Page 17 - Volume 13 Number 10

Houston to North Dakota to every hot oil spot in the country, chartering a Cessna 421 several times a month.
In 2013, Sam resigned to start his own company with his father as a partner. Fluid Pro provides solids control services and equipment rentals mostly in Wyoming, North Dakota, Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, Montana and Texas. The company rents and operates the equipment needed to operate a drilling rig’s backyard: Power generation, dewatering, fluid recovery and total solids control, which involves recycling drilling fluids, separating the dirt from the fluid and returning the fluid back to the crews for drilling.
“I knew right away that as fast as we were growing that a plane was going to be needed,” Sam said. The first year he was traveling frequently via charter as he opened satellite yards and shops where he could ship equipment and store spares. Because there were no charter operators out of Riverton, though, he didn’t have the quick response time he often needed for unplanned trips.
He’d flown frequently in a King Air 350 with a vendor who fabricated equipment for Fluid Pro, and he’d flown in the Bebouts’ King Air 200. When the chance to co- own the aircraft popped up about nine months into his endeavor, he knew it was a great solution.
He flew 90 hours the first year and has settled in at about 70 to 80 hours a year since then. He also bought in on the T210N for frequent trips to Denver when weather isn’t a concern.
The King Air 200 is the perfect size for crew changes that the Lindens have once a month and it also handles movement of materials when needed.
“Last week we landed at San Antonio and backed in a pickup truck to unload a lot of fabricated iron stuff that we build along with huge pump parts,” Sam said. “If we’re going, we might as well take it with us.”
Whereas the Bebouts usually have their trips scheduled well in advance, Sam said only one of every 10 of his trips are planned; the others pop up the night before or the day of in emergency situations.
“Customers will get in a jam drilling their oil or gas wells, if we can be there as fast as we can, they’ll give us the job instead of someone else,” he said. “A lot of time it’s just me getting there before the equipment so I can have a plan when the equipment shows up.”
He estimates the company has grown an extra 20% because of the use of business aviation, but more important to him, it’s helped him manage being a single dad.
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OCTOBER 2019 KING AIR MAGAZINE • 15