Page 6 - Volume 16 Number 6

In an industry where tradition sometimes takes a for an aircraft owner’s needs. The further one goes into
the operation, the more his statement makes sense. Look at the list of Yingling’s offerings:
Line Service, Anytime
A top-notch 24/7 FBO for transient pilots welcomes military, business and private owners with coffee and cookies, along with a briefing room, snack canteen and pilot lounge, with no facility-charge ripoffs. A Conono- Phillips branded facility, Yingling’s Jet-A comes out of a pipeline, straight from the refinery. Avgas is available as either reasonably-priced full service, or as self-service with a 60-cent discount. The Doubletree/Hilton airport hotel is an easy walk from Yingling’s front door.
MRO From Props To Antennas
Maintenance can be as extensive as needed. There is, for instance, a propeller service facility, factory authorized for McCauley and FAA approved for Hartzell and MT propellers. As we toured the facility, we found Yingling heavily engaged in performing CAV Aerospace’s TKS deicing installations, taking place right next door to the propeller shop; Federal Express is having Yingling convert its 250-ship Cessna Caravan fleet to CAV’s weeping-wing system. The massive job is taking place at the rate of about 50 planes per year.
back seat to quick-turn acquisitions, it’s rare to find
an aviation services company rooted as deeply as Yingling Aviation. When the city of Wichita, Kansas seized an opportunity to sell its Municipal airport to the Air Force in the early 1950s, it spent the $9 million it received, plus another two million or so, to build what’s now Mid-Continent airport, across town from Boeing’s bomber plant on the sprawling McConnell AFB. And the first hangar that went up after the field opened housed E.V. “Vic” Yingling’s aircraft sales and service business.
Today, Yingling Aviation occupies that 1954 building, plus a half-dozen more, looking out on the same runway as it did in the ‘50s. Actually, Vic Yingling was already a well-established Cessna dealer in Wichita, having gone into business in 1946 over at the old Municipal airport, which was located next door to the Cessna factory. That makes the company over 65 years old. Nothing lasts that long without customer loyalty and attention to detail.
Yingling’s President and CEO Lynn Nichols acquired the company in 2000, becoming only the third owner it’s had. Nichols has given it a major facelift and expansion in the last few years, upgrading FBO facilities and workshops. At this point, V.P. for Customer Programs Jerry Pickett calls Yingling the “Total Solutions Provider”
4 • TWIN & TURBINE
JUNE 2012
Y
ng
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
n
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g