Tennessee Technical to end operations

August 8, 2003

By BUSH BERNARD

Staff Writer

Tennessee Technical Services, a jet maintenance company based in the Smyrna Airport, is going out of business within the next two months.

But a new jet maintenance company is scheduled to move into the airport's maintenance hangar beginning this month and initially will hire about 50 people.

Tennessee Technical, a 5-year-old firm that at one time employed 300 people, is down to one employee and too few customers to continue, General Manager David Hoffstetter said.

The company, which refurbishes and repairs DC-8 and DC-10 jets, laid off half its work force in August 2001, shortly after one of its main clients, Emery Worldwide, grounded its jet fleet. All but nine employees were laid off a year ago when the company lost a major second customer.

The company wasn't able to overcome the loss of its two primary customers or the impact of rising insurance costs that have plagued the industry since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Hoffstetter said.

The company was embroiled in a federal investigation after an Emery cargo jet crashed in February 2000 - three months after Tennessee Technical refurbished it. A report the National Transportation Safety Board issued earlier this week blamed poor maintenance and a lack of oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration for the crash. The agency could not determine whether the problem was related to work that Tennessee Technical did in November 1999 or other repairs by Emery before the crash.

Hoffstetter said Tennessee Technical will wind up its business in the next 60 days.

The Smyrna/Rutherford County Airport Authority has signed a five-year lease for the 93,000-square-foot maintenance hangar with Jet IIIB, a Florida firm led by Ted Serafin, a licensed pilot and aircraft mechanic. The new company will specialize in repair and maintenance of cargo jets. The company already has a contract with a carrier that has a fleet of Boeing 747 jets, Serafin said.

Jet IIIB anticipates servicing about 10 jets a week by January, but it will average one every two weeks in the beginning. The company began hiring skilled workers last week, and Serafin said the company will continue hiring as its workload increases.

Airport Director John Black said the addition of Jet IIIB will complement recent efforts the airport authority has undertaken to expand airport activity. The authority recently opened a new terminal building and business center.

"It's a tough market right now," Black said of the aviation industry. "We're glad to have them on board."

Bush Bernard can be reached at 259-8092 or bbernard@tennessean.com.