airport Industrial Center. Building 520, Unit E is move in ready and the perfect size for any business or organization needing warehouse space along with offices.
Commonly known as Building 520, Unit E, this well maintained facility is located at 2775 Arnold Avenue and features 1,762 sq. ft. of warehouse space and 1,124 sq. ft. of office space.
Call the Salina Airport Authority today at (785) 827-3914 to schedule a tour, or email shellis@salair.org.
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On the Flightline at America's Fuel Stop |
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Operations at Salina Regional Airport - April 2021 |
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Salina Airport Authority | www.salinaairport.com
3237 Arnold Avenue
Salina, Kansas 67401
785-827-3914
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Copyright ©2021 | Salina Airport Authority | All rights reserved
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