Everts Air Cargo: scheduled, flagstop or chartered, air carrier accommodates.

• Author: Kalytiak, Tracy
• Position: TRANSPORTATION

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Sliced-in-half pickup trucks. Whale meat. Fresh-cut flowers. Boats. Custom-designed water-purification systems. Fifty-five-foot telephone poles. Fiberglass-enclosed weather stations. Herds of reindeer.

The one thing these items have in common is that they all have been transported at one time or another on aircraft operated by Everts Air Cargo.

"Our work is a lot like trying to figure out how to fit a square peg in a round hole," said Pete Mejia, Everts' Anchorage operations manager, who coordinates aircraft loads and flight schedules. "A pickup will fit, but how do you make it fit without scratching the roof or the side quarter panel? You can cram anything into a certain space, but we need to make it come out looking brand-spanking-new, like when the dealer dropped it off."

When crews are dealing with an 18-foot car or truck, the margin for error might only be an inch on any side.

HISTORY

Clifford R. Everts, a 35-year veteran of Wien Airlines, launched Everts Air Fuel Inc. in the late 1970s in Fairbanks, and his son Robert W. Everts got his start in aviation working for his father. In 1984, Robert Everts graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Science. In 1993, he bought Eagle-based Tatonduk Outfitters Ltd. and headquartered the company in Fairbanks. Tatonduk is the parent company of Everts Air Cargo, formerly Air Cargo Express, and Everts Air Alaska, formerly Tatonduk Flying Service, established in 1977.

The company's first aircraft was a Cessna 180 with wheel, ski and float capabilities. It provided charter-only transportation for miners, trappers and explorers until 1985, when it began scheduled flights between Fairbanks and Eagle. Today, Everts Air Alaska operates throughout Interior Alaska.

CARGO

Everts Air Cargo operates DC-6, C-46 and Embraer 120 aircraft throughout the state. The company provides scheduled air cargo transportation to more than a dozen Alaska communities, flagstop service to 90 destinations in Alaska, and charter service throughout Alaska and to the Lower 48 and Canada.

"The C-46 and DC-6 are interchangeable with what they carry other than distance, and the payload they can handle," said Pete Mejia, the company's Anchorage operations manager. "The DC-6 and Embraer are different. You can put a car or boat in a DC-6. The Embraers carry priority mail and small-package freight that can be hand-loaded. Cargo in a DC-6 needs to be fork-loaded on...