He’s only had use of FL-586 for six months, but Ben Giles is certain he’s found paradise in the form of an airplane: a 2008 Beechcraft King Air 350 he purchased in 2020 and had extensively refurbished and upgraded at Textron Aviation’s Indianapolis Service Center.
“This is the aircraft we will keep forever, or as long as I’m around,” said Giles, a custom home builder based in Destin, Florida, who has built hundreds of homes in his career and now focuses exclusively on luxury vacation homes. “It’s got everything we wanted: faster engines, the ability to carry nine or 10 people and all of our bags, new interior, new paint and upgraded avionics. It’s a unique airplane with everything that we did to it. It’s a 2008 model but we put in the 350i headliner right off the production line. We also put in electronic window shades, cabin moving map technology and XM Radio.”
While the airplane was out of service for modifications, Textron Aviation received the STC for ground cooling, eliminating the need to power air conditioning systems via the aircraft’s engine. Instead, the aircraft is cooled using a vapor cycle system and evaporator/blower unit plugged into a dedicated ground power unit. Giles had the company’s Tampa Service Center make that modification before returning the aircraft to service.
FL-586 is likely one of the first older King Air serial numbers to have the ground cooling system installed, a feature coveted on Florida’s hot ramps. It is certainly one of the most rejuvenated 14-year-old models, with Blackhawk Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67A engines capable of producing 1,050 SHP up to 25,000 feet, 5-blade natural composite MT-Propellers, lithium-ion battery, Pro Line Fusion avionics and the entire list of upgrades Giles mentioned.
Giles is a relative newcomer to business aviation ownership. A friend who flew a 1992 King Air 350 took him along on several recreational flights in 2015, fueling his interest in flying privately. He purchased a share of a Pilatus PC-12 single-engine turboprop through the fractional aircraft ownership program PlaneSense but always felt like he needed more room. When that friend decided to move to an Embraer Phenom 300 jet in 2017, Giles bought his King Air. Until 2021, Giles also was an ownership partner in a Beechcraft Premier IA with a fellow general contractor.
He liked the longer range of the King Air, though, and opted to upgrade to the newer King Air and install Blackhawk engines for more speed.
“There’s no jet out there that can do what the King Air can do as far as hauling eight or nine people unless you look at something like the Phenom 300 that is so much more money to purchase and operate,” he said.
A custom home builder with an aviation degree
Giles said he stumbled into a career in construction. He earned a degree in aviation management from Auburn University in 1984. He entered the U.S. Air Force after college and served four years active duty followed by eight years with the Air Force Reserve. He took a job with McDonnell Douglas consulting on the solid rocket booster program with NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. A friend invited him to partner on flipping a house; they made enough money to continue flipping and he had fun doing it, so he moved into a construction career full time.
In 1995, he built his first vacation home in a place he had often vacationed over the years: Destin, in northwest Florida’s panhandle and known for its Gulf of Mexico beaches. It was foremost a vacation home for his family that they rented out when they weren’t using it. This was about the time VRBO had started making it easier for travelers to find vacation rentals by owners.
In 2010, the Giles’ moved themselves and their construction business to Destin. Captiva Services is the construction and design side of the business. Ben builds, and his wife Christel finishes and decorates the interiors.
“It’s been a family business since we got into it,” he said. “My wife and I have always worked together.”
The Giles’ extended family works in the business, too, and flying privately has allowed them to expand the geographic footprint of the business. In addition to visiting construction sites, they use the King Air to travel to builder shows and home furnishings markets in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and Atlanta, to name a few destinations. They also use it to travel to potential future building sites.
(Photo credit: David Warren)
They not only build vacation homes in their home base of Destin, but also Auburn, Alabama, which is home to Giles’ alma mater Auburn University; Lake Martin, Alabama, one of the largest manmade lakes in the U.S.; and the ski resort town of Beaver Creek, Colorado. They also have plans to build a rental in the boating paradise of The Abacos, Bahamas.
“We live in a small town so it’s very hard to get anywhere direct and quick on an airline,” Giles said. “From Destin, you have to fly to Atlanta or Dallas and change planes. With the King Air, we can get to Auburn in 45 minutes and to Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas in one hour and 45 minutes.”
These aren’t your average vacation rentals, these are 6,000- to 8,000-square-foot homes that sleep as many as 30. In Florida, for example, the Giles’ builds are large beachfront homes with gourmet kitchens, large dining rooms to accommodate everyone, multiple master suites, grand family rooms with pool tables and bars, and incredible outdoor living areas featuring pools alongside cooking and dining spaces.
“The vacation rental market has grown not just in Destin but all over,” Giles said. “And we fill a niche that doesn’t typically have as much inventory. We build the high-end, large homes that are harder to find. These are perfect for large families to have a reunion, friend groups with three or four couples and multi-generational vacations.”
The business came to a standstill during the height of the pandemic when Florida beaches and vacation rentals were closed for about 90 days. Since then, demand hasn’t slowed. Vacationers who might have traveled out of the country are staying closer to home, travelers wanting more control over their environments are opting for whole house rentals versus hotel stays, and Giles said he even had families renting his homes as places to quarantine.
They are among the owners in Echelon Luxury Properties (echelonluxuryproperties.com), a boutique property management company. Several of the top properties in the Echelon portfolio – which includes homes in beach towns stretching from Destin to Panama City along the Scenic Highway 30-A – were built by the Giles’.
“We comprehensively manage properties for our owners, renting to high-end travelers and taking care of the asset as a whole,” said Sam Cobb, Echelon founder and CEO. “One area we are different is that Echelon is focused on offering personalized concierge services to our guests and owners alike. Our team meets each guest in person and arranges for all of the extras during their stay. From putting a Peloton in a property to scheduling an in-home massage to hiring a private chef for family dinners – service is at the heart of everything we do. The houses that Ben and Christel create are purpose-built for this type of high-end experience. Their thoughtful approach and attention to detail make them the best in the business when it comes to this type of product.”
Creating a unique bird
Giles received his private pilot’s license in the 1980s while in the Air Force. He enjoys sitting in the right seat in the King Air but has no plans to pursue a multiengine rating.
But he’s glad to be back in the air regularly after a few decades away. Adding projects in Colorado and the Bahamas wouldn’t be possible without the King Air, he said.
(Photo courtesy Textron Aviation Indianapolis Service Center)
Giles has used Textron Aviation’s Tampa Service Center since buying his first King Air in 2017, so when he needed a pre-purchase inspection for FL-586, a one-owner aircraft with 1,800 hours based in Ohio, he reached out to the Indianapolis Service Center. The Indy team coordinated the modifications on the airplane, sending it to the Tampa facility for the ground cooling add-on before handing it over to Giles in December 2021.
“One of our first trips when we got the King Air from the Indianapolis Service Center was a trip with 10 people to Las Vegas for a furnishings show,” Giles said. “There was room for nine passengers, the pilot and all of our bags. We stopped for fuel on the way out there and flew home nonstop.”
Besides the range, he’s been impressed with the improved climb rate and speed compared to his 1992 King Air.
“The engines have been fantastic,” he said. “On our way back from Colorado to Destin, I looked at the moving map and we were at 33,000 feet and going 499 miles per hour. Even with the tailwind, that’s pretty speedy for a King Air, even a new one. It’s also quieter. I have a friend who flies Wheels Up all the time and he said he could tell a huge difference in how much quieter it is when he flew on our King Air with the 5-blade props.”
Ben chose the exterior accent colors of orange and blue, a nod to the Auburn school colors; Christel was in charge of the interior, which has a beige colorway throughout, from new seats with double-stitched details to fresh carpet and cabinet facing.
“We were very involved with all the details; we went to Wichita a few times to meet with the design team,” Giles said. “It turned out the way we envisioned it. There’s not another King Air like it in the world at this point, with all the things that we’ve done to it.”
The aircraft has everything on his wish list … for now. He admits he is eyeing the IS&S autothrottle for FL-586.