Chapter 3

CHUCK - DAY THREE - Wednesday

When I woke, I again immediately phoned home and spoke to Nancy this time. She said that they were all thinking of me, and that Julie had got home late last evening from her latest trip back to England. Nancy said she was still asleep, otherwise she was sure that Julie would have wanted to tell me personally that she had finally sold her flat. All the ladies there quickly blew kisses down the phone before we said goodbye.

I hadn't had any real exercise since Sunday, so I put my sports leg on and spent a nice half an hour in the hotel's well-equipped exercise room.

While the four of us were eating breakfast, DeDe phoned to say that the Halcyon planes should all be flying again within the next hour, but that both she and Jimmy were going to be busy for some days getting everything running smoothly again. Steve asked her if she had noticed whether any of the managers might be ready for more responsibility; but she gave a decided negative. Steve said that this confirmed what he had thought, and that we would have to recruit her replacement from outside. Because of this, DeDe should plan on staying in LA for another 4-5 weeks but Jimmy was needed back in Lutz within 48 hours.

I was in full agreement with this.

All four of us drove out to Spring Field to meet Bill, but we would not have much time to have a good look round before Star and Terrell arrived. If they had got away early from Lutz, they should be with us by around 0900 local time.

I said that I had to go back into the city for an 11 o'clock meeting – the one that had been postponed yesterday. I asked Bill's secretary to arrange for another hire car for me.

While John and Tank went off to do their separate things, Steve and I sat down with Bill to discuss the proposed deal.

"Subject to the appraisal," I began the meeting. "We are happy with the terms that you outlined to John yesterday; however we think you have overpriced your aircraft. I'm assuming here that the aircraft maintenance business is also included?"

Bill smiled his crooked smile.

"I was only trying it on," he confessed. "I'll be happy if you just pay me the book value for the aircraft, and yes – the maintenance operation is included. Will you employ all my people too?"

We all shook hands on the deal, and Bill promised to get his lawyers started on drawing up the agreement. John would act as the CS&S lawyer.

"Young Billie was telling me yesterday," I then remarked to Bill. "That his dad told him Willie Carstairs was your minority owner and that you yourself own 20% of Lacy Field?"

Bill leaned back and looked thoughtful.

"Yes," he agreed. "Willie and I go right back together - first school, then pilot training with old General Lacy. We joined the Air Force together, and the General pulled strings to have us posted to the same Squadron.

"The General had three stars. In the war, he was with the Eighth Air Force in England, and rose from commanding one of the early Bombardment Groups, to a whole Air Division! Then before he retired, he was one of MacArthur's key people at the start of the Korean War.

"We flew C-124s from here to Da Nang and back, again and again repeatedly. It was so boring! I flew left seat and Willie right. When we were time-expired, the General set us up with our separate operations. I wanted to sell planes; Willie wanted to train pilots, but he got angina and was grounded!

"Do you want me to ask him if you can buy my 20% of Lacy Field? I'm good with that!"

"I'll go out there after my meeting," I told him. "I need more information, and ought to talk to Willie."

"There's no problem with employing you in Hawaii," Steve assured Bill. "Our people there will welcome you with open arms. But in the meantime, please will you stay here and help our new manager get into the saddle? She's called Star, by the way, and should be here any minute. You're already on the S&S payroll as from today, and there's so much for you to do here at Spring Field still. We've also got ideas for a flying school."

I then phoned John's cell to ask if he had spoken with the consortium's lawyer yet. When he told me that he hadn't, I told him to get on to it right away. John said that after he had done this, he was going over to see if one of the freighters was flyable and if so, he would bring it over.

Meanwhile, Steve was talking to his manager in Reno, instructing him to get an HR person over to the airport to be picked up by Bill's salesman in one of the sale company planes. He had arranged this with Bill.

I told Bill that we were planning on starting a local air charter business and would probably need to steal about two thirds of his present aircraft inventory. Consequently, we needed him to find replacements, as well as getting a pair of G5s and a couple of Lear 600s.

As I was telling Bill this, Star's Lear landed and we walked out on to the apron to meet her and Terrell. The plane was one of the new luxury ones that we brought from the Arabs. Bill was really impressed. Steve then took Terrell off to show him what was required. The appraisal was important, but it was also vital to get the two better hangars serviceable as quickly as possible. In addition, Steve wanted a passenger terminal with all the facilities for, say, 250 people at once, and an expanded Admin block with crew rooms etc. He also asked for an estimate to extend the runways, including another 4,000 feet on the main runway. Assuming we could buy the necessary land.

Meanwhile, I introduced Star to Bill, and proceeded to brief her on the Halcyon deal, what DeDe is doing there, John's deals with the Bankruptcy Judge and the consortium.

"While it is John's job to sort out the lawyers and legal agreements," I told her. "You are now the General Manager here.

"You will have to pull everything together and to get this whole place running smoothly. This will not be easy, as we are planning a new air charter business, and are going to take 18-20 aircraft from the sales operation as a starter. Bill here is going to look for some bigger jets as well.

"I want the latter to get the full Lutz luxury treatment, as we see an opportunity to exploit the potential of the Reno resorts. That's the priority, but you ought to have at least one with the normal seating plan,.

"I must emphasise that you are in charge, but I hope Bill will stay to help you as long as you need him. Of course, one of your early priorities must be finding enough flight staff."

Bill promised to help her all he could. When he asked about the proposed flying school, Star's eyes were just about popping out of her head

As she stammered out her thanks, I patted her on the back. I also shook hands with Bill, welcoming him to the team.

Then I had to rush off into the city for my delayed meeting.

While I was gone, Steve and Star ran through the list of his inventory with Bill, and marked the following for the air charter operation:

1 x Dassault Falcon 2000 EX

1 x Beech 390 Jet

1 x Cessna CJ-4

1 x Beech 1300

1 x Beech B200

2 x Beech 58P Baron turbos

2 x Beech T-36s

1 x Cessna 208C

3 x Cessna 172s

2 x Cessna 150s

2 x Piper Seneca Vs

1 x Piper Malibu Meridian

Steve added an Avia-Pitts S2C, as he said the staff would have fun with it.

That left an assortment of miscellaneous aircraft:

2 x Air Tractor 802-As

1 x Mooney A-20

1 x Piaggio P .180 Avanti II

2 x Cessna 425s

2 x Piper Cherokee 6s

1 x Piper Turbo Arrow IV

Bill then told Steve about a big Bombardier CL- 415 amphibian that he had, which was in the middle of a teardown in the back of the second hangar. He explained that it wasn't on any of the books, as it was a private venture of his own. He wanted to know if we would be interested in buying it too. Steve explained that we have another friend, Dewey, who lives out in the San Juan islands up in Washington State, who has a number of aircraft including a 737 and a few G5s - and might be interested; so he would provisionally take it.

Over more coffee, Steve and Bill discussed his replacement at the Sales Division. Bill recommended his salesman, Gerry Weiss, who had been the one to sell Sue her 208 which had been stolen many years ago. Steve asked him to find another salesman who could also sell helicopters, as they would need to widen the operation.

Bill then looked thoughtful as he finished his coffee.

"I've been thinking about your proposed Hawaiian Golf Tours operation," he began, "And I've made a few phone calls.

"I suggest that you should examine the possibility of having a second West Coast base in, say, the LA area. There's now an awful lot of congestion in the whole airspace around LAX, and I think that a field a little further inland would be best. There's an old wartime B-29 training base near Jean, Nevada, 30 miles south of Vegas on I-15. Thiat may well fit the bill, as it has really long runways - one is an unbelievable 18,000 feet, which is the longest in the southwest except for those out at Edwards AFB.

"The current owner inherited the field from his father, together with a thriving flying school, with at least 40 aircraft and lots of instructors, both full & part time.

"However, not being content with that, this fella, Gordon Jackson, has been going all out for expansion, and has badly overstretched himself financially. Because a major freight corporation was seriously interested in moving to the area, he's used up all his own money, plus ten million of the bank's, to do up all the runways and build a line of new top quality hangars with all the necessary supporting facilities. This freight operation then decided to move somewhere else, and the grapevine has it that not only is Jackson's wife divorcing him, but he also hasn't been able to service the loans, so the bank has just called all his notes. These are said to be secured on everything."

After Steve agreed that this sounded interesting, and that we'd think about it, they got on the internet to see what was available on the Government Equipment for Disposal website. They quickly put together a list of interesting prospects:

1 x Beech B200

1 x Gulfstream C-37A9, the military VIP version of the G-5, (but in poor condition)

2 x Cessna Citation CJ-4s

1 x Grumman C-2 Greyhound