Jackson Demolition’s Aviation Team Serves a National Wrecking Crew

Schenectady, NY, is a small town that played an outsized role in American history. GE was founded here in 1889. And when the historic Edison Machine Works plant was torn down a century later, it rocked the local economy. But as one business shrank, another grew in its place.

Fred Jackson started a tree removal service in Schenectady in 1949. By the 1960s, he had brought his brother Alexander – nicknamed Sandy – onboard, and they started taking down houses and garages around town. In 1972, Sandy bought the business from his brother. When GE closed the factory in the 1980s, Jackson Demolition partnered with upstate New York’s premier wrecker to complete the massive job.

“Sandy used all that GE experience as a springboard to industrial demolition across the country,” explained Executive Vice President of Operations Josh Frederick. “He started in this little town, and basically willed it into a nationwide company.”

Jackson Demolition’s entry into general aviation would not have been possible without the support of Schenectady’s tight-knit aviation community. Sandy credits the aviation-minded professionals at the First National Bank of Scotia, a 100-year neighbor of Schenectady County Airport, and North American Flight Services. The Saratoga Springs FBO and its owner, Frank Zilka, facilitated Sandy’s access to planes, pilots and the aviation world. The region boasts collegial relationships between flight departments, family-run FBOs and dozens of grass airstrips for flying enthusiasts. Jackson Demolition also uses those airfields to reach rural jobs across the state, with its upgraded Cessna 185.

For jobs as far as Virginia, they will fly in a Cessna Citation Mustang, and when the work takes them farther, the team uses a Beechjet 400XPR. The three airplanes fit any mission east of the Rockies.

“We have a couple ways of determining what airplane to take,” said Chief Pilot Dylan Grimm. “Usually, it’s based on the leg length. If it’s in Alabama, it’s a Beechjet trip. But even if we have to make a fuel stop, it might be economical to take the Mustang, based on the passenger count.”

Shared Resources

With just a few full-time pilots and one part-time maintenance technician, Jackson Demolition’s flight operation is lightly staffed. With employees flying 300 hours a year across the three airplanes, and the Beechjet always requiring two pilots, the department is small for its footprint. But that never holds them back.

“We can’t think of ourselves as an independent entity,” said Grimm. “It really takes a larger team of people to keep a flight department – even one this small – operating smoothly and effectively.”

Grimm is the only full-time pilot rated on all three of Jackson’s airplanes. If he needs to bring a contract crew in from out of town, it can cost up to $1,500 a day for Beechjet pilots.

Fortunately, Jackson has a Part 91 neighbor on the field at Schenectady County Airport, that also operates a Beechjet. Because Beechjet pilots are so hard to find, the two departments sustain the same pool of local contract pilots. And when one operator’s Beechjet is down for maintenance, the other will dry lease its airplane to their neighbor.

“It’s a small pool [of business jet pilots] up here,” said Grimm. “Everyone knows everyone. There’s no reason we can’t share resources. Things are getting harder in business aviation: contract crews, parts, maintenance, training – all that. It’s easier when you’ve got a group dealing with the same challenges.”

Flexible Mission Profile

That collegial atmosphere fits Jackson Demolition’s flexible mission profile, bidding on projects anywhere in the eastern U.S. “We don’t have a formal crew schedule process, it’s just me calling around,” Grimm said. “Sandy is buying the ability to go whenever, and change the schedule as needed.”

Sandy regularly visits Jackson Demolition job sites in a dozen states, alongside his Chief of Staff Katie Ippolito, and Chief Financial Officer Mike Kelly. Jackson worked the largest industrial demolition job in the country, decommissioning and dismantling the IP paper mill in Courtland, AL. The project was so important to the company that, for a time, Sandy and a team from the Schenectady office would fly down twice a week. No employee is too low-ranked to fly, and any employee may find themselves taken along on a mission to support the business.

Jackson Demolition has 110 full-time employees around the country, mostly stationed at active job sites. Only 15 are based in Schenectady. Projects are run by local superintendents.

“These guys with over 30 years of experience – they know the sequencing for a 169,000-hour job, and how to do it safely and on budget,” said Frederick. “But if they ever come to Schenectady, it’s for the Christmas party. Imagine working for a company you’ve never seen. So, talking on the phone is not the same. The value is to go down there, shake hands, look at everything and size up the job.”

Tight Timeframes

Most trips, however, are not to active job sites, but rather to new projects to bid on. “Only about one in four trips becomes a job,” said Grimm. “Some of these sites are next to a big, international airport. Others are hundreds of miles from the nearest municipal airport, and we have to be ready to handle anything.”
Whether the project up for bid is a retired coal power plant, paper mill, a former shopping mall or old hospital, Frederick will usually fly out with one of Jackson Demolition’s lead estimators, who are scattered across the country, to meet the customer and see the site.

“Bidding and estimating is really our sales motion,” Frederick said. “It’s usually a tight timeframe, where we have to go to multiple sites – and you can’t do that on a commercial flight. The airplanes help us respond quickly to clients. And in our industry, sometimes a day or even a few hours makes the difference in a multimillion-dollar deal.”

From the flight deck, Grimm sees the team hop around in a single day to what would be four days of airline travel. “That’s the power of these airplanes, Sandy will take a job anywhere,” Grimm said. “Many times, the job goes to the team that shows up first. Customers don’t want you there in a week; they want to hear: ‘I’ll be there tonight.’”

‘It’s Already Ordered’

The department has a full safety management system (SMS), supported by Sandy and the rest of the leadership team.

“Before every flight, we do a full flight-risk assessment,” said Grimm. “We also have a full SMS review board, including myself and a few people who are outside the flight department.”

Safety is always top priority. “Sandy always wants his people and his airplanes in top condition,” Grimm said. “If I mention to him that a part needs to be checked out, the next day it’s already ordered.”

Learn more at jacksondemolition.com.