Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Sky Aviation owner Tom Woodward, poses with the four main employees who worked on the Heritage Airport helicopter display (l-r): Ed Keller, Adam Powell, George Felix and Alex Garcia. This helicopter will be transported to Maryland next month for a special ceremony.
WORLAND - There is a saying that necessity is the mother of invention. While this usually applies to new inventions it can also apply to businesses who reinvent themselves or as in the case of Sky Aviation, look for ways to add new services out of necessity.
Sky Aviation in Worland is owned by Tom Woodward and offers agriculture spraying, search and rescue air services, game surveying for Wyoming Game and Fish and firefighting services.
Employee Ed Keller said that Sky Aviation is also looking into adding frost mitigation and cherry drying services in Washington and California.
Two years ago they purchased the old Mel's OK Tire Shop and turned it into an aviation overhaul shop. Woodward said they overhaul heads, transmissions, mixed boxes and hydraulic starters and are the only overhaul shop who will work on state and federal CH-46 aircraft.
This year, with a small firefighting season, Woodward decided to look for additional work for the shop, and he found it in a renovation job for the military, hauling, painting and preparing a twin engine UH-1N helicopter (Huey) to be on display at the Heritage Airpark at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. This year is the 50th anniversary of the 1st Helicopter Squadron, who runs a Distinguished Visitor Airlift mission in Washington, D.C., and also the 50th anniversary of many of their UH-1N Hueys that were manufactured in 1969. To celebrate this momentous occasion the squadron was connected with Mr. Woodward at Sky Aviation to help restore a helicopter that had been sitting in "the boneyard" at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group in Tucson, Arizona.
With a short timeline, the goal is to complete the restoration, bring the helicopter to Joint Base Andrews, and mount it on a pedestal outside the Helicopter Operations Facility that houses the 1st Helicopter Squadron before a Change of Command Ceremony in January, 2020, where the commander of the 1st Helicopter Squadron, Lt. Col. Jen Whetstone, will pass the torch of command to her successor Lt. Col. Will Murphy.
Sky Aviation hired Kirby Leary to transport the helicopter back to their shop in Worland and he will be doing the transporting to Maryland when the time arrives next month.
Sky Aviation prepared the helicopter for a static display. It has a 48-foot diameter and is 57 feet from blade to blade, Woodward said.
Woodward and Keller said they had to remove the engines, fuel bladders, about 200 pounds of wiring and all the avionics. They left the seats and the instrument panel for the display.
The paint scheme for the helicopter display is Air Force One colors of military blue and gold with the words "United States of America" stenciled across the tail. There are other required decals that have been added to the helicopter.
The project calls for specific positioning of the helicopter on the skids as well. Woodward said the nose will be pointed 5 degrees down with an 8 degree left bank and rotors will be at 90 degrees.
They also have the stand for the helicopter which will be transported separately and then placed in Maryland before the helicopter is positioned on the stand.
The rotors will also be transported, assembled and positioned in Maryland, Woodward and Keller said.
Keller said that they had three main crew members working the past month and half on the project, but in total they have had about 12 to 15 of the employees on different shifts who have worked on the project. Sky Aviation employs between 25 to 35 employees depending on the season.
Keller said the project has not just been a boost to Sky Aviation but to many other businesses in Worland for parts, transportation, paint, machinery and more. He added that with the economic struggles in Worland and seeing some businesses close this past year, including Shopko and Reese & Ray's IGA, the boost to these local businesses has been an early Christmas present.
He said they tried to keep all the work local to benefit the community.
Woodward added, "It's good for Worland, to bring that type of business to the community. This is a rare project that we hope leads to more of its kind."
