The NYT ran a story about the #1 boat repo man last year. In today's paper, we meet ...

[Bozita]

... the top dog airplane repo man.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/business/14repo.html?_r=1

March 14, 2009
Foreclosing on a Plane, Then Flying It Away

By SEAN SILCOFF
Ken Hill’s last business trip took him through eight states in January and netted him 12 planes. His current one is a 30- to 45-day trip for 27 more planes, his biggest ever.

Mr. Hill is an airplane repo man, one of the best and busiest in the business. With the economy sinking and the general aviation industry suffering, Mr. Hill is working flat out as he makes his way from one airport to another, carrying just a few basic tools — a propeller lock, a portable radio, hand-held GPS device and a fanny pack stuffed with hundreds of keys. “I’m busy, always on the move, up early in the morning, late to bed at night,” Mr. Hill said in a telephone interview from his hotel in Knoxville, Tenn., between repossessions in January. “My wife never asks me where I’m going. She just says, ‘Call me when you’re there, and tell me where you are.’ ”

A career plane dealer and licensed pilot, Mr. Hill, 66, estimates that he has repossessed hundreds of aircraft since his first propeller-powered Piper Cherokee 180 in 1969. Friends call him the Grim Reaper, an image he seems to alternately relish and detest.

Whether times are good or bad, the costs of owning a plane are considerable.

Besides the purchase price, there are maintenance, hangar, fuel, catering and insurance costs. Many owners help pay the bills by chartering their airplanes, but demand is shrinking in this economy.

“You cannot own an airplane without it costing money, whether you’re using it or not,” said Terence Haglund, an aviation lawyer based in Williamsburg, Va., who uses Mr. Hill’s services.

Mr. Hill, who lives in Santa Barbara, Calif., said he typically repossessed about 30 planes a year, ranging from propeller-powered Piper trainers to twin-engine Gulfstream business jets. Last year, he brought in 50 aircraft. This year, “it could be 100,” he said.

more...

[moundsview]

1. More wealth will be created from the liquidation of

"toxic assets" during this "recession" than at anytime since the depression.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tangent90]

3. Strange job. I wonder how he gets around the requirement for 2 pilots and type ratings

for the jets.

[cloudbase]

4. Another advantage to flying gliders. n/t