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from Crescent City to Santa Rosa, when our home office was Garberville, California (O16). There is a tremendous amount of inclement weather on the northern coast of California and the 180 wasn’t the right equipment for daily operation out of that airport.
I got my private ticket in 1987 and after working in management consulting and receiving my MBA I joined the business in 1996. Blue Star had 38 employees at that time and five locations. The first year I drove 48,000 miles, and I asked myself why I was doing this. I got my instrument ticket, bought a Cessna P210 and began flying 400-500 hours a year to our operations and for industry meetings. We then bought a Cessna 421, then a second 421 because I realized one couldn’t run that aircraft 600 hours a year due to maintenance requirements.
Tell us about the current Blue Star Gas fleet and how the King Air aircraft are used.
We ran the two Cessna 421s for 10 years, and in 2018 we sold both and bought a King Air B200 and a King Air F90. We have always been a Cessna family, we still have the 1956 Cessna 180 and we also have a Cessna 206. We chose the King Airs because of the support and parts availability rather than the Conquest family that we considered.
I have flown 9,800 hours and will be surpassing 10,000 hours in the next couple of months. Approximately 60 hours a year of my flying is in the Idaho backcountry in the 180. I enjoy fly fishing and am able to access great fishing in the Middle Fork of Salmon River drainage about 20 days a year. I host some weekends with friends and we utilize our 206 as well for those long weekend trips with large groups. All four aircraft are used for business missions depending on the number of passengers and range required for the trip.
Both King Airs have been terrific platforms in growing our business. We use the B200 for longer trips, which include industry meetings around the country as well as transporting employees in and out of our training center on the Oregon coast. The F90 is used for the weekly “milk run” to the Northwest primarily. We will leave on Monday or Tuesday morning at 0700 and make five quick turns to drop off or pick up and then drop employees as far north as Seattle. Then on Thursday or Friday afternoon we pick everyone up and get them home for the weekend. We move team members in functional areas of safety, management, sales, auditing, legal as well as specialists like generator technicians, traveling service technicians or drivers to reposition equipment throughout our footprint.
Tell us more about the two King Airs you’re currently operating.
We acquired our F90, N128JP, in 2018 as well as our first B200. The F90 had the American Aviation ram air modification at purchase. We have added 5-bladed MT props, an all Garmin panel including the Engine
8 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
JUNE 2023