Sherron Perry.

• Author: Armstrong, Amy M.
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Junior Achievement Alaska - Oil and gas exploration industry reports

The fact that aviation has been the dominant force in Sherron Perry's career in Alaska isn't much of a surprise once one learns more about his background.

In the mid-1970s, the Georgia native left the South in a Bush plane headed for the adventure and opportunities Alaska presented. He began his post-college career in the liquor business in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, but was ready for something a bit more exciting.

He made it to Canada in that plane-more specifically to Edmonton--before mechanical failures grounded the plane. It didn't ground Perry. Despite the angst of leaving his plane behind, Perry hopped a commercial flight and came to Anchorage.

That First Big Job

Opportunity seemed endless--he just had to land that first job. Perry was a newcomer, but that didn't stop Jim Calendar of what was then Unocal from offering Perry a job as a weather observer in remote Alaska.

The faith and trust Calendar had in Perry--an unproven, yet eager, energetic and clearly skillful pilot--is something Perry never forgot. It is also a lesson he wants to convey to young people.

"When you get that first big job; that first big break, you do everything you can to make sure that you earn the trust you have been given and the chance that the person offering you that opportunity has given you," Perry says. "Once that job is complete, once you have done that job to the absolute best, then you have earned your way."

Perry's weather observation skills combined with natural instincts as a pilot quickly landed him job after job supporting the work of the quickly expanding mid-1970s oil and gas exploration industry in Alaska.

He formed Fairweather, LLC in 1976 and has been a driving, or more accurately, flying, force in the oil and gas industry support services niche. In the nearly four decades since its establishment, Fairweather has expanded from a small firm providing weather reports to oil explorers to a large firm meeting just about any need of this specific niche. Fairweather offers airstrip lighting and weather observations, bear guards, climate/ice studies and observation, drilling and production services, environmental science and research, logistics and expediting, medical services for remote locations, and Native cultural awareness training.

These may sound like a diverse group of activities, but in reality they all have one thing in common: they are essential support services for Alaska oil and gas industry activities.

Bit of Wisdom: Focus

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