Air service spreads its wings: Homer's Bald Mountain Air expands reach statewide.

• Author: Stuart, Ben
• Position: TRANSPORTATION

While many in the air business are scratching their heads searching for ways to scratch out profits, one Homer-based air service found a new formula for success and expansion--live bears in the summer, Deadhorse in the winter.

Bald Mountain Air Service--a well-respected and longtime participant in the bear-viewing industry--has expanded rapidly over the past few years to offer winter flying service for scientists, government entities and oil-exploration companies to the North Slope.

In three years, the business has grown from a two-plane, summertime operation that employed two pilots, including Gary Porter, co-owner of the business with wife, Jeanne, to a four-plane, year-round business with 11 pilots.

The company's expansion can be seen on the ground as well as in the air. Besides being one of the biggest structures in Homer, a new 10,400-square-foot hangar under construction near the Homer airport is a testament to how business at Bald Mountain Air has taken off. The new hangar will provide a home base for all airplane maintenance for Bald Mountain's growing fleet.

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"I'd like to say it was good planning," Gary said about his company's growth. "But we were just there when the opportunity was there and we have a good (flying) background."

The idea to expand, like most business decisions, was born out of necessity, and began when the Porters were looking for a new way to pay the bills.

MOVING NORTH

For the last 15 years, the team has operated their bear-viewing guide service out of Homer, flying daily back and forth across Cook Inlet to Katmai National Park in a deHavilland Otter, a plane designed in the 1950s. While the planes have proven to be safe for many years in Alaska, the Porters decided to upgrade the plane's engine to something more modern.

Three years ago, they purchased and installed a 900-horsepower Honeywell Garrett engine with a full reversing propeller for about $500,000. The engine worked great, they said. The problem was that it was getting expensive to run the plane only half the year.

So Gary began flying the Otter up to the North Slope during the winter months--a place where he'd spent many years learning the craft of commercial flying as a 20-something-year-old. He scrounged up a few flying contracts from oil companies and scientific firms moving materials and men from place to place, and then watched the demand for his services grow as oil prices climbed.

Gary has since added a pair of modified...