APRIL 2014 University of North Carolina operates a Daher-Socata TBM 850, a TBM 700C2 and 4 Beechcraft Baron 58s. They fly school officials, athletic directors, coaches and medical professionals involved in the UNC Health Care System. (L-R) Dir of UNC Air Ops Gordon Kramon, TBM and Baron Sr Capt Jim Hotelling, Dir of Mx David Eastwood and Air Transportation Coordinator Lotta Peltola-Nelms. Aircraft and staff are based at RDU (Raleigh-Durham NC). Workhorse Aircraft FLIGHT DEPT PROFILE UNC flies TBM 850, TBM 700C2 and 4 Baron 58s Providing leadership for UNC’s flight department are Nadine O’Malley, associated director for administration and finance for the NC Area Health Education Centers, and Gordon Kramon, director of air operations. Carolina Blue keeps 6 planes busy transporting school officials, professors, athletic directors, coaches and health care professionals within NC and neighboring states. By Mike Potts 1789, UNC is one of the oldest doctors to meet with groups of Contributing Editor public universities in the country. patients, vastly improving the efficient Today UNC-Chapel Hill is a coedu- use of the doctors’ time. ne of the best known college cational public research university Originally air operation was estab- logos in the country today which includes the UNC-Chapel Hill lished under the auspices of the North Obelongs to the University of School of Medicine and its associated Carolina Area Health Education Centers, North Carolina (UNC). The distinctive UNC Health Care System (HCS). HCS or AHEC, which was part of a then “Carolina blue” UNC logo appears on exists to further the teaching mission of newly-created Federal AHEC program clothing, banners and flags, license the university and to provide state-of- under the US Department of Health and plates, glasses and cups and all man- the-art patient care, creating a key Human Services. A nonprofit foundation ner of collectibles. interface between the academics of called UNC Medical Air Operations, or It is also displayed prominently on biomedical research and the day-to- Medical Air for short, was established to 6 aircraft that the university operates day delivery of health care services. own the aircraft. to support a statewide medical out- Also maintaining a world-class colle- Today the flight dept still operates on reach program and to provide trans- giate athletics department, the univer- essentially the same model, although portation for key school officials sity’s teams have won more than its role has expanded to include a traveling to conduct the university’s 40 National Collegiate Athletic wider array of medical educational business. Association (NCAA) championships in services as well as additional functions With 17 campuses located across 6 different sports, including men’s and for the university including recruiting the state, UNC is an extensive opera- women’s basketball, men’s and and executive transport, using a fleet tion from the Atlantic coast on the east women’s soccer, men’s lacrosse and of 6 aircraft including 2 Daher-Socata side to the Appalachian Mountains in women’s field hockey. Recruiting the single-engine turboprops, a TBM850 the west, serving more than 220,000 top-level athletes necessary to consis- and a TBM700C2, and 4 Beechcraft students. The school graduates about tently field teams with championship Baron 58s. 30,000 annually from more than 200 potential requires extensive travel by The flight department for UNC is academic degree programs. UNC coaches and the university’s based at RDU (Raleigh-Durham NC) In 2013 US News & World Report flight department plays an important in a purpose-built 16,000 sq ft facility magazine ranked UNC Chapel Hill role. that includes a 10,890 sq ft mainte- (the university’s flagship campus) 5th UNC’s flight department got its start nance and storage hangar, plus offices among the nation’s top public col- in 1968 when a doctor in Chapel Hill and additional maintenance space. leges and universities. This achieve- recognized that much of rural North UNC Flight Ops relocated to RDU ment shows the high academic cre- Carolina needed better access to med- about 3 years ago from its original dentials that UNC has. Chartered in ical care and that aircraft could carry location at IGX (Chapel Hill NC). 54 PROFESSIONAL PILOT / April 2014 Gordon Kramon brings experience as director of UNC’s flight department Today the flight department is led by Gordon Kramon, a 10,000-hr ATP rated pilot for whom directing a flight department represents a 2nd career. Kramon’s 1st career was in his family’s clothing manufacturing business in New York City, which he joined after graduation from Lehigh University in 1977. By then he was already an instrument-rated pilot. Kramon traces his love of aviation to Dir of Maintenance David Eastwood started a family vacation in the Caribbean Jim Hotelling flies both the TBMs and Barons with the UNC flight department as a part- for UNC and is one of the department’s most time maintenance technician in 1987 and when he was 14. He remembers sit- senior captains. He has been with UNC Air worked his way up to the senior leadership ting in the front seat of a chartered Operations since 1991. role he holds today. Piper Aztec on a trip to Virgin Gorda. He says he decided then and there light switches. Every airplane was dif- Flight activity averages 5 to 7 trips that he wanted to be a pilot. ferent, and that wasn’t good.” daily, typically carrying 1 to 3 pas- He began taking flying lessons in He also concluded that the flight sengers. Most operations are in day- 1972 at Westair at HPN (White Plains department had enough capacity to light, transporting faculty and resi- NY) while still in high school, support- expand its mission, and he actively dent physicians to clinics around the ed by his father who thought the skill began soliciting opportunities to pro- state. Occasional night flights enable would be of value. His father had vide senior level executive travel with faculty members to conduct evening used airline aviation to give the busi- the goal of increasing the department’s continuing education classes. ness a competitive advantage. “My value to the university. The success of During the 2012-2013 academic father used to say ‘I can fly to Chicago this effort, however, also began to dis- year UNC Air Operations carried and be back with the order while my play the shortcomings of his fleet. 1912 passengers to more than 98 competitors are still on the train,’” Kramon says it was a trip carrying destinations, including the state’s 9 Kramon recalls. UNC’s chancellor to Montreal in late AHEC centers and various communi- In 1982 Kramon bought a Cessna 2009 that drove the point home. “I ty hospitals, health departments and 310 and upgraded to a 340 in 1989. took him in a Baron because that’s all universities. With the clothing business in decline we had, and we bounced along at “This service makes it possible for toward the end of the decade, he trad- 7000 feet all the way to Montreal and our faculty to reach very remote sites ed for a Beechcraft Bonanza F33A but back. It was obvious we needed in the state on a daily basis, while found the lack of deicing capability something with more speed and the still maintaining a full slate of profes- too limiting and soon swapped the ability to get above the weather.” sional activities,” says Nadine Bonanza for a Beechcraft Baron. O’Malley, UNC’s associate director A growing trend toward ever more for administration and finance, who casual clothing eventually prompted Under Kramon the university has has administrative responsibility for Kramon to close the business. In 2009 modernized its fleet with TBM TPs the flight department. “Without our he was living in Chapel Hill NC and Before long, Kramon was authorized flight department, there’s no way we looking for something new to do. to replace one of the Barons with a could offer these services with our That’s when he learned that UNC was turbine-powered aircraft. The depart- current level of staffing.” looking for an aviation director—a ment demonstrated all of the available person with a strong business man- candidates: Pilatus, Piper and TBM agement background who was also a pilot, ideally was familiar with Beech Barons and perhaps even was acquainted with Chapel Hill. “It was like the job description had been tai- lor made for my background,” he said. UNC agreed and hired him. Kramon joined the flight dept as director in 2009 when it had 6 Beechcraft Barons, including a B55, an E55, and 4 58s, including 5 pre- 1985 models with old style controls and a 2001 model. It was a fleet mix that he quickly came to believe car- Mx Tech Paul Cotrufo is also a commercial, Air Transportation Coordinator Lotta Peltola- ried an increased element of risk multiengine and instrument-rated pilot Nelms handles scheduling for the UNC flight because there was so little commonal- who flies the Barons on test flights after dept. She is a native of Finland and came to ity. “One Baron had the fuel pumps maintenance is performed and also for the US to learn to fly. where all the others had the landing maintenance-related positioning trips. PROFESSIONAL PILOT / April 2014 55 “For example,” he says, “I find planning software from ForeFlight, someone who will sell me a $2.3 mil- Jeppesen mobile flightdeck and lion TBM for $1.8 million, and I give FltPlan.com. them a bargain sale tax credit for the Both TBMs are currently averaging difference.