Story ID: 019FBOFeb17
FBO Profile: Aurora Aviation
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: For half a century, a fixture at the Pacific Northwest gateway
Word Count: 807
For nearly half a century, Aurora Aviation has been a fixture at Portland, Ore.-area Aurora State Airport (UAO), which opened at the height of World War II. Formerly a federal facility, the airport was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a Depression-era public works program. It once stood out in the Oregon countryside but is now part of suburban Portland, as the city has grown out to reach it. In fact, according to Bruce Bennett, Aurora Aviation’s president and chief pilot, some of Portland’s most desirable real estate can now be found nearby. UAO, which got a new control tower in October 2015, is home to 100 turbine-powered aircraft. Its 5,000-foot runway is slated for a 1,000-foot extension.

The FBO, the oldest of three at the airport (one provides only avgas, the other recently changed hands) was established in 1968, and currently claims 60 percent of the traffic at UAO, according to Bennett. It occupies a 4,000-sq-ft terminal built in 1981, which was renovated two years ago to a Pacific Northwest cabin motif with pine paneling. It offers a passenger lounge, a 12-seat conference room, a business center with free Wi-Fi, two pilots' lounges, a snooze room, flight-planning area, kitchen, onsite car rental and of course, Starbucks coffee, a nod to its Seattle neighbor. Catering is available from several restaurants near the airport or from national providers who will deliver from Portland or Vancouver, Wash., and there's a championship golf course a mile from the airport.

The 10-acre location has a heated 12,000-sq-ft hangar, which can accommodate aircraft up to a midsize Hawker. It is located one-eighth of a mile from the terminal, on the other side of the control tower, necessitating the towing of aircraft. The company has already completed design and engineering work for a 6,000-sq-ft terminal attached to the hangar, leaving the old terminal to house the business’s flight school. The company recently sold the flight school to Denver-based Aspen Flying Service.

The FBO is home to a dozen turbine-powered aircraft ranging from a managed Citation CJ to a new TBM 930. With Epic Fuels headquartered just down the road in Salem, it’s not surprising that the facility has had the same fuel provider since the 1970s. It pumps 300,000 gallons of fuel a year from its tank farm, which holds 12,000 gallons each of jet fuel and 100LL. It is dispensed from a pair of refuelers, a 2,000-gallon truck on the jet-A side and an 800-gallon avgas tanker, by the FBO’s Epic-trained line staff.

Despite its northerly location, the area has a rather mild climate year-round, explaining the absence of de-icing at the airport. While Oregon’s mountains may remain snow capped year-round, snow and freezing rain are rare in the Portland area.

Aurora is the closest major airport to Oregon’s wine-producing region, which Bennett noted now rivals California’s Napa Valley for wineries, and the area overall is considered a vacation destination. As a result, the location’s hours of operation vary seasonally. During the summer “half” of the year it is open from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; in winter it closes two hours earlier. Call-out service is always available for after-hours customers.

The location, which has a staff of 17, offers maintenance as a Cessna authorized service center and Part 135 maintenance provider. It specializes in routine service on Citations, Dassault Falcons and King Airs. The aircraft sales departmen accounts for a significant portion of its business (it has sold 430 aircraft to date). Aurora also serves as the only charter operator on the field, offering an Embraer Phenom 300. In addition, the FBO serves as an FAA testing center for written exams, and an FAA flight physician visits once a week to conduct medical exams for certificates up to first class.

“We’re run by pilots for pilots, and so we try to think of what they need ahead of time,” Bennett told AIN. “Rather than reinventing the wheel, we know what they need and have it ready for them.”

As proof of its dedication to customers, he recalled a recent occasion when weather closed the airport. A pilot heading there for a business meeting had apparently missed that information in his preflight planning and was forced to divert to another airport. One of the FBO’s employees quickly drove to the other airport, picked up the pilot and delivered him to his business appointment in Aurora. At the end of the day, an FBO employee drove him back to his airplane.

The company is involved in the community, sponsoring frequent tours of the airport for groups for events ranging from school career days to senior citizen outings. It also serves as a regular stop on the Collins Foundation’s vintage warbird tour circuit.