SilverWing Flight Services

Charlie Ballo’s Breakfast and Young Eagles Flights

silverwingfs — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:55:03 +0000

The Young Eagles flights were a blast on Saturday. Charlie’s biscuits and gravy were a hit. He says next time will either be pancakes or french toast, and I’ll send out an email letting you know about the time and date. If you’re not getting SilverWing event updates, email me at justin[at]silverwingflightservices.com and I’ll add you to the email list.

Here’s a link to a slide show of the morning produced by Miami Charlie himself.
Young Eagles Slide Show

Is This a Sweet Ride, or What?

silverwingfs — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:34:46 +0000

We had a couple big jets on the ramp last week. This ramp hasn’t looked so good in a while.

Here’s a link to the rest of the photos of this G3.

Barbecue Friday and SilverWing News

silverwingfs — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:51:13 +0000

It’s been a busy couple of months here at SilverWing. If you stopped by the FBO within the last 8 weeks, you probably left covered in drywall dust and wondering when the chaos was going to end. Well, there are still a handful of small projects to go, but the FBO is functional and carpeted. Both bathrooms work and they both have doors.

Remodel

As many of you have noticed, there is a keypad on the hallway door leading to the parking lot. This area will eventually be available for after-hours access to the bathrooms and meeting room. When it becomes available, we’ll set the code to something memorable and let you all know.

We’re still waiting to hear from Avis about getting car rentals here. In the meantime, we’re working on getting another vehicle of our own. We also now have 3 bikes, and will be adding three more to our stable. They are comfortable, 5 speed Schwinn cruisers.

And, as we do on the last Friday of every month, we’ll be barbecuing tomorrow here at the FBO. Bring your own meat for the grill. SilverWing provides drinks and chips. We’ll drag the grill out around 11:30, and we’ll keep it burning until everybody’s done.

Barbecue This Friday and Remodel Progress

silverwingfs — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:16:08 +0000

This Friday, SilverWing is hosting our monthly barbecue at the FBO. These barbecues are going to be a regular occurrence on the last Friday of each month. SilverWing provides the drinks and sides, you bring your own main course to barbecue.

Look for the Jolly Roger flying below the Stars and Stripes to signify barbecue day.

In other news, the remodel of the FBO is moving right along. The plumbing inspector was here this morning and gave us the thumbs up. We’re expecting a cement truck anytime to fill in the trenches dug for the new drains. Electricity and plumbing are in, and we’re just about ready for drywall. Once this first phase is done, we’ll move the functioning part of the FBO to the newly remodeled side, and proceed to tear up the front area that’s been, thus far, untouched.

Click on this link to view a slideshow of the remodel.

Premier Lodging Options For SilverWing Clients

silverwingfs — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:15:24 +0000

We’ve recently made some arrangements with a few of the top local hotels and lodges, to offer our clients discounted rates. As I called around to discuss these arrangements, I was met with great attitudes and excellent service – a good sign that Sandpoint is stepping up to offer premier service to resort clientele.

Details are still being discussed, but more information will be forthcoming.

A New SilverWing Tradition

silverwingfs — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:58:22 +0000

Chrissy sniffing for scraps

Yesterday was the first in what, hopefully, will become a beloved tradition here at SilverWing. Barbecue! We’re going to shoot for doing a Friday barbecue once every month. This first one was a bit last-minute, but we’ll make sure there’s plenty of notice for the next one. SilverWing provides the drinks. Everyone brings their own main barbecueable dish, as well as a side dish to share.

Our Neighbor, Quest Aircraft

silverwingfs — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 22:19:45 +0000

For a town with a population of 8100, according to the Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce, Sandpoint has a lot of great businesses. One of these is Quest Aircraft. Quest is our neighbor to the north, across the runway. They are one of several companies, including Thorne Research, Coldwater Creek and Litehouse Foods to name a few, that depend on having a local airport that is safe, dependable and professional. Our goal here at SilverWing, is to ensure that we offer the best possible service under any circumstances, and that pilots come to expect that they can get what they need at KSZT. As we continue to build the reputation of Sandpoint’s airport, local businesses who rely on the airport will be able to grow to their full potential.

The Moon Greets Our Lovely New Sign

silverwingfs — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:27:45 +0000

We took delivery on our ConocoPhillips sign over a month ago. Since its delivery, it has been sitting sadly in the corner of the hangar, waiting for decent weather to faciilitate its installation. Then, in a sudden blaze of glory, and a shower of welding slag, the sign is up. We may have been selling ConocoPhillips fuel, but now we’re legitimate.

Now, if we can just get the sign guys back here to do our SilverWing sign…

Sports Car of the Skies

silverwingfs — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:51:57 +0000

Last week, we had a McDonnel-Douglas 520N land. They were just stopping through temporarily, but ended up staying overnight due to weather. Very nice guys. One of them owns a ranch in Montana. They were very nice guys.

This helicopter has no tail rotor. Instead, the tail cap rotates to send the exhaust out directionally. It cuts down on noise by a reported 40%. Here are some photos of this beautiful aircraft.

Some Very Kind Words

silverwingfs — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:32:14 +0000

A few weeks ago, we had the privilege of receiving a Gulfstream GII. We worked with the dispatcher of the Gulfstream to ensure that we could provide the services they required. It took some legwork, but we were able to provide everything they needed and the whole excursion went off without a hitch.

Shortly thereafter, the dispatcher, Dusty, emailed us to compliment us on her experience. We were very glad to be of service. Of course, the kind words are always nice to hear too. I emailed her to ask for permission to use her comments on our website which is currently under construction. Her comments reminded me of how important it is that we hold the banner of customer service high – remembering that we’re all customers at some point, and that we love to be treated well, ourselves. Here’s her response:

Justin-

Please feel free to use my comments on your website. I meant every word.

It seems as years go by, customer service has suffered in all aspects of our lives. It is as if the businesses in this country put so little importance on treating their customers with friendly consideration. I’m not sure if the reason is that the training is not there, or if business owners are affraid of employees suing them for terminating them for poor attitudes-it does not seem like a high priority. When I run across someone like you and your staff, I’m amazed and so pleased that there are still some people out there that genuinely like to be nice and helpful.

I started dispatching flights in 1987 when the The Detroit Pistons bought their own plane. I worked as their chief flight attendant for 12 years. Later on, I picked up a few side jobs dispatching for The Detroit Red Wings, The DetroitTigers, Little Caesar Enterprises and for a few smaller, but no less important companies. A staff like yours sure can make a positive difference in a dispatcher’s and flight crew’s life.

Thanks again

Dusty