Page 4 - June 2023
P. 4
From Barnstorming
to Ballooning and
Flying Beechcrafts
Aviation is in the DNA of the Stewart family
Interview by MeLinda Schnyder
COVER STORY
Jeff Stewart is the third generation of his family to run Blue Star Gas, and he’s the third generation to be a pilot. He can be credited, though, with being the first to build the family’s propane business around aviation.
Using business aviation has propelled Blue Star Gas from 38 employees with five locations when he joined the family business in 1996 to 200 employees and 16 locations today. The company is based in Santa Rosa, California, and operates a fleet of four aircraft: 1990 Beechcraft King Air B200, 1979 King Air F90, 1956 Cessna 180 and 1969 Cessna 206. Stewart said they considered themselves a Cessna family until realizing in 2018 the versatility and dispatch reliability the King Airs could bring to their operations.
Chief Pilot Byron Barnes (left) with Jeff and the company’s two King Air aircraft. To- gether, they share piloting duties of the combined 900 hours the King Airs fly per year.
2 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
JUNE 2023
