The incredible and innovative businesses that are tucked away in an industrial shop or hangar in Crook County never cease to amaze nor do they disappoint.
One such business, located on 2137 NW Industrial Park Road, is busily manufacturing kits for customers to build flying boats. The Ellison-Mahon Gweduck, a six place twin engine seaplane that lands on its belly rather than on pontoons, has a composite airframe that does not corrode, and can taxi out on a beach. Customers can buy a kit to build them from Composite Creations of Prineville, with builder assistance available.
Composite Creations, Inc., is a company that was founded in 2005 by Vern and Linda Pifer, a husband and wife team. The company created a full line of composite part fabrication and manufacturing services commonly used by the general aviation industry. Walter Fellows joined the company as an investor in 2009 to provide marketing, engineering, and finance support from his residence in Seattle. The company has since began manufacturing parts exclusively for Gweduck.
Fellows left a 25-year career in commercial and investment banking in 2007 to start a new career in general aviation manufacturing. The finance career included Bankers Trust Company, Barclays Bank and Wasserstein Perella in New York and Hong Kong.
"As soon as I retired from that, I went back to do what I wanted to do as an aerospace engineer. We live in a country with lots of opportunities, and I was able to go back to school up at University of Washington," added Fellows.
He finished his time at University of Washington, specializing in structures and composites engineering. He has an extensive international background including living and working in Hong Kong, Korea, and China for approximately fourteen years. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
In his journey, he became acquainted with Vern and Linda Pifer, although their business, Composite Creations, slowly dried up and was put in storage. During that period, he had the occasion to meet the designers and owners of the Gweduck prototype, and he saw the potential to utilize the skills and technology of Composite Creations and bought the business to the company.
"It came out of storage," he said of the Gweduck prototype. His team creates the kits for the plane, utilizing his business, and pays a royalty to the owners of the Gweduck prototype for use of the design. The only products that Composite Creations produces is focused on the Gweduck. They still utilize many of the same processes and technology, however. A D V E R T I S I N G | Continue reading below
"We needed to have the rights to the design, advanced engineering capability and the manufacturing know how of the company to really be able to do it," Fellows said of the production process for the Gweduck.
The Gweduck is a hull sea plane and is designed to land on its belly which is a superior design as a seaplane to one that uses pontoons. The design also allows the plane to land on a firm surface (retractable landing gear), but it will not perform as well on land as a regular land plane when doing so.
"We are now bringing it into production, and we are selling it as kit airplanes for the owners to build their own," said Fellows.
The Gweduck was developed after the original planes in the early 1900s. An early plane that had a similar design was the Pan Am Clipper. Fellows noted that early on, it was desirable to have a plane land in a small port or a fishing village rather than build an airport with a runway.
"All you need to do is buy a plot of land and put a ramp in, and a hangar and a fuel tank and an office, and you have a little airport…that remains to this day, there are a lot of places where sea planes have access in areas without a place to land on land for different reasons."
Applications for the Gweduck includes two main markets. One includes private buyers and the other includes government organizations. A D V E R T I S I N G | Continue reading below
The plane can go into very remote locations. It can sleep 2-3 individuals but also carry up to six passengers. It can carry up to 2,000 pounds. Many customers will use it for transportation to get to and from remote locations. The range for the plane is up to 2,000 miles—with a limited additional load. It is created with carbon fiber and other lightweight composite materials, which makes it resistant to corrosion.
"Typically, this would be used for something like a 300-mile trip out with six people and some luggage and some supplies, and 300 miles back. You would carry the fuel for the return trip with you since fuel may not be available," he added.
Fellows noted that they have a strong interest from government and governmental organizations to use the Gweduck for economic development and patrol. Application examples would include spotting for illegal fishing and could be used by an island nation with long coastlines and not many airports. The Gweduck is economical, and a base for the plane can be built in a fishing village. Other applications may include healthcare, hauling water filters for water projects, and transporting catches for fishermen to airports to transport to other markets.
Fellows has a dynamic team, including an engineering apprentice, Mason Coffer. A recent graduate from Crook County High School, he was the team captain of the robotics team.
"I heard about the company, and this internship program," said Coffer of the opportunity. "I was really excited about it, so I just showed up at the doorstep with my resume in hand."
It was six months before he began his internship, and he has decided to stay local for his first two years of college. He is pursuing a degree in manufacturing engineering. Coffer is loving the opportunity and learning a great deal in his apprenticeship. He displayed a recent draft rendering of a wing design that he collaborated with his team. A D V E R T I S I N G | Continue reading below
Coby Johnston, shop manager for the production plant, has been working for Fellows for three years. He has a background in aviation engineering and manufacturing, with prior experience working for Lancair and Epic Air. He also worked for SeaSwirl, building boats. Johnston walked through the processes taking place to assemble a kit plane.
"The prototype is flying, and this is our first one," Johnston explained of the current manufacturing process and parts that are close to final changes.
Robert Norris, engineering technician, is the most recent hire in the shop. He has a degree in mechanical engineering and has aircraft experience. He works in both the shop and in the office.
Fellows also has Kiefer Dresser and Bridgette Hall, two COCC students studying to be commercial helicopter pilots, whom work part time in the shop with the fabrication process. Work culture is something that Fellows values, and respect is a big part of the company values.
"Once you get that culture built, then you want to preserve it, and it really is a huge asset for a company," concluded Fellows.
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