To air is human

Manny Rovithis remembers seeing an ad for Northampton Airport a few years ago. Three introductory flying lessons were going for $199.

"I figured, what the heck, if I like it, fine...if I don't, well, that's fine, too."

He liked it. A lot.

Rovithis, maybe the one person in Western Massachusetts who doesn't need a last name, earned his pilot's license about eight months later, thus becoming one of the latest area business executives to discover the many benefits--and sheer relaxation--of flying.

Benefits such as leaving Barnes Airport in Westfield around 3:30 for a light dinner on Martha's Vineyard, a stroll around Edgartown, and the hop back--all in time to be at his Westfield appliance store by 8 p.m.

But it isn't so much the speed with which he can get away from it all--Rovithis doesn't fly for business, just pleasure--it's the feeling of freedom that one can experience only when they're above the clouds.

"You can be having a rough day at the office, and later go up, by yourself, and really put it all behind you," he told BusinessWest. "It's like you're a bird up there, no one around, no one to bother you, no one to talk to but the tower. It's fabulous."

An Altitude Problem

But it's also very expensive, and becoming increasingly complicated. With the costs of flying going, well, sky-high, disposable income not what it once was for many Americans, and growing demands on prospective pilots to become more technology and communications literate, the skies are becoming increasingly less friendly and less crowded.

"General aviation has come on hard times," said Asher Nesin, who, at 78, is probably the dean of the area's flying business leaders. Now semi-retired from his post as president of Westfield-based Micro Abrasives Corp., he is able to fly almost every day, a luxury he savors. A long-time member of the city's Airport Commission, Nesin laments the present state of the recreation he has devoted much of his adult life to, but quickly adds that things are looking up--figuratively anyway.

Companies that stopped making planes a decade ago due to prohibitive insurance costs have started turning them out of the factories again, thanks largely to legislation that places limits on their liability. In time, the cost of flying may come down somewhat, Nesin says, and interest may again pick up, although probably not to the unprecedented levels of nearly two decades ago.

Back then, there were more than 180,000 operations (take offs and landings) at Barnes. In 1995, the total was down to 60,000, and the numbers look the same for this year. Nesin blames it on the costs of this hobby, the decline in disposable income from the go-go '80s, and the sheer complexity of getting a license. The electronic gear in his 1994 Mooney, a four-seater built to average speeds of 200 mph for cross-country trips, costs $40,000 alone.

Still, for those who have the wherewithal, nothing beats life at 7,000 feet, says Nesin, who should know. With the exception of a forced hiatus from the end of World War II to the mid 60s ("I couldn't afford to fly and raise my young family," he says) he's been taking to the air for nearly 60 years.

His father's poultry farm on Southampton Road, later the site for Micro Abrasives, was only a few hundred yards from the main runway at Barnes, located in the north-east corner of the city. He grew up watching planes take off and land, and when he was old enough, he took advantage of the Civilian Pilots Training Program--established by the federal government as World War II was starting in Europe to ensure that the country would have an adequate number of civilian and military pilots--to gain his license.

During the war, he was a crew member on DC3s and Curtis Commandos during operations in the Pacific. When he was able to afford it, he got his license back in 1966, and has been a familiar sight over the city ever since. An accomplished aerobat, he has thrilled crowds at dozens of air shows, large and small.

While most of his flying has been of the recreational variety, he has used his planes for business as well. "Customers, some of them 200 to 300 miles away, would call in a panic," he explained. "They had run out of materials and needed some in a hurry. I would load up the plane with 300 or 400 pounds of material and fly it over. I'd be a hero. There are nor many places that can give you that kind of service."

He currently has two planes; the Mooney, which he flew home from the Texas manufacturing plant of the Mooney Aircraft Corp. in 1994 and a Super Decathlon. made by Wisconsin-based American Champion Aircraft. The planes cost more than $100,000 each, and are expensive to maintain, but, says, Nesin, echoing the old saying, "if you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it."

Current Events

Claudio Guerra did have to ask, but his continued success in the restaurant business has allowed him to pursue a hobby he uses for both business and pleasure. A veteran, instrument-certified pilot, Guerra, owner of Spoleto restaurant in Northampton, says he considers flying much safer than driving and exponentially more relaxing.

Guerra grew up in Queens. "People from those neighborhoods don't ever dream about having their own planes," he told BusinessWest. But eight years ago, he walked from his home across Riverbank Road in Northampton to the city's airport and asked the people there what they did.

When they told him they could teach anyone how to fly, he considered himself qualified and signed up for lessons. Before long, he and two partners bought a plane. He later bought his partners out, sold that model, and bought a four-seat Piper Comanche. Today he is one of a group of Northampton businessmen who have made flying more than a casual hobby.

Guerra flies often, 140-150 hours a year, to a variety of destinations. Like Rovithis, he frequents the Vineyard and Nantucket. He can also make a stop at another Spoleto's he owns on the South Shore in 45 minutes, a vast improvement on the two hours it takes by cat. He cuts the five-hour ride to his mother's house on Long Island down to less than an hour.

But like others who spoke to BusinessWest, he said it is the freedom, more than the convenience, that draws him to the skies.

"Northampton is a small city, where everyone knows everyone else," he explained. "It's cozy, and I love it, but once in a while, I like to just get away. It's great knowing that at any time I can exit stage right."

He admits that flying isn't cheap, but perhaps not as expensive as some might think. Relatively new planes can run anywhere from $50,000 and up, but older models can be had for much less, he said. Yearly inspections can run from several hundred to more than $1,000, and it costs a few hundred dollars a month to house and maintain a plane. Fuel is twice as expensive as the unleaded that goes in your car, and you burn a lot more of it. Add it all up, and its expensive, but most of the finer things in life are, he says.

Guerra is one of small but dedicated group of Northampton businesspeople who fly in and out of the city's airport, known for its tight runways and unpredictable clouds. "If you learn to fly there, you can fly anywhere," he said.

Soar Subject

Another member of that group is William Phillips, founder and owner of Phillips Enterprises, which manufactures point-of-purchase displays and racks. He always wanted to learn how to fly, but couldn't afford it until 1961. He's been flying ever since, and now owns two planes, a five-seat Twin Cessna 310, and an eight-seat Twin Cessna 421. He used to fly single-engine planes, but after two forced landings in those models, he prefers the added insurance.

While he will occasionally take the extra seats out of the 421 and take prototypes of his products to prospective clients, Phillips flies mostly for recreation, and far less than he would like.

"I get up about 100 hours a year, which may sound like a lot, but I'd prefer much more," he said. A fond lover of aviation, Phillips, like Nesin, has watched the activity at the area's airports quickly and steadily decline, and he admits to being worried about aviation in Western Massachusetts.

"Everything is so heavily regulated now, and the legal system has made it tough with all the lawsuits against plane makers and operators," he said. "The very thing that you get into flying for--to escape from it all--is being compromised. Still, there's a lot of space up there."

He sees the beginnings of a resurgence, as European manufacturers and some familiar American names--Piper, Cessna and others--are beginning make planes again. Those companies were nearly crippled, and many did go out of business, due to excessive liability costs.

Until recent legislation was passed, plane makers could be sued if something went wrong with one of their aircraft four or five decades after it was built. The toll from protecting themselves from that kind of exposure forced makers to raise the price of their models to their point where the cost was prohibitive. And with no one buying planes, they stopped making them.

Liability for plane makers is now down to 15 years, which will help, but the litigiousness of society in general, and the aviation industry in particular, is still pulling the business down.

"We're living in an era where nothing is ever your fault," says Nesin. "It has to be someone else's fault. This is really taking a toll on aviation."

High Expectations

While they encourage newcomers to the sport, the flyers who spoke with BusinessWest stressed that those who want to pursue it have their work cut out for them in these days of sophisticated communications technology.

To gain a license, individuals must have a minimum of 40 hours in the air, and it usually takes much longer, especially to become what is known as instrument certified.

That's the next step for Rovithis, who currently is certified for visual flying only. If it's cloudy, he can't go up, and if there are clouds over his destination, he can't land there.

"It's frustrating," says Rovithis, who admits that he is now faithfully plugged in to the Weather Channel, although no forecasts can accurately predict what can and will happen up there.

In general, the pilots we spoke with said flying is safer than speeding down the turnpike, but it requires strict concentration, and there is little, if any, room for error.

"There's no place to pull over up there if you have a problem," says Nesin. "Let's just say that this is a very unforgiving sport."

Unforgiving, yes, but one that can also become quite addictive. The attraction of the skies is powerful.

Asked when he was next going up, Phillips responded first by bemoaning that it wouldn't be that day.

"It's just beautiful out there, you can see forever," he said. "Maybe....tomorrow."