Visit To Willow Run Airport
Part 1
Start at the beginning I guess. Over a month ago a Baltia investor contacted me, said he knew Baltia VP of Marketing Anthony Koulouris. Said Anthony wanted to talk to me and gave me his contact info. I told Anthony I am only an hour from Willow Run. He said next time they were in Willow Run he would let me know for a possible visit.
Well, Anthony called me Tuesday, said Baltia Crew and investors were coming to Michigan Thursday, invited me to join them. They went from NY - Oscoda (storage hangar), Oscoda - Willow Run (Offices), Willow Run - NY. Oscoda is just too far a drive for me, so I agreed to meet them at Willow Run 4 pm Thursday.
I left 1/2 hour late, then took 1/2 hour to find Baltia Offices. Kalitta Air has a presence in Willow Run with a couple buildings. I stopped at a Kalitta office for Baltia directions. Years ago all plane traffic was at Willow Run, but now bulk of traffic is at nearby Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
I parked right next to the Baltia Van that is always parked out side Baltia offices.
I got there an hour late at 5 pm. They had a Departure time of 5:15. I later found out Igor had a meeting scheduled later that night. The crew there included:
CEO - Igor Dmitrowsky
VP Finance - Barry Clare
VP Marketing - Anthony Koulouris
Director of General Planning - Capt. Nick Oppegard
Manager of Flight Standards - Capt. Frank Acquavella
Investor - papa nasty
Investor - (another investor from Indiana, I forgot his name already. He is also a personal friend of Anthony Koulouris)
They apologized for the short time remaining. CEO Igor Dmitrowsky introduced himself and personally gave me a quick tour of all the Baltia Offices. Then Mr. Koulouris took me to his office and showed me some stuff on his computer, gave me a Baltia Brochure Handout and answered as many questions as time allowed.
The crew then had to leave took the 30 second walk to their Cessna plane 50 feet from the building waiting for takeoff. Very convenient, saves time and money. Trips from NY to Oscoda to Willow Run back to NY. The plane hangar and Baltia offices are probably a 4 hour drive apart. Saves Baltia money on air fare, meals, hotels and tons of time. Baltia's Capt. Frank Acquavella piloted the Cessna.
If I heard correctly, no money exchanged hands on the Baltia Cessna purchase. The Cessna was provided by a Baltia investor who accepted Baltia stock shares. These shares are Restricted.
I know, I know, enough b.s. what did I find out? As you can imagine not much. They are not going to give out inside info. I will say, I have been hearing through the Grapevine that Baltia Air Lines will have Inaugural Flight before end of 2013. I did not see or hear anything Thursday that would challenge this belief. The entire crew was cordial and very, very optimistic about Baltia.
The Handout I received is what Baltia gives to new or prospective investors. Anthony said it is fairly current. The Handout states "Baltia is currently in an advanced stage of the FAA Air Carrier Certification process and expects to begin revenue generating flights this coming fall". (Personally, I think fall is a little optimistic, but Baltia should definitely be flying by end of the year).
I asked if the Schedule of Events will be made public. Answer: NO. The reason being is that the Schedule is subject to changes/delays and these are usually due to the FAA.
So I asked if the previous Schedule of Events from a few years ago were similar to the new Schedule are far as similar length of time periods? Answer: YES.
All hiring of personnel is completed, training should begin in about 2 weeks. A PR will be released when Training begins. When the start of Training is publicly announced, this means that the Manuals are finally Approved. (I took this to mean there will be no PR stating Manuals are done). I was told weeks ago, training can not begin until the Manuals are Approved, because some of the actual training comes from the actual Manuals themselve (dependent on the Manuals).
Baltia loves their decision to move from New York FSDO to East Michigan FSDO. EMFSDO gets more accomplished in 3 months than NY did in 3 years. If they made the switch earlier, Baltia would already be in the air.
Take this however you want, but this is my observation. During my visit to Baltia Willow Run Offices, I did not see any doom and gloom. No long faces, no moaning or whining about delays. Quite the opposite. I saw a very confident and upbeat group of professionals looking content and satisfied about their accomplishments and current status. In fact, I just get the feeling they know something about Baltia Inaugural Launch that is not yet public information.
I will try to post Part 2 tomorrow.
.
Part 1
Start at the beginning I guess. Over a month ago a Baltia investor contacted me, said he knew Baltia VP of Marketing Anthony Koulouris. Said Anthony wanted to talk to me and gave me his contact info. I told Anthony I am only an hour from Willow Run. He said next time they were in Willow Run he would let me know for a possible visit.
Well, Anthony called me Tuesday, said Baltia Crew and investors were coming to Michigan Thursday, invited me to join them. They went from NY - Oscoda (storage hangar), Oscoda - Willow Run (Offices), Willow Run - NY. Oscoda is just too far a drive for me, so I agreed to meet them at Willow Run 4 pm Thursday.
I left 1/2 hour late, then took 1/2 hour to find Baltia Offices. Kalitta Air has a presence in Willow Run with a couple buildings. I stopped at a Kalitta office for Baltia directions. Years ago all plane traffic was at Willow Run, but now bulk of traffic is at nearby Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
I parked right next to the Baltia Van that is always parked out side Baltia offices.
I got there an hour late at 5 pm. They had a Departure time of 5:15. I later found out Igor had a meeting scheduled later that night. The crew there included:
CEO - Igor Dmitrowsky
VP Finance - Barry Clare
VP Marketing - Anthony Koulouris
Director of General Planning - Capt. Nick Oppegard
Manager of Flight Standards - Capt. Frank Acquavella
Investor - papa nasty
Investor - (another investor from Indiana, I forgot his name already. He is also a personal friend of Anthony Koulouris)
They apologized for the short time remaining. CEO Igor Dmitrowsky introduced himself and personally gave me a quick tour of all the Baltia Offices. Then Mr. Koulouris took me to his office and showed me some stuff on his computer, gave me a Baltia Brochure Handout and answered as many questions as time allowed.
The crew then had to leave took the 30 second walk to their Cessna plane 50 feet from the building waiting for takeoff. Very convenient, saves time and money. Trips from NY to Oscoda to Willow Run back to NY. The plane hangar and Baltia offices are probably a 4 hour drive apart. Saves Baltia money on air fare, meals, hotels and tons of time. Baltia's Capt. Frank Acquavella piloted the Cessna.
If I heard correctly, no money exchanged hands on the Baltia Cessna purchase. The Cessna was provided by a Baltia investor who accepted Baltia stock shares. These shares are Restricted.
I know, I know, enough b.s. what did I find out? As you can imagine not much. They are not going to give out inside info. I will say, I have been hearing through the Grapevine that Baltia Air Lines will have Inaugural Flight before end of 2013. I did not see or hear anything Thursday that would challenge this belief. The entire crew was cordial and very, very optimistic about Baltia.
The Handout I received is what Baltia gives to new or prospective investors. Anthony said it is fairly current. The Handout states "Baltia is currently in an advanced stage of the FAA Air Carrier Certification process and expects to begin revenue generating flights this coming fall". (Personally, I think fall is a little optimistic, but Baltia should definitely be flying by end of the year).
I asked if the Schedule of Events will be made public. Answer: NO. The reason being is that the Schedule is subject to changes/delays and these are usually due to the FAA.
So I asked if the previous Schedule of Events from a few years ago were similar to the new Schedule are far as similar length of time periods? Answer: YES.
All hiring of personnel is completed, training should begin in about 2 weeks. A PR will be released when Training begins. When the start of Training is publicly announced, this means that the Manuals are finally Approved. (I took this to mean there will be no PR stating Manuals are done). I was told weeks ago, training can not begin until the Manuals are Approved, because some of the actual training comes from the actual Manuals themselve (dependent on the Manuals).
Baltia loves their decision to move from New York FSDO to East Michigan FSDO. EMFSDO gets more accomplished in 3 months than NY did in 3 years. If they made the switch earlier, Baltia would already be in the air.
Take this however you want, but this is my observation. During my visit to Baltia Willow Run Offices, I did not see any doom and gloom. No long faces, no moaning or whining about delays. Quite the opposite. I saw a very confident and upbeat group of professionals looking content and satisfied about their accomplishments and current status. In fact, I just get the feeling they know something about Baltia Inaugural Launch that is not yet public information.
I will try to post Part 2 tomorrow.
.
