Chandler Air Service to celebrate survival

When John Walkup bought the Chandler Air Service flight school at the Chandler Municipal Airport 30 years ago, he was led to believe he was getting a functioning aviation company.

Instead, what Walkup got was a hangar full of tumbleweeds, he said.

"We bought the company and found out there was nothing going on," he said.

Nevertheless, Walkup and his wife, Diana, now preside over a business that employs 28 people and owns an equal number of training aircraft. Over the years, Walkup figures the company has tutored thousands of pilots.

"We are training the children of the people we trained to fly, who are now retiring," he said.

On Saturday, Chandler Air Service is slated to celebrate its 30th anniversary at the Chandler airport, as well as Walkup's 65th birthday, in the company's main hangar at 1675 E. Ryan Road. It's the Chandler airport's oldest continuing business.

Walkup, who said he's weathered four economic downturns over the decades, including the ongoing recession, calls the event a "Celebration of Survival."

"There have been people in our business falling once or twice a week across the country," he said of the latest downturn.

Chandler Air Service is a mature company, and its debts have been paid off over the years, making it more immune to the downturn, Walkup said. Business is picking up after a substantial dip over the summer, and the company has not had to lay off any employees, he said.

Chandler Air Service provides flight training to potential pilots, as well as aircraft rentals, fuel sales and maintenance. About 70 students are now enrolled, and they include everyone from high school students to the elderly, Walkup said.

Joan Warner, an obstetrician with Chandler Regional Medical Center, was completing a flight lesson on Tuesday morning. She became interested in flying from a friend who had attended training at Chandler Air Service, she said.

Warner said her husband paid for her flying lessons as an anniversary gift.

"I really kind of got hooked on it," Warner said. "This is just clearing a thing off my bucket list."

Walkup was born in Stillwater, Okla., to a father who served as a pilot during World War II and who managed a local airfield.

"I grew up on an airport," Walkup said.

Before coming to Chandler, he worked as chief pilot for a flight school and aircraft charter operation at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. He bought the company for which he worked, Anderson Aviation, in the mid-1970s.

When he acquired Chandler Air Service in 1979, Chandler's population was about 21,000, and the airport, which had only one runway and lacked an air traffic control tower, was surrounded by dairies and swine farms, Walkup said.

He and his wife planned to remake the company as they saw fit, and what they really wanted was the location, he said. The couple knew many of the old farming families in town because many of them flew planes as a hobby and to get around between their land holdings, he said.

"Chandler was a deliberate move," Walkup said. "It was, in my opinion, the last frontier for entry-level aviation in the Phoenix metropolitan area."

The business started on an 80-foot by 155-foot parcel at the Chandler airport, southeast of Germann and McQueen roads, but has grown to encompass 4.2 acres. Over the years, the city's population has ballooned to about 250,000 people.

"We started when Chandler was a very small city that had a lot of opportunity," Walkup said. "We kept pace with the growth of the city. The airport would grow, we would add more property."

He said he's seen several accidents during the course of training over the years, but Chandler Air Service hasn't had any deaths or serious injuries.

"That's the cost of doing business for a flight school," Walkup said.

The school is open every day from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The five-month course to get a private pilot's license costs about $10,000, while a commercial license takes longer and costs an additional $22,000, he said.

Walkup said he has no immediate plans to retire.

"I ain't got time," he said.

He said he and his wife hope to pass on the business one day.

"We don't have any children. We have 28 employees," Walkup said. "My idea of retirement is to develop the company so some people can continue the legacy."

IF YOU GO

What: Chandler Air Service's "Celebration of Survival"

When: 2 p.m. Saturday

Where: 1675 E. Ryan Road, at the Chandler Municipal Airport

Reservations: (480) 963-6420