Operator hired at
Clarksdale-Coahoma County Airport
Morrow Aviation adds another client to its list

BY JASON ABIDE
DBJ Contributing Writer

Tim Morrow and Morrow Aviation Inc. have placed the winning bid to become the new fixed base operator at the Clarksdale-Coahoma County Airport.

After advertising for the position in December, the airport board, in a January 10 meeting, considered the bids submitted and chose Morrow Aviation.

“We are very, very pleased with the experience and background of the person who has won the bid,” said board member Scott Swain.

Morrow Aviation is currently the fixed base operator for airports in both Greenville, which they have operated for the past five years, and Oxford, which they have operated for the past two. Soon after the board’s decision, which he was present for, Morrow began on a limited basis at the Clarksdale-Coahoma airport, with full time operations commencing February the first.

Morrow said, “we intend to go up and provide the best service available to help the airport be an asset to both the private and business communities.”

Morrow currently lives in Greenville, where he manages the Greenville operation himself, but will be moving to Clarksdale.

“He has been very successful in Greenville and I think we will be very happy to have him,” said Ted Kelly, a retired United Airlines captain, now airport manager at the Clarksdale-Coahoma County Airport.

The term fixed base operator, comes from the post World War I days when many pilots back from the war would go from town to town barnstorming, when a pilot found a town he liked he would stay there becoming a “fixed base operator.” Nowadays the role of a fixed base operator is, in the words of airport board member and Clarksdale lawyer Bill Luckett, “like a gas station at the airport, with a welcome center, fuel, and a mechanic’s shop.”

Large commercial airlines, such as US Airways and Northwest, are able to provide these services for themselves, but individuals and companies who own planes for private use are unable to afford to hire their own mechanics and ground services so they depend on fixed base operators.

The services that Morrow aviation will provide for the Clarksdale-Coahoma County Airport include fuel for small piston engine and turbine powered aircraft, any type of maintenance required, parts, courtesy cars to and from the airport, airplane storage in hangers, and airplane tie down. All incoming pilots have to do is call and all arrangements for their arrival will be made.

“We’re trying to provide service like they did ten or fifteen years ago, these days everything seems to be going to self service,” said Morrow and added that they will try to anticipate the needs of pilots and provide whatever is needed, even making hotel reservations, treating them “like we would like to have done for us.”

Morrow’s qualifications, which include certification as an A and P mechanic (airframe and powerplant), as well as Inspector’s Authorization, which is required for some more major repairs, enable a full range of services to be provided, from aesthetic repairs, like aircraft painting, to maintenance, such as engine overhaul.

Originally from Fort Worth, Texas, Morrow’s association with aircraft began at a young age.

“I grew up around highly experienced guys at the airport,” he said. “I had much better teachers than you’d get at school.”

Adding to his passion for aviation, Morrow was present in Brownwood, Texas for the founding of the Commemorative Air Force, an organization that exists to preserve in flying condition old World War II type aircraft. Still a young man when the Commemorative Air Force was founded, Morrow continues to be involved in maintenance and restoration of these historic aircraft today.

Morrow’s experience in the field of aviation continued at the Ling Tempco and Vaught Aerospace Corporation, where he was involved in evaluating the data from test flights; then at Eastern Airlines, where he held many different jobs, the last of which was Avionics Manager, before being hired by Southwest Technologies as a maintenance manager for large aircraft.

From Southwest Morrow moved on to California to become the general manager of Northstar Aviation, a company which maintains and leases Boeing 727’s. When Northstar moved their cargo operation from Miami to Greenville Morrow came along, eventually starting Morrow Aviation as the Fixed Base Operator at Greenville’s Mid Delta Regional Airport.

Morrow has been very pleased with his experience in the Delta, has found it to be full of good people and looks forward to bringing his services to the Clarksdale-Coahoma County Airport.

His method of going the extra mile for pilots “has worked well in Oxford and Greenville,” he said and added, “It will work well in Clarksdale too.” DBJ