Avionics News April 2014 - 51

Michael Wygmans works on a Eurocopter.

Larry Molegraaf and Paul Bruder perform avionics maintenance.

roughly translates into seize the occasion, or alternatively, seize the opportunity. Seizing the occasion or opportunity is definitely a best practice
used by Mayday and has helped the
company change with the times and
remain profitable.
In 1972, technicians Ken Malone
and Bill Dawes left Northern Air
Service to form their own avionics
business. By combining the first two
letters of their last names and adding
a couple of strategically placed Ys,
they named their business Mayday
Avionics. Some people may think the
name is strange for an aviation business; however, the moniker has proven to be quite memorable and worked
for them.
In the early 1980s, Malone and
Dawes were successful enough to
purchase the avionics facility from
Northern Air. As the country slipped
into a deep recession, they worked
hard to keep Mayday in business.
Even then, they were seizing opportunities. Mayday became a government
subcontractor, maintaining air traffic control communication systems
in Kalamazoo and Muskegon, Mich.
This work created a fairly substantial
amount of billable time, which most
definitely helped keep the doors open
and technicians employed.

Seizing the
opportunity to
ex p a n d , c o n t ra c t ,
h i re a n d t ra i n h a s
a l l owe d M ayd ay t o
s u c c e e d fo r m o re
t h a n 4 2 yea r s .
Toward the end of the 1980s, a local hospital, Spectrum Health, started
an airborne EMS operation. One of
the technicians at the time, Ed Ensink,
now a co-owner, dedicated himself to
learning helicopter avionics. He attended training when it was available.
When formal training was not available, he studied on his own. Today,
Spectrum operates two S-76 helicopters under the name Aero Med. Aero
Med has logged nearly 16,000 patient
flights, and more than 16,000 safe
flight hours. According to Aero Med
Spectrum Health, these helicopters
are the only ones in Michigan staffed
with a flight physician.
As the local rotorcraft industry

grew, so did Mayday's skills and expertise. As a result, helicopter work
evolved into everything from routine
avionics maintenance and installations to supplemental type certificate
work. Mayday also is a motivated
partner in the Grand Rapids-based
Aero Alliance, a division of Nelson
AeroDynamiX Corp. The Aero Alliance website describes the partnership as "five cutting-edge, firmly established companies that recognized
an opportunity and jumped at the
chance to offer the helicopter industry
a superior, 'one-stop-shopping' experience for helicopter completions and
pre-owned refurbishments." Aero Alliance specializes in completions of
privately owned turbine helicopters.
As the 20th century drew to a close,
changes, both welcome and unwelcome, were coming. Unwelcome was
the death of Dawes, leaving Malone
as sole owner. Welcome was the arrival of an experienced technician,
Bob Weber, who presented Mayday
with another seizable opportunity.
He had extensive experience in autopilot repair. In particular, he had
knowledge and experience in some of
the older systems that many avionics
shops would avoid. Weber wanted to
Continued on following page
avionics news

april

2014

Avionics News April 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News April 2014