DAVID CITY -- Moving a highly specialized manufacturing plant from one end of the state to the other is no easy task, even if you've got planes.
Just ask the management and staff at the newly opened Hershey Flying Service in David City.
“It has been a very difficult process to get Hershey Flying Service to where we are at now,†said Jared Storm, owner of the $1.2 million aircraft repair station.
Storm, who has a crop-dusting service in Wahoo, bought the Hershey-based company in 2011 with the plan to move it from Hershey, which is west of North Platte. He considered Wahoo, and other cities came calling, including Columbus.
David City landed the company by providing a long-term lease and a new water main to the site at David City Municipal Airport.
Mayor Alan Zavodny said he hopes the company’s arrival marks the start of a trend for the Butler County seat of 2,900 people.
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“Hershey Flying Service coming to David City is an exciting development. Mr. Storm is an entrepreneur and has a passion for airplanes and flying,†Zavodny said.
To keep taxes and utility rates down, the city needs to expand its tax base, he said.
"Hershey Flying Service is one step in doing that. It offers employment for local people and could eventually help us in other ways. There may come a day when airplanes are not only repaired here, but who knows, maybe they will be built here.â€
The company’s specialty is building components for, and repairing, the Grumman Ag Cat, a plane designed in the late 1950s and built through the 1970s. It also builds some parts for Piper Braves, Weatherly and Air Tractors.
Storm said he moved the company east to be closer to a broader base of workers who specialize in welding and metal fabrication. Hershey Flying Service has eight employees, including General Manager Kevin Woockman, a native of the Stanton area.
The last of the specialized inventory was shipped from Hershey to David City by November, and workers are setting up for full operation while handling incoming orders.
Storm said the move was complex and challenging. First, there were regulatory demands of the Federal Aviation Administration. Add in rain delays in preparing the building site on swampy ground. And last year, the city built a grass taxiway from the new facility to the airport runway.
The building covers 22,000 square feet and is equipped with a sub-floor heating system, a state-of-the-art paint booth and advanced computer numeric control equipment.
In addition to repairs, the company develops new components to make flying safer for pilots.
Two of its recent innovations, the Storm Cutters and the Storm Shield, are intended to decrease hazards of crop dusting, which requires low-level flights and sharp turns while avoiding power lines, poles, birds and, increasingly, drone aircraft.
Already on the market, Storm Cutters are thin bars attached to the plane’s landing gear and designed to cut through power lines if necessary.
The Storm Shield, a replacement windshield that has tested eight times stronger than the factory-installed glass, is awaiting FAA approval.
Storm said he's grateful for support from the city and its council members and hopes they continue support of infrastructure projects at the airport.
"The seed has been planted and as this seed grows it will continue to bear fruit for the city in the form of jobs and tax revenue.â€