Sierra Mountain Aviation

Hello, my name is John Neal and I am the President of Yuba-Sutter Aviation, Inc I Attended Mount San Antonio Junior College out of high school in their A&P program in 1965. 1966 was a great time to take the opportunity to leave home, so I entered the US Air Force and attended technical training at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas for jet aircraft. After graduation, I was assigned to the 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, CA. The wing was later re-designated the 9TH SRW when it became the home of the SR-71 Blackbird. During my tour of duty at Beale I was swimming one summer's day in the Yuba River when I met a young lady named Connie Owen. She became Connie Neal and still is to this day. During my tour I worked the graveyard shift at Beale and attended Sacramento City College in the evenings to finish my A&P rating. About this time I took part-time employment at the Marysville Airport in the maintenance department Comet Airways, Inc Comet Airways was a Cessna dealer, flight school, and charter operator. Its aircraft included 150's, 172's, 182's, 210, 310K and a 401A. I started my flight training at this time. After discharge from the USAF, I went full time at Comet Airways and continued flight training, receiving commercial, instrument, multi engine, and flight instructor certificates. I became Director of Maintenance for the company, Chief Inspector for the Repair Station, flight instructor and charter pilot., I was wearing entirely too many hats, so I quit in March 1978. Connie and I purchased Yuba-Sutter Aviation on April 1, 1978. ( Ironic, eh? ) The company was founded by Hugh Brown in 1956.Hugh stayed on for a few more years, we were the perfect team he had all the gray hair and I had all the answers! That's what he told me, in the beginning we had a flight school, aircraft rental, flying club, and maintenance. We discontinued the flight department to devote all our resources to aircraft maintenance. Soon, a Ag aviation operator in the valley decided to go to turbo propeller motors, and he asked if we wanted to maintain them. At the time, all the wise old crop duster pilots laughed at those new-fangled engines as a passing fad. I figured ( 1 ) those old round motors were going to wear out soon, and ( 2 ) after wrenching on SR-71's, PT-6s couldn't be that mysterious. After twenty six years, we became and still are the number one P&W PT-6 shop in northern California, maintaining about 35 Ag engines at one time and a several corporate aircraft. Some passing fad, huh.