January 19, 2004
Fly boys | Endorphin schmoozes, tickle points and other reasons Maine business people are piloting their own airplanes
By Michaela Cavallaro
Perry Williams always knew he wanted to fly. But it wasn't until last month that the Portland real estate developer actually took his first lesson. And unlike most novice pilots, Williams got that rudimentary instruction in his very own single-engine plane, a Cessna 172 SP he bought from Maine Aviation Corp. at the Portland Jetport.
For Williams, who's working on real estate projects in Rangeley, at Sugarloaf and in Francistown, N.H., near Manchester, the Cessna isn't merely an exciting new toy ˆ it's a business tool. "All my life I've wanted to fly, but I was waiting for the appropriate time, knowing that flying is something you have to do a lot to do well," he says. "I'm busier than ever ˆ I have a central office in Portland, I live in Raymond and I travel a lot ˆ so it seemed like a good time to get going and get my lessons done, so within a few months I could start flying on some of those trips."
Williams is one of a small but dedicated group of Maine businessmen ˆ by all accounts, they're all men ˆ who've figured out a way to combine work and play by flying their own planes. Maine Aviation is home to four or five such entrepreneurs, according to chief flight instructor Eric Nevers, while Dave Smith, chief pilot at Maine Instrument Flight, says Augusta State Airport boasts about a dozen flying businessmen. Others are scattered throughout the state, like Peter Schultz of Dirigo Stitching in Skowhegan, who uses his Mooney Encore about once a month to fly to New York City to see clients.
While the numbers are small in Maine, observers say they may soon be on the rise due to a combination of factors, including the increasing hassle involved with flying the commercial airlines and the introduction last year of a federal tax incentive for the purchase of new aircraft. "For places in the United States on the fringe, when the airline business burps, you're going to lose [service], and I'm afraid Maine may be one of them," says Drew Steketee, president and CEO of Be a Pilot, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that promotes the personal use of aviation, largely by offering roughly half-price introductory lessons at flight schools across the country. "Therefore, if people take a look at their travel profile ˆ where they need to go, how often ˆ for some trips it may pay them to fly themselves."
Mixing business and pleasure
Williams, 44, hopes flying will replace at least some of the frequent car trips he takes from Portland or Raymond out to The Timbers, the condominium complex he owns at Sugarloaf; to Rangeley Lake Resort, his time-share development; or to Tory Pines Resort, a New Hampshire golf course, restaurant and hotel that he plans to convert into time shares. For all the work that can be done by e-mail, phone or fax, he says, there are some meetings that simply have to take place in person. In addition, "especially in my drive to Rangeley and Sugarloaf, I can't talk on my cell phone because there are so many dead spots," he says. "Time is money. The quicker I can get there and get back, the more money I'm going to make in the end."
Still, Williams and the other entrepreneur pilots interviewed for this story are quick to note that, when it comes to strict dollars-and-cents accounting, flying themselves doesn't come out ahead of driving or even flying commercially. Beyond the initial purchase price of the aircraft ˆ you can get a used twin engine plane for $100,000-$150,000, according to Smith of Maine Instrument Flight, while a new single engine plane will run about $150,000-$200,000 ˆ there is the cost of fuel, insurance and maintenance, plus storage of the plane when it's not in use. Those expenses are generally expressed in a per-hour operating cost; while Williams says he hasn't had much chance to analyze the costs related to his plane, which was just delivered last month, Gary Peachey, president of Peachey Builders in Augusta, says it costs $130-$140 an hour to fly his Beechcraft Bonanza.
Proponents of general aviation, the term used for everything other than the commercial airlines, frequently tout the advantages of using small planes that can land at 5,400 public-use airports and about 12,000 more private landing strips nationwide, compared to the 540 airports available for commercial airliners. "If you fill the airplane up, fill four or five seats, you can definitely beat the cost of the airline," says Smith. "And that doesn't even take into account the utility of being able to get closer to where you want to go, the ability to go in and out in one day and the fact that security is a lot easier."
Another advantage general aviation boosters frequently mention is cost avoidance. Steketee, whose job it is to promote the industry, reels off a list of potential savings when a businessperson flies himself rather than going with a commercial carrier: "You don't have all the nights in the hotels, you don't have all those restaurant meals and sometimes you can avoid rental of a car, since you can land so much closer to where you actually want to be."
In addition, there are the tax advantages. As part of the economic stimulus package passed by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a provision was enacted to accelerate the amount of depreciation buyers can claim on new aircraft. The new rules went into effect in May 2002, and are set to expire at the end of 2004, though the industry is lobbying for a one-year extension. Though the tax break hasn't done much to spur plane sales in Maine ˆ Jim Brooks, flight school manager and aircraft salesman for Maine Aviation, says he sold just one plane in the state in 2003, the Cessna bought by Williams ˆ it has provided the kick in the pants the industry was looking for nationwide.
"We saw a tremendous uptick starting about August 2003," says Louis Meiners, president of Advocate Aircraft Taxation Company, an Indianapolis consulting firm that Williams hired to help reduce the taxes related to the purchase of his plane. "Most people in the aviation business would say aircraft is a lagging indicator in the economy ˆ people are going to wait to buy aircraft until they start feeling better about the economy."
Schmoozing the endorphins
Talk to the pilots themselves, though, and it's clear that the financial part of the equation only goes so far. What makes flying for business attractive to these guys is simply their love of piloting the plane. "Spending your whole life going through LaGuardia is not something one looks forward to," Schultz of Dirigo Stitching says dryly. "I started the company in 1976. It's almost 30 years later, and I look forward to every trip now because I look forward to flying. It's an intangible I can't put value on."
For Williams, who as of early January had racked up 21 hours of flying time, on the way toward the 40 hours he needs to get his private pilot's license, the joy of flying comes in its physicality. "Business can be very exciting as well; it has its moments. But [flying] is a hands-on, physical activity that's very fulfilling," he says. "It's different from sitting at a desk and pushing paper all day."
The sentiment is echoed by Peachey, who uses his plane a few times a month for business, whether for traveling to properties he's developing, showing clients a tract of land they're considering or taking aerial photos of facilities his company has built. "I fly, other people sail a boat or drive motorcycles ˆ it's all the same fundamental endorphins that get schmoozed," he says. "It's kind of a Zen thing ˆ it's man and machine, man versus the elements. You've got to understand the winds, and have good hand-eye coordination. You have to understand the ATC [air traffic control] system, the weather, you have to navigate ˆ it has a lot of different tickle points for your brain."
Many of Maine's entrepreneur pilots also volunteer for Angel Flights, a national organization that arranges free flights for people who need transportation for medical reasons. The benefits to the pilot are many; in addition to the pleasure of doing a good deed, says Schultz, Angel Flights allow him to accrue the hours of flying he needs to remain licensed ˆ "I don't enjoy just flying around; I want to have a purpose," he says ˆ and to fly in conditions under which he might normally stay home. "When I fly myself, I have the liberty of making the decision whether to go or not go," he says. "When you do Angel Flights, you kind of commit to it, though you always have to use good judgment. So I might challenge myself more on those flights."
Finally, says Peachey, he enjoys the guilty pleasure of observing traditional commuters' problems when he flies his family to see relatives in Rhode Island. "It's an hour plane ride versus four hours of [Route] 128 traffic," he says with a chuckle. "I can sit there at 6,000 feet and look at all the poor schmucks in traffic."
For Williams, who's working on real estate projects in Rangeley, at Sugarloaf and in Francistown, N.H., near Manchester, the Cessna isn't merely an exciting new toy ˆ it's a business tool. "All my life I've wanted to fly, but I was waiting for the appropriate time, knowing that flying is something you have to do a lot to do well," he says. "I'm busier than ever ˆ I have a central office in Portland, I live in Raymond and I travel a lot ˆ so it seemed like a good time to get going and get my lessons done, so within a few months I could start flying on some of those trips."
Williams is one of a small but dedicated group of Maine businessmen ˆ by all accounts, they're all men ˆ who've figured out a way to combine work and play by flying their own planes. Maine Aviation is home to four or five such entrepreneurs, according to chief flight instructor Eric Nevers, while Dave Smith, chief pilot at Maine Instrument Flight, says Augusta State Airport boasts about a dozen flying businessmen. Others are scattered throughout the state, like Peter Schultz of Dirigo Stitching in Skowhegan, who uses his Mooney Encore about once a month to fly to New York City to see clients.
While the numbers are small in Maine, observers say they may soon be on the rise due to a combination of factors, including the increasing hassle involved with flying the commercial airlines and the introduction last year of a federal tax incentive for the purchase of new aircraft. "For places in the United States on the fringe, when the airline business burps, you're going to lose [service], and I'm afraid Maine may be one of them," says Drew Steketee, president and CEO of Be a Pilot, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that promotes the personal use of aviation, largely by offering roughly half-price introductory lessons at flight schools across the country. "Therefore, if people take a look at their travel profile ˆ where they need to go, how often ˆ for some trips it may pay them to fly themselves."
Mixing business and pleasure
Williams, 44, hopes flying will replace at least some of the frequent car trips he takes from Portland or Raymond out to The Timbers, the condominium complex he owns at Sugarloaf; to Rangeley Lake Resort, his time-share development; or to Tory Pines Resort, a New Hampshire golf course, restaurant and hotel that he plans to convert into time shares. For all the work that can be done by e-mail, phone or fax, he says, there are some meetings that simply have to take place in person. In addition, "especially in my drive to Rangeley and Sugarloaf, I can't talk on my cell phone because there are so many dead spots," he says. "Time is money. The quicker I can get there and get back, the more money I'm going to make in the end."
Still, Williams and the other entrepreneur pilots interviewed for this story are quick to note that, when it comes to strict dollars-and-cents accounting, flying themselves doesn't come out ahead of driving or even flying commercially. Beyond the initial purchase price of the aircraft ˆ you can get a used twin engine plane for $100,000-$150,000, according to Smith of Maine Instrument Flight, while a new single engine plane will run about $150,000-$200,000 ˆ there is the cost of fuel, insurance and maintenance, plus storage of the plane when it's not in use. Those expenses are generally expressed in a per-hour operating cost; while Williams says he hasn't had much chance to analyze the costs related to his plane, which was just delivered last month, Gary Peachey, president of Peachey Builders in Augusta, says it costs $130-$140 an hour to fly his Beechcraft Bonanza.
Proponents of general aviation, the term used for everything other than the commercial airlines, frequently tout the advantages of using small planes that can land at 5,400 public-use airports and about 12,000 more private landing strips nationwide, compared to the 540 airports available for commercial airliners. "If you fill the airplane up, fill four or five seats, you can definitely beat the cost of the airline," says Smith. "And that doesn't even take into account the utility of being able to get closer to where you want to go, the ability to go in and out in one day and the fact that security is a lot easier."
Another advantage general aviation boosters frequently mention is cost avoidance. Steketee, whose job it is to promote the industry, reels off a list of potential savings when a businessperson flies himself rather than going with a commercial carrier: "You don't have all the nights in the hotels, you don't have all those restaurant meals and sometimes you can avoid rental of a car, since you can land so much closer to where you actually want to be."
In addition, there are the tax advantages. As part of the economic stimulus package passed by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a provision was enacted to accelerate the amount of depreciation buyers can claim on new aircraft. The new rules went into effect in May 2002, and are set to expire at the end of 2004, though the industry is lobbying for a one-year extension. Though the tax break hasn't done much to spur plane sales in Maine ˆ Jim Brooks, flight school manager and aircraft salesman for Maine Aviation, says he sold just one plane in the state in 2003, the Cessna bought by Williams ˆ it has provided the kick in the pants the industry was looking for nationwide.
"We saw a tremendous uptick starting about August 2003," says Louis Meiners, president of Advocate Aircraft Taxation Company, an Indianapolis consulting firm that Williams hired to help reduce the taxes related to the purchase of his plane. "Most people in the aviation business would say aircraft is a lagging indicator in the economy ˆ people are going to wait to buy aircraft until they start feeling better about the economy."
Schmoozing the endorphins
Talk to the pilots themselves, though, and it's clear that the financial part of the equation only goes so far. What makes flying for business attractive to these guys is simply their love of piloting the plane. "Spending your whole life going through LaGuardia is not something one looks forward to," Schultz of Dirigo Stitching says dryly. "I started the company in 1976. It's almost 30 years later, and I look forward to every trip now because I look forward to flying. It's an intangible I can't put value on."
For Williams, who as of early January had racked up 21 hours of flying time, on the way toward the 40 hours he needs to get his private pilot's license, the joy of flying comes in its physicality. "Business can be very exciting as well; it has its moments. But [flying] is a hands-on, physical activity that's very fulfilling," he says. "It's different from sitting at a desk and pushing paper all day."
The sentiment is echoed by Peachey, who uses his plane a few times a month for business, whether for traveling to properties he's developing, showing clients a tract of land they're considering or taking aerial photos of facilities his company has built. "I fly, other people sail a boat or drive motorcycles ˆ it's all the same fundamental endorphins that get schmoozed," he says. "It's kind of a Zen thing ˆ it's man and machine, man versus the elements. You've got to understand the winds, and have good hand-eye coordination. You have to understand the ATC [air traffic control] system, the weather, you have to navigate ˆ it has a lot of different tickle points for your brain."
Many of Maine's entrepreneur pilots also volunteer for Angel Flights, a national organization that arranges free flights for people who need transportation for medical reasons. The benefits to the pilot are many; in addition to the pleasure of doing a good deed, says Schultz, Angel Flights allow him to accrue the hours of flying he needs to remain licensed ˆ "I don't enjoy just flying around; I want to have a purpose," he says ˆ and to fly in conditions under which he might normally stay home. "When I fly myself, I have the liberty of making the decision whether to go or not go," he says. "When you do Angel Flights, you kind of commit to it, though you always have to use good judgment. So I might challenge myself more on those flights."
Finally, says Peachey, he enjoys the guilty pleasure of observing traditional commuters' problems when he flies his family to see relatives in Rhode Island. "It's an hour plane ride versus four hours of [Route] 128 traffic," he says with a chuckle. "I can sit there at 6,000 feet and look at all the poor schmucks in traffic."
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