'Crazy' aircraft mechanics strike it rich with sale of company

For days the two aircraft mechanics had been caravaning across the country.

They were finally on their way up the Alaska Highway, bound for Anchorage, when disaster struck. Their maintenance van -- the one they needed for their new business -- broke down in Fort Nelson, British Columbia.

Somehow, the duo convinced a flatbed truck driver to carry the van all the way to Anchorage. The cost: $10,000.

Carlos Nelson and his buddy Roy Adhern -- both former FedEx mechanics from Memphis who had cashed in and pooled all of their savings, including retirement money, for the big move nine years ago -- climbed into their Dodge pickup. The ensuing conversation went something like this:

"You're crazy."

"No, you're crazy."

Since then, Nelson and Adhern have proved to each other that they weren't nuts. Not at all. From a scrappy start, the entrepreneurs built a multimillion-dollar business with almost 100 employees serving the big fleet of air-cargo jumbo jets that land in Anchorage.

And yet, on a sunny afternoon late last week they did look a bit punch-drunk as Nelson announced that -- for an undisclosed sum -- they have sold their company, Pegasus Aircraft Maintenance, to a subsidiary of NANA Development Corp., an Alaska Native firm that generates more than $1 billion in revenue annually in Alaska and around the globe.

NANA says it is buying into a company with incredible growth potential. Since Nelson and Adhern started it from nothing nine years ago, Pegasus services much of the international cargo traffic that flies through Anchorage.

At a barbecue with NANA executives and Pegasus employees and clients, Nelson recounted the company's struggles over the years. Several times, the company almost failed, he said.

Nelson will stay with Pegasus as its president.

Adhern said he now has the financial resources needed to pursue a new career as a missionary pilot.

Adhern kept repeating, "God opened doors for us that we couldn't open ourselves."

LIVING IN A WAREHOUSE

Nelson and Adhern, both 40, met in 1994 while working as mechanics at the FedEx global hub in Memphis.

Both were Southern boys who like grits. On the job, they were talkative and fast on their feet. They were risk takers, with their eyes fixed on business opportunities in the global air-cargo trade.

"We're both entrepreneurial," Adhern said.

Eventually, Nelson got a chance to move with FedEx to Los Angeles.

Adhern remembers Nelson cold-calling him, saying, "You moving to Los Angeles with me? Yes or no."

Adhern agreed to the big move. In the ensuing years, Adhern worked on international cargo flights all over the world, including ones landing at the Anchorage international airport. On those visits, Adhern saw the city was becoming a major hub for air cargo shipped between Asia and North America. He noticed there weren't many companies to serve the planes' mechanical needs when they landed.

"The market was wide open," Adhern said.

"I threw it back on him. I said, 'You moving to Alaska with me? Yes or no."

Nelson wasn't so easy to persuade.

He came to Anchorage for several weeks, staying at the Puffin Inn and scoping things out. Doubtful, he told Adhern, "I don't belong here."

But Adhern gradually won Nelson over. Nelson agreed to move up. They pooled all of their money, packed their belongings and started Pegasus. Times were hard at first. They lived in a warehouse at the airport for a while, and until now, they've been plowing all of their profits back into the company.

"Like Grandma said, you have to eat the bologna sandwich," Nelson said.

SKYROCKETING GROWTH

Pegasus was struggling, Adhern said, when the two men had their first lucky break.

While in Taipei, Taiwan, Adhern snagged a meeting with a Taiwanese carrier, EVA Air Cargo. He stayed in the city for 10 days, trying to persuade EVA executives that Pegasus could take care of the company's jets in Anchorage. Pegasus was trying to develop a niche business with international carriers, providing maintenance services to them so the carriers didn't have to station their own mechanics in Anchorage.

"They had the cojones to take a chance on us," Adhern said.

After that, other international air carriers began to take note. "The growth was so fast," he said.

Soon Pegasus couldn't grow fast enough to meet the demands of its customers, he said.

With the help of Bob Poe, who was involved in financing and boosting business in Anchorage, the company found additional investors, Adhern said.

Nelson took classes from the federal Small Business Administration, learning how to read financial statements and gaining other business skills.

After years as a mechanic, "Carlos now looks and acts like a businessman," Adhern said.

The company now has 90 employees and generates roughly $11 million in annual revenue, according to NANA subsidiary Akima Management Services, a $330 million-a-year, 3,500-employee nationwide federal contracting specialist that bought Pegasus.

The SBA named the two men Alaska Small Businessmen of the Year in 2007.

CHASING A DREAM

Nelson said he is looking forward to a better, more financially stable future for his employees.

This summer Pegasus had to furlough many of workers because of the global recession that curtailed air cargo traffic.

Nearly breaking down in tears during an interview, Nelson said he is relieved that the families that depend on Pegasus paychecks will now have the backing of a large company like Akima.

He said Akima's global reach will help the company to expand further.

Adhern doesn't plan to stay at Pegasus much longer. He said he wants to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a missionary pilot.

He'll consult for Pegasus for a little while, but he'll move soon with his family to Mexico, where he plans to work on a church-sponsored project to build an orphanage.

After that project is finished, Adhern plans to apply to a flight-training school for missionaries. He hopes to return to Latin America, which he visited earlier in his career as an air-cargo mechanic.

As a boy he learned about the missionary pilot service. "Since 14 years old, I've had that calling," he said.

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Find Elizabeth Bluemink online at adn.com/contact/ebluemink or call 257-4317.