Sawyer Aviation @MikeD

Wow. That really sucks. When they were at KPHX, they had a first rate charter operation, even having started the AirEvac fixed wing air ambulances in the early 1980s, first with Cessna 414 Chancellors, then with 441 Conquests, when the operation was owned by Samaritan Health. Sawyer provided the pilots and maintained the planes, while Samaritan provided the med crews. Sawyer was one of the finest Cessna dealers and service centers in the nation. Sad to see. It’s where I got my PPL in 1987.


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MikeD said:
Wow. That really sucks. When they were at KPHX, they had a first rate charter operation, even having started the AirEvac fixed wing air ambulances in the early 1980s, first with Cessna 414 Chancellors, then with 441 Conquests, when the operation was owned by Samaritan Health. Sawyer provided the pilots and maintained the planes, while Samaritan provided the med crews. Sawyer was one of the finest Cessna dealers and service centers in the nation. Sad to see. It’s where I got my PPL in 1987.


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I’m wondering if this was a case of failing to file documents or they were actually operating without anyone in these required positions.
 
Had a client who had an aircraft managed by them. Had a lot of teething issues and eventually fired them after a major maintenance mishap. Said the place seemed like a revolving door.
 
The founder, Darrell Sawyer, who I used to see daily when he’d be running the day to day, founded Sawyer Aviation in 1961 at DVT. Moved the operation to PHX in 1970. However he sold the operation to Swift Aviation in 2000 just from getting up there in age to personally manage it. That could be where the downhill began. Sawyer has been part of the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame for over 20 years now.
 
MikeD said:
Wow. That really sucks. When they were at KPHX, they had a first rate charter operation, even having started the AirEvac fixed wing air ambulances in the early 1980s, first with Cessna 414 Chancellors, then with 441 Conquests, when the operation was owned by Samaritan Health. Sawyer provided the pilots and maintained the planes, while Samaritan provided the med crews. Sawyer was one of the finest Cessna dealers and service centers in the nation. Sad to see. It’s where I got my PPL in 1987.


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Nice shot of the RX-7. :sarcasm:
 
Lots of places don't survive the moving on of original owners. Part of business. I've seen it so many times I've lost count.

I can tell you that if I'm doing business with anyplace that either had a great rep or I've done business with for a while, and the owner moves on, I watch things carefully, and bail if there is any sign of what you normally see.

Number one is cost cutting, and that usually begins with jacking the employees.
 
Richman said:
Lots of places don't survive the moving on of original owners. Part of business. I've seen it so many times I've lost count.

I can tell you that if I'm doing business with anyplace that either had a great rep or I've done business with for a while, and the owner moves on, I watch things carefully, and bail if there is any sign of what you normally see.

Number one is cost cutting, and that usually begins with jacking the employees.
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Having been through this scenario a couple of times I can say that the people that buy the company are only looking at the ledger and will start cutting costs once they wrest control from the people who've been there for decades. Sometimes there are layoffs and sometimes the integral people in the company feel uncertain and sometimes disrespected and leave voluntarily and the company has to start over. It's hard to build loyalty when you're firing people.
 
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