Air Tractor Inc

OLNEY , TX – Gene Williams of Air Tractor knows a thing or two about hunting and the great outdoors. Anyone who’s spoken with Gene even for a few minutes probably has heard one of his humorous hunting or fishing stories. Gene also knows airplanes, particularly those built by Air Tractor. In his dual role of Customer Service and Parts Manager for Air Tractor, Williams’ experience in tracking game often comes into play while he works. Rather than finding an elusive whitetail deer, Gene finds solutions to operators’ Air Tractor problems and requests, tracking down answers with a seasoned hunter’s determination.

 
Gene Williams with Dona Jorden, Parts Department Manager at
Lane Aviation, Inc.; 2005 NAAA Convention, Reno.

The native Texan will hang up his ever-present cowboy hat at Air Tractor when he retires in December 2006. It will mark the close of a career that’s spanned some of the most dynamic years in the agricultural aviation industry.

“I came to work for Leland Snow the first time in 1965. It was Snow Aeronautical then, and I started as a fitter in the weld shop,” says Williams. “I’d been working in the oil patch, and it starts warming up in May -- so I thought this would be a shady place to spend the summer.” 

He stayed there for the next five years, through the company’s acquisition by Rockwell, working his way up to Material Manager. When Rockwell moved the factory to Georgia in 1970, Williams went back to the oil patch and started an oil well servicing company. He returned to Air Tractor in 1987, working with the husband and wife team of Wayne and Myrtle Bacon in the spare parts department.

During his career and association with Leland Snow, Williams has watched the transformation of the aerial application business from “mom and pop,” seat-of-the-pants operations into an exacting, high-tech and professional industry. Gene is also among a handful of Air Tractor employees to witness the development and evolution of the modern, purpose-built agricultural aircraft. “I’ve been the parts guy for every airplane that Leland ever designed, from the S2A until present day,” notes Williams.

Reflecting back on his years at Air Tractor, Williams says that the most striking change he witnessed in the industry was the move to turboprop-powered aircraft. “Putting turbine engines in ag planes was probably the biggest change I’ve seen during my career. It transformed everything – changed the whole complexion of the industry, including Air Tractor. With the advent of speedier turboprop aircraft, operators have been able to cover more ground in a workday, carry bigger payloads and streamline their operations down to fewer planes that require less maintenance. “All of a sudden we were dealing with so much more money, in what it took to build the airplanes and for the guys buying them,” observes Williams. “The downside is that there’s just so much money and financial risk involved now. It seems to have made competition a little more fierce among ag operators -- at least it seems so, as I’ve seen it from my vantage point.” 

 
Gene Williams reclines in Montana hunting lodge during mule
deer hunt, November 2004.

Gene says he’s also noticed a change in the kind of people who fly ag planes. “Operators are a lot more willing to try new technology. The attitudes are a lot more enlightened. Operators today are much quicker to embrace new innovations. Part of it is a generational thing, but even the ‘old-timers’ are taking the lead in new technologies. There’s a lot more professionalism in the industry today than back in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Being in the service end of the business, it’s no surprise that Williams has developed many, many friendships through the years. “When I retire, that’s the thing I’ll miss the most -- the customers, aircraft operators, the mechanics and the dealers -- the Air Tractor people,” said Williams. “That’s the best thing about my job: the relationships I’ve developed. I get a good feeling when I am able to help people. So what could be better than getting paid to help people? It don’t get much better than that!”

On the other side of the coin, Williams doesn’t hold back his opinion on the not-so-fun side of this business. “The only downside of my job has been the frustration in dealing with the FAA, as it is today. Along with the industry changing, FAA regulators have changed, too. When I’ve tried to help an aircraft owner, there’s been more than one instance where the regulators became an obstacle in getting a solution to a problem. I’ve seen too many times when owners’ issues are created by the FAA and we’re powerless to help them.”

In spite of the occasional frustrations, Williams has successfully led the Parts Sales Department to a 600% increase in sales since the late 1980’s. “With more Air Tractors in the field year after year, spare parts availability and customer support are critical. If our customers didn’t have confidence that they’d be able to get support when they have an A.O.G., I doubt we’d be selling as many new airplanes.”

Gene Williams and hunting buddies in Montana, November 2004.
L-R: Gene Williams, Mack Adams, Rex Thompson, Jack Frost

As Parts Sales Manager and later as Air Tractor’s first Customer Service Manager, Williams has shared his knowledge and expertise directly with Air Tractor owners as well as helping Air Tractor dealers answer questions about common service issues that typically arise. He established a “Customer Assistance Group” in which the customer goes first to his Air Tractor dealer for help with a problem. If the dealer doesn’t know the answer, he’ll find it through a network of factory and outside experts and report back to the customer. “By educating the dealers and making them the first point of contact, we took a burden off of our engineering staff,” he says.

In preparing for his eventual departure from Air Tractor, Williams has trained his staff to keep things running smoothly. “The department is a tight-knit group, and each one has his own area of responsibility. They have a strong work ethic and want to do whatever is necessary to help a customer who is in a bind.”

In February, Jeff Dobbs was promoted into the role of Customer Service Manager at Air Tractor. Until his retirement in December, Williams will serve as Director of Aftermarket Services and will primarily handle customers’ wing A.D. questions and related issues.

So what will Williams do after he retires? Gene says, “I’ll be available for special assignments. But if I really wanted to have anything to do with yellow airplanes, I wouldn’t retire in the first place! Actually, I’m not sure what I want to do. Of course I’ll hunt. But you can’t hunt and fish all the time. I’m going to use my time to figure out how I want to spend my retirement days.”