If there’s any justice in life, you’ve long since forgotten about Oxford Aviation, as we thought we had. You might even have forgotten that John ‘Johnny Protocols’ Richardson and his consiglieri FLee Bailey were cosmetic consultants to the operation, with the latter bringing his considerable reputation as an aviation industry leader to the table.
Oxford Aviation had great plans to leverage the key asset at the former BNAS – Hangar 6, we think it is - into a leadership role in global aviation maintenance, refurbishment, and upgrade. They went so far as to show what they had in mind, using this picture of the ‘Brunswick Jet Division’ on their web page.
We apologize for the lousy quality of the image, but it’s all we could get our hands on, and frankly, taken in context, it’s poetic and prophetic. (We’ll have to watch it, or we’ll soon be known as the Bard of Brunswick.)
Thanks to our informant Michelle A. Small, formerly code-named Ms. Mall here on Side, we can report to you that Oxford is back in the news. We’re not sure if they’re seeking the advice of J.P. and FLee these days, even behind the scenes. Both have more than enough ‘fly by night’ entries on their resumes, and don’t need to add any more to their glowing legacies.
According to the first story Michelle passed along, the folks at Oxford Aviation have been working their tails off. And the tails of customers as well. Here’s a sample passage from the article:
Steven Skilken, 63, was piloting the Cessna with five family members from their home city of Columbus, Ohio, to Colorado Springs when a section of the airplane’s tail broke off, sending the plane into a “violent yawing oscillation” as it was coming in for a landing, the suit alleges.
Scary as hell, you must admit. Both literally and figuratively, this makes Johnny Protocols and his snafus re clean elections (that’s a laugh) funding of his Goobernatorial campaign look like a kid who can’t get a paper airplane to fly.
You’d think such high-profile glories would clip the wings of Johnny P. and Oxford, and cause their flights of fancy to end in tailspins. But never fear; there are lawyers involved here, folks.
In the second article passed along by our source, you can read about the lovely time Oxford County is having with Horowitz’ and Oxford Aviation’s stewardship of the local airport operation.
Here’s the crux of the story:
Oxford County is attempting to evict Oxford Aviation from Oxford County Regional Airport, accusing the company of violating multiple terms of its lease.
According to the county, Oxford Aviation violated 11 terms of the lease it signed with county commissioners less than a year ago, following a three-year negotiation. The lease expires in 2027.
This is bad enough, but the words that really caught are attention are these:
According to the lease, Oxford Aviation does not pay rent to the county but is responsible for the cost for maintaining the facilities it leases at the airport and for submitting quarterly maintenance records to the county commissioners. (emphasis ours)
Which couldn’t help but remind us of the generosity of certain well-known quasi-governmental entities, like one right here in Cape Brunswick. We don’t know about you, but we think a $247,000 grant to Brunswick Taxi, with the barest of obligations, trumps the generosity of a zero-rent arrangement for a facility that probably couldn’t find a respectable tenant under any terms. Kind of like the old Times Record building, once the pride of our municipal leadership.
All things considered, you might say we should file this post under ‘count your blessings.’
Lucky for us, thanks to the rigorous management style and due diligence of MRRA and other local notables, Oxford Aviation’s “Brunswick Landing” got the wave-off.
And MRRA’s due diligence dug up Kestrel Aviation and Alan Klapmeier to kome our way, and klaim their place in Brunswick’s illustrious ekonomic development history.
And BDC even plays a role in MRRA support. Can it possible get any better than this? We can almost hear “This nearly was mine….” playing in the background.
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