Page 6 - Volume 10 Number 7

A life-saving business
In 1992, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA) enforced the “Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals” standard to reduce the high number of hazardous incidents at petroleum and chemical processing facilities. As an appendix to the rule, a compliance guide was produced discouraging the use of portable buildings within plant process areas. At the time, wood-framed trailers were popular because of the ease in placing the structures (and workers) near the work area. Compliance to the OSHA standards meant that oil refineries and chemical plants would have to locate the trailers a safe distance from their facilities as to not harm employees in case of an explosion. This was far less efficient for the industry.
In 1998, Massey met his current business partner, a lawyer with a degree in chemical engineering. The lawyer had been involved in a case where an explosion at an oil refinery had killed and injured several workers because they were in wood-framed trailers with no protection. He thought he could use his engineering education to develop a blast-resistant material to replace the wood-framed construction buildings. “My partner had the idea and I came up with the money to finance it,” Massey said.
In 1999, Massey and his partner launched Hunter Buildings and were the first to design, construct and sell American Petroleum Institute-compliant, blast- resistant modular buildings for use by the refining and petrochemical communities. The company was also the first in the industry to submit its buildings to actual physical blast testing. Hunter’s first customer was Exxon and the business took off from there. The company now has three state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities to meet worldwide demand. The original facility is located with company headquarters in the heart of the energy industry in Houston, Texas; the other two are located where the largest chemical plant and oil refineries are located, in Sharjah, UAE, and Comutov, Czech Republic.
Hunter’s buildings are not only certified to stand up to gas and vapor explosions often caused in the oil and chemical industries, but also forced entry/ballistics, harsh environments and natural disasters. Still, Massey said, 95 percent of Hunter’s current business is serving oil refineries and chemical plants.
When asked about his company’s philosophy, Massey said, “It’s easy, we’re family.” He went on to say, “The employees that work for me help me provide for my family and I realize I am nothing without them, so I take care of them. I am very blessed to have 300 employees who I provide profit sharing, insurance and a 401(k) to, and they love working for us. I’m a simple guy and it’s a simple philosophy: we take care of each other ... we’re family.”
4 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
FWrom Microbiologist to Chief Pilot
hen she was a little girl, Angie Terrell, chief pilot for Hunter Buildings, dreamed of learning how to fly. At the age of 9, she flew over to Europe
with her sister, whose husband was stationed there. “The flight was exhilarating for me and only grew my passion for flying. But my father was a house painter and my mother was a waitress, so I knew taking flying lessons wasn’t financially feasible,” she explained.
When it came time to attend college, she decided she would get into the military and learn how to fly that way, so she attended Penn State and was part of the ROTC program. The summer after her first year, she broke her leg and ankle and fell behind in the ROTC program. She decided maybe that was a sign that flying wasn’t to be part of her life. She ended up getting a degree in microbiology
research field in Dallas.
A few years later she saw
an ad in the newspaper
publicizing discovery flights at the local airport. She went up in an airplane with an instructor for a 15-minute flight and instantly fell back in love. “The next Monday, I promptly walked into my boss’ office and turned in my two weeks’ notice. I told her I was going to flight school and at first she thought I was kidding!” Angie explained.
Due to 9-11, it took a bit longer for her to build up her hours because the airlines weren’t hiring, but she was able to instruct at her flight school. She soon found a job transporting freight at night, flying six days a week for $800 a month. But she’s not complaining, “I was able to get my multi-engine rating and build up my time,” she said. “It also taught me to be a very conservative pilot.” She then went on to fly for Continental Express and later worked for FlightSafety training pilots in the ATR.
Although she hadn’t flown a Beechcraft King Air much before being hired as Hunter’s chief pilot, she was well aware of its operating systems. “A lot of my ATR students were transitioning from the King Air, so I studied its systems in order to understand where they were coming from and how I could explain things better,” she said.
Angie can’t say enough about flying for the Masseys and Hunter Buildings. “It doesn’t get any better than what I do! I mean, who gets to take their 2-year old to work with them? I get to fly a great airplane for a great family and business. I do everything I can to take care of them!” she professed.
and worked in the genetic Hunter Buildings’ Chief Pilot
Angie Terrell with her daughter, Ashlyn, who gets to go along on the flights.
JULY 2016