The Jet Set - Trio of specialists has Sky-high hopes for its Lear repair and inspection business. By Tim Bucey / News-Sun Staff Writer
Mike Catherwood and John Yegerlehner talk about turning wrenches on Learjet 35's with the same enthusiasm that others discuss tinkering on a '57 Chevy. "We are in this because we love it," said Catherwood, one of the three owners of Spectra Jet Inc.
The start-up company recently staked out a corner in a hangar at the Springfield/Beckley Airport, purchased $65,000 in tools and , most importantly, hung its newly acquired FAA inspection-repair certification.
"That piece of paper up there is probably the greatest stride we have made thus far," Catherwood said.
Getting certified to work on aircraft, he said, is more demanding than obtaining a pilot's license.
An aircraft repair and inspection station has to prove it has the skills, the facility, the tools and test equipment. It took one year working with the FAA and preparing a procedure manual before oversight agency would grant certification.
While there are limitations to what they are permitted to do, Catherwood said Spectra Jet can do inspections, replace an engine and cables on the Learjet 35, along with routine maintenance.
The owners - Catherwood, Yegerlehner and Dave Riegel - come with grease already under their fingernails. All are employees of Raytheon at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.
Raytheon has the government contract to work on the C-21, which is the military equivalent of the Learjet 35.
"They are identical airplanes. The FAA looked at it and said 'my goodness, you guys have an awful lot of experience on the C-21, therefore we are going to give you credit for all the time you have on them as Lear technicians,' " Catherwood said.
The three will continue to work at Raytheon until their new business venture can support them full time.
They hope to one day have enough business to hire additional employees, but until then, their biggest challenge will be attracting customers.
They see companies, air services and individuals with a Learjet 35 as likely customers. In addition, they are open to working with other repair and inspection services who have more business than they can handle. The closest such service to Springfield is Bombardier Air Services in Indianapolis. Instead of seeing them as competition, however, Spectra Jet wants to work with them.
"We plan on going over to Bombardier Aircraft Services and saying 'Look, we're here' because a lot of times the big guys get backed up and the can't finish all their work," Yegerlehner said.
Spectra Jet's owners (from l to r): Mike Catherwood, Dave Riegel and John Yegerlehner.
After the owners of Spectra Jet set out to start their own aircraft repair and inspection business, one of the biggest hurdles to overcome was finding a site.
"We looked at all the airports in the local area," said co-owner Mike Catherwood.
Requirements included hangar space at a reasonable cost and a runway sufficient in length to accommodate the Learjet 35.
Dayton International Airport was ruled out because of the cost to rent space. Greene County's airport was nixed because the runway was insufficient.
Spectra Jet specializes in inspecting and repairing the Learjet 35, which can land almost anywhere, but requires up to 5,000 feet of runway for takeoff.
"So that eliminated all the little guys," Catherwood said.
The Springfield Beckley Airport proved ideal because of its 9,000-foot runway, available hangar space and room for expansion.
If the company grows, owners speculate they could move into the AirPark Ohio.
"This place really could boom and if that happens we're here. It's exciting because maybe the people moving in are going to have airplanes," co-owner John Yegerlehner said.
The company would like to service a local business that has a Learjet, offering to maintain the plane and its records.
"There are a lot of companies with a booming economy that are doing great, and if they need to get around the country, it can be a lot more convenient (with their own plane)," Catherwood said.
Miami Valley Aviation in Middletown (Ohio) asked Spectra Jet to do maintenance and inspections on its three Learjets when the workload became too much for the in-house mechanics.
"They worked out real well for us. We have odd times and scheduling and they worked everything around to fit us in. We were real pleased with that," said Don Elliott, Director of Maintenance for Miami Valley Aviation.
As a first customer, Catherwood said MVA was given a price break, which it is willing to do for its next few clients to build a customer base.
In a business where trust and dependability are of the utmost importance, Catherwood said word-of-mouth among pilots will be their best advertisement.
"We can tell a maintenance chief in Tennessee we are the best thing since sliced bread, but he'll say 'I've heard that before.' A lot of people can talk the talk in this business, but not everyone can walk the walk. We plan on letting the pilots tell everyone how good we are," Catherwood said.
Work can be done at Springfield Beckely Airport, where the company is leasing hangar space from Sunbird Air Services, or Spectra Jet will haul equipment by pickup and trailer to surrounding states for on-site inspections and repairs.
Elliott said Spectra Jet saved Miami Valley Aviation thousands of dollars with on-site inspections. It didn't have to pay two pilots to fly the plane to a service station, plus its own mechanics could do some of the repairs.
"A lot of other places, that's where they make their money. They inspect it and give you a list of 100
things wrong with it and charge their price per problem," Elliott said.
The FAA requires the Learjet 35 to have inspections at 150, 300, 600, 900, 1200, and 2400 hours. The 2400-hour inspection, which usually occurs every seven to eight years, calls for changing the flight control cables.
"That's our specialty. We've done more of those than most anyone in the United States," Yegerlehner said. He said many in-house mechanics working for a company with only one or two Lear 35's may have never done a cable change.
Originally, Spectra Jet planned on servicing turbojets and truboprops. But when the investor who knows turboprops backed out, those plans had to be temporarily shelved.
"They have not been discarded. We plan on expanding into the turboprop business, specifically the King Air business," Catherwood said.
After the first few customers line up, Spectra Jet's owners think the sky's the limit
