Where We Came From. Who We Are. Part I

Everything old is new again. Humm..words from a song that fit here. It was just a routine flight today, up to Saranac Lake NY, way up in the Adirondacks for a software developer and team. A routine ride from Franklin VA in one of our King Airs. But not too long ago it was anything but routine for me--and GVA...

In 1983 Joyce & I had gathered up what courage we could muster, held our collective breaths (and noses), signed for an absolutely huge bank loan and incorporated a small (very small) charter air carrier service called Greenbrier Virtual Aviation. Home base at the new Greenbrier Valley Airport--the old field near the Greenbrier Resort finally had been closed, replaced by a badly needed new facility. Think DC-3's weaving down between hills in fog & rain to land at the old field.

We couldn't mortgage the house as part of the loan collateral, we didn't have a house. We were living in a rather small (35') travel trailer parked on property we had bought in Renick, about 12 miles from the airport. We did manage to secure part of the loan using the land as collateral. I had some money from other sources (more on that later) and so we were off. We had a pretty good Beech Baron and a tired Cessna 182 Skylane that we usually referred to as "the Skylame. Most of our charters --and at first there were darn few charters--were hunters, fisherman and the occasional farmer wanting an aerial photograph of his acreage.

Joyce took care of the office paperwork, phone calls, scheduling, and heading off the FAA. Oh yes, and trying to find the money to pay the fuel bills and repair costs, there were a lot of those. I was the "highly trained and courteous" flight staff.

We had gotten a charter for some guy selling something called a lap top computer. He had been at a show/demo at the Greenbrier Resort and needed to be in Franklin VA for a demo for the Department of the Navy. So I fueled up the Baron and off we went to Franklin VA. And there my part in things should have ended.

I was cooling my heels at Franklin Muni and almost ready to head home empty--no pax, no cargo, no nuthin' when the guy called the FBO and asked if I was still around. The nice FBO lady said I was just getting ready to leave, handed me the phone and walked away politely. The guy needed to go to Saranac Lake NY (never been there in my life) and was I interested in the charter? His planned carrier had cancelled his flight, they found a job that paid more and left the salesman high & dry. Another small, one or two plane operation like GVA, I suppose.

Was I ready to go to NY? You bet I was!! I called Joyce, told her to cancel plans for supper and I'd be home tomorrow unless something more turned up. I bought charts, maps, and approach plates on my bent and bloody credit card, filed a flight plan for upstate NY, convinced the ground service crew to waive the landing fee and fueled up the Baron.

We were off!! At least my charter was, if not GVA itself. We were off as filed for a routine flight up to the Adirondacks, making a little money and hopefully I'd be able to find a charter of some nature back to WV or somewhere close. I spent the next two nights hanging out at Saranac Lake. They let me sleep in the back of the FBO a couple of days (things were different back then) before I found some freight going in my general direction. But GVA had been there when needed, and delivered the goods.

My salesman friend? He stayed with Gavilan for a time, always using GVA for his charter carrier. As he rose in the business he directed that GVA be his division's carrier of choice. He later moved to another computer manufacturer and took us along as his East Coast Carrier. His new employer was an up & coming outfit known as Apple. Humm...it doesn't seem all that long as I remember it, but was 1983, 32 years ago. Today GVA flew a routine charter. Up to Saranac Lake for a team from Apple in a reasonably recent King Air with full luxury cabin and the latest panel. Everything old is new again I guess.