Saturday, May 31, 2014

John Winter remembered: Winter Aviation, Inc. at Emporia Municipal Airport (KEMP), Kansas

John Winter's work place was tucked away from sight of most area residents. For his customers, though -- locally and across the country -- Winter's shop provided an essential service at the Emporia Municipal Airport.

When Winter died late last month, at the age of 52, he left pilots, passengers, and business owners wondering who, or whether, anyone would be able to fill his shoes.

Winter, an aircraft mechanic, and Jerry Waddell, veteran pilot, had established Winter Aviation in 1996, with Winter doing the hands-on work and Waddell serving as the "behind-the-scenes" partner.

Winter not only provided a crucial service for every type of aircraft -- from light aircraft to helicopters to corporate jets -- he had worked for five years as mechanic on the helicopters for the local air ambulance company.

Winter Aviation's existence simultaneously brought in much-needed income for the airport and Emporia, through fuel sales to locals and travelers, vehicle rentals, and money spent at area motels and businesses, and more.

"It's very important that we have a repair facility here for the betterment of the community," said Waddell, who is working now to find another aircraft mechanic to come to Emporia. "And of course there are corporate airplanes that do come in."

Winter could work on all of them, he said.

Winter had not always been a mechanic. After graduating from Council Grove High School, he and his brother Jody had come to Emporia, where they worked in a packing plant for about nine years before looking to other careers.

As often had happened when they were growing up, John and Jody turned in tandem to seek out careers in another industry, this time involving airplanes.

"He and his brother both went to Salina, K-State's aviation program," Waddell said. "His brother Jody ... graduated from that pilot training program and was a corporate pilot for Hopkins here in Emporia. John graduated at same time but took the mechanic route."

John received his certification as an aircraft maintenance engineer and went to work for a Benton, Kansas, company that had a repair shop at the Emporia airport.

When that company closed its local operation, Waddell and Winter went into business together.

"He had taken pilot's flight lessons ... but he was always more interested in repairing them than he was flying them," Waddell said. "And his brother Jody was just the opposite. He was always more interested in flying them more than repairing them."

For a time, the brothers had enjoyed careers that dovetailed perfectly, until Jody's death several years ago.

"He continued on but I'm sure he missed his brother," Waddell said. "They were very close when they grew up" and had remained so.

John seemed reluctant, though, to reveal much about his personal life and feelings.

"I've known John for 20 years," said Bryan Whitmore, pilot and long-time friend of John and Jody, from whom he had taken pilot lessons. "(John) was very private but very sociable. In the public, he's really sociable. He had a company and he was good at retailing it. But his private life. ..."

Waddell agreed.

"He was a great guy. He was always happy, pleasant to be around," Waddell said. "Of course if people would get in the way of getting his work done, he might be grumpy, but who isn't?

"He was always happy in his work. He loved to work on airplanes. He almost always had a smile on his face when anybody met him and he had tons of friends."

The latter became evident at Winter's funeral, which drew an unusually large crowd of family and friends, as well as pilots from around the country.

"There were people that came to his funeral that came from as far away as California ... and one from Florida," Waddell said of the aviators who came for the service. "One that came from California had been a Life Flight helicopter pilot in years past. His boys called (Winter) 'Uncle John.'"

At the service, many of those friends heard for the first time that John finally had received a roll card, acknowledging him and his siblings as members of the Pembino Band of the Little Shell Clan of the Chippewa tribe. He'd been delighted at his mother Shirley's success in securing the designation, but it wasn't something he'd talked about freely.

"They used the word meticulous (at the funeral) when they were talking about John repairing airplanes," Waddell said. "He was very picky about being able to do the repairs correctly. ... That's probably a good word to describe his work."

From the pilots' standpoint, that meticulous work ethic will be difficult to replace; from a practical standpoint, the absence of a mechanic at the Emporia airport is likely to provoke a loss in fuel sales and other related income generated for the airport through Winter Aviation.

Besides the unanticipated repairs for locals and cross-country pilots, there is no one now to do the routine maintenance and inspections mandated by federal law.

"People will have to take their airplanes out of town to get them certified," Waddell said.

Pilots who in the past would have stopped in Emporia for repairs en route to their destinations will take their business to mechanics at other airports. The alternative for local aircraft owners may be to have a mechanic from Topeka or Wichita or Coffey County make a service call to Emporia.

"It's really important for the pilots and also for cross-country traffic because a lot of the work John did was for people traveling," Waddell said. "... They'd land at Emporia, get it repaired, and go on."

Whitmore, too, said Winter's death will be felt beyond the airport fraternity. Fuel sales are bound to plunge as the first noticeable change, then other changes will become obvious.

"It's a bad loss to the community and the airport," Whitmore said. "I don't think you can quantify it. ... If you're flying multi-state and you come to a place that doesn't have a mechanic, that's not good. ... This is a place they wouldn't stop if they had an issue."

Efforts are underway to bring in an aircraft mechanic as soon as possible, for both the convenience and safety of the pilots and passengers, and to keep the Emporia airport viable.

"That's my primary concern now, is being able to find someone who will come to work for the business or perhaps would be willing to acquire the business," Waddell said.

"Those options are open. But that's going to be my primary focus." 

Story and photos:    http://www.emporiagazette.com

No comments:

Post a Comment