Peter Dillingham’s father, Dan, and grandfather, Tom, with their 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza 35.
The Dillingham family of Enid, Oklahoma, has a long heritage in aviation. Peter Dillingham, a pilot for more than 40 years, is one member of three generations of flyers.
The familial knowledge of combining business and aviation was first pioneered by his grandfather, Tom Dillingham. As a rancher and insurance salesman in Enid, Tom had a local connection to Walter Beech, who was a car salesman there at the time. Both ultimately were enthralled with flying and Dillingham later purchased his first Beechcraft in 1947, a Model 35 Bonanza.
The aircraft purchase ultimately developed into another tradition outside of entrepreneurship – Bonanza ownership. Model serial numbers have long been points of fond memory as flights and bygone days at the Beechcraft factory are typical conversation among the Dillingham’s.
The appreciation for aviation and the legacy aircraft manufacturer is shared by Peter and his two brothers, Jed and Chad, who long owned a Beechcraft Bonanza A36. Peter flew the 1997 model for eight years.
“I only have great things to say about the Bonanza. While it is considered a complex aircraft due to a retractable gear, its systems are very straightforward and it has excellent speed. The A36 is an ideal plane for pilots with greater than 100 hours.”
As Dillingham explained, the aircraft was useful in the various business ventures he has spearheaded over the years – predominantly within the petroleum and the food manufacturing industries. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for No Man’s Land Foods, an Oklahoma-based beef jerky manufacturer with distribution across the country.
“I have been able to involve flying with all these businesses. Being able to fly myself to meet with customers or vendors, look at equipment, and then get home the same day. This has been made possible living in a city that does not provide commercial air services.”
Not only does he fly for business in a continually expanding area, Dillingham often flies with family and friends in his free time. As he explained, “Flying with my wife, Annie, and our three daughters is what I love most.”
A common destination for the family is San Antonio. But the 400-nautical mile mission highlighted one shortcoming of the aircraft. “When our daughters were small, we could load everybody and everything up in the Bonanza. But once they were young adults, we would need to pre-ship our clothes to the hotel we were traveling to, then ship the box home after the trip.”
As a result of this issue and other payload-limited missions, Dillingham identified the need to increase his range without sacrificing weight. He sought something that could fly further and faster than the single-engine, high-performance piston while comfortably carrying the same number of passengers he had become accustomed.
“I was looking for a Piper Meridian, and if you had asked me, I would not have said a TBM was in the running. But I learned that TBMs have a lot more range than Meridians; roughly 1,300 nautical miles in a TBM 700C2 versus 800 nautical miles in a Meridian, for example. The TBM also has a 20 to 30 knot per hour speed advantage. So, on long trips, many times you can go nonstop in the TBM versus making a stop in the Meridian”.
Flying at 28,000 feet, Dillingham advised the TBM achieves speeds of 280 knots per hour (assuming no wind) while burning 55 gallons per hour.
Now nearly a year and a half into TBM 700C2 ownership, he offered many complimentary things about his 2003 build. “The TBM has allowed us to expand the range of our trips from more of a regional basis to nationwide. The same time it would take to fly to Cincinnati in the Bonanza, we can make it to Bar Harbor.”
Additionally, Dillingham spoke about the transition into flying the TBM after many years in a Bonanza. “I was lucky when I began training in the TBM in that Joe Casey (with Casey Aviation) was able to locate a plane that had almost the identical Garmin avionics that we had installed in our Bonanza, so I didn’t have to learn a new panel. I had no prior exposure to a turbine engine or a pressurized airplane, so I was initially intimidated. Once I got into it with Joe, I quickly learned that while you must respect the differences, there are a lot of advantages to what I was moving into. I felt comfortable flying the TBM solo when we finished the 25-hour course.”
The TBM has helped with the hockey stick growth that No Man’s Land Foods has experienced since Dillingham and two partners became involved with the beef jerky manufacturer in 2015. Much of the growth can be attributed to how the company conducts business. They ensure commitments are always backed and personal connections are continually fostered. Dillingham’s newest aircraft has allowed them to successfully follow this model of trust-based operations, often leaning on the TBM’s range at a moment’s notice.
“We had an instance this year when two members of our sales team needed to be in Pennsylvania for a customer meeting one afternoon and in Grand Rapids early the next morning for a presentation to another. We left Enid that morning, made the first meeting, and I dropped them off in Michigan before dinner,” Dillingham said.
The increased performance attributes of the TBM have been advantageous for Dillingham’s business and personal interests. As a Bonanza owner, he would fly about 80 to 100 hours a year, but last year he flew about 235 hours in his new aircraft.
“I was able to utilize our Bonanza in addition to commercial flights when I needed to travel for business and pleasure. With the TBM, I’ve been able to comfortably complete most of our travel needs in lieu of commercial flights. The combination of range, speed and payload for the business pilot is hard to beat. Plus, being able to bypass the hassles you encounter at commercial airlines is a great convenience.”
Dillingham said that his aircraft fits his mission exceptionally well and doesn’t know where he would go from here as far as a bigger aircraft. Grateful for being born into a family of aviators, he said, “I have never climbed into the TBM or my Bonanzas without a great big dose of appreciation for being able to fly.”
Very cool. Very practical.