Once upon a time, Aaron Greear could find nowhere to park his beloved Cessna. So he founded Mount Stuart Aviation and built a Phillips 66-branded FBO at Bowers Field Airport in Ellensburg, Washington. True story…
Years of reading between the lines and through marketing murk have left your editor a little sceptical over the stories told by press releases. In selling a development or the latest news, the details of the stories they relate do not always faithfully reflect the stories to be told. A recent press release from fuel giant Phillips 66, promoting the story of Mount Stuart Aviation’s brand new Phillips 66-branded FBO at Bowers Field Airport in Ellensburg, Washington, seemed to fit that mould exactly.
The story went that after discovering there was nowhere at Bowers Field, his local airport, to keep his beloved vintage Cessna 182, Aaron Greear decided to build an FBO. It seemed unlikely…
A few days later, a disarmingly young-looking 30-year old Greear joined EVA on a video call from outside his FBO. The one he built. But did he really build the facility from scratch? Or was this a simple case of repurposing an existing building?
“We built it from scratch,” he says. “It was a big undertaking, but my background is in construction. My family has a lot of experience with large buildings – not hangars, but buildings of similar size. We built close to the road parallel to the airport, so the road access and utilities were only across a short distance. And we built a parking lot. Airside, we paved an area to connect with the existing ramp. I’ve experience in asphalt too, so that was relatively easy.”
The process from Greear realising he needed somewhere to park the Cessna to opening his FBO took a little over three years. Much of that time, he ruefully acknowledges, was spent agreeing on a ground lease. Design and permitting took a further 12 months, followed by less than a year for construction.
“The shell went up quickly; it’s all the finishing that takes the time,” Greear continues. “I didn’t appreciate that fact because many FBOs have been operational for decades. They’ve collected a lot of character, furniture and other things where you walk in, see them and think ‘Wow, that’s cool!’ I have a bunch of blank walls and empty spaces that will take years to fill, so I’m not sure we’ll ever really be finished.”
As the FBO builds a customer base it will inevitably develop its own character and begin building a legacy. Greear adds: “I tell everybody I’m looking for decorative items. We want to keep it semi-consistent, so I need to be a little selective. I want to keep it generic and airplane-themed, but we haven’t really locked down a theme yet. Even the colour scheme is pretty basic, but we have a name, we’ve chosen a purple accent colour and now we need to get a logo.”
Mount Stuart Aviation really is entering the FBO business from scratch. For now, details like designing logos and creating websites are not topping Greear’s to-do list. The building is up and operational and, as he rightly points out, if people visiting Bowers Field need an FBO they’re sure to find it and then tell their friends.
Phillips 66
Mount Stuart Aviation is Greear’s business. Acknowledging that Bowers Field is small and at this stage in its development the FBO is not yet busy, he says: “I’d love a bunch of staff, but for now there’s little for them to do and no money to pay them! I’m around a lot and we have two part-time guys. We come in to restock and continue with the finishing and, if we have jet traffic, we get the fuel truck. Running an FBO is still new to me, but we’re figuring it out!”
The tiny Mount Stuart Aviation is learning on the job and already pleasing customers. Greear continues: “Central Washington University has a flight school, operating 15 Archers. They buy about three quarters of the 100LL that the airfield sells, and we have one or two jets on the airfield that we also refuel. Then we have as many as 40 transitional jets and military aircraft. We want more military aircraft, primarily helicopters because the runway is too short for larger fixed-wing. We sell around 30,000 gallons of jet fuel per year.”
Given that its annual jet fuel sale is roughly equivalent to brimming the tanks on 15 Challenger 3500s, it seems unlikely that Mount Stuart Aviation should even register on the radar of a major fuel company, let alone carry its branding. How did Greear, who by his own admission is still working out how an FBO runs, end up working with Phillips 66?
“We took over airport fuel sales about two years ago. Figuring out how we bought fuel, maintained the fuel farm and sold fuel were probably the hardest things about setting up an FBO. I reached out to a few suppliers and Phillips 66 was super helpful. They came out and looked at the farm, told us what we needed and matched the other suppliers on price. Everyone I spoke to about Phillips 66 was happy and I’ve always run their oil products in my plane. They were flexible on contracting too and now we’re two years in and I’m very happy.”
Greear loves his Cessna, and he’s excited about the FBO and Mount Stuart Aviation. He knows there is a long way to go but says: “I really enjoy aviation and I’m still new to it, so there’s lots to learn. Everything I love to do and have experience in aligned in this complex undertaking, making something incredibly difficult just difficult!”