Professional Pilot, September 2016

Pilot Jim Gross flying 1 of Acadians 6 Airbus EC135s enroute to an emergency call Under contract with Metro Aviation Gross has been with the rescue company since 2002 PROFESSIONAL PILOT September 2016 73 Despite his success Zuschlag remains humble and thankful to the people he helps Im not sure I could have been this successful in other parts of the country if it were not for the loyalty of the people in this area he says And he returns this loyalty to his workers in the form of an employee stock ownership plan ESOP In 1993 when his original 2 partners left the organization Acadian formed the ESOP The employees now own 80 of the company through the ESOP with CEO Chairman of the Board Zuschlag and his family maintaining the remaining 20 Zuschlag plans to sell that portion back to the company when he retires in about 5 more years even though he could see more profit by selling on the open market Erroll Babineaux added air coverage As the company began to expand eventually reaching their current coverage of over 20 million people living in 62000 sq miles across Louisiana Mississippi and Texas it soon became apparent that ground ambulance service wasnt always the best way to get a patient to the critical care they needed So Zuschlag turned to longtime friend and employee Erroll Babineaux for what would become the next chapter of the Acadian story Louisiana native and now vp of air services Babineaux has been with Acadian since 1974 His early years were spent driving an ambulance before he moved up to the communications center and eventually became a district manager Babineaux has always been interested in flying ever since visiting his grandfather who lived under the final approach to an airport Much like Zuschlags initial attempts at starting the ambulance service Babineaux and Acadian met strong resistance to an aerial medical service For 3 years they had been reaching out to PHI for assistance in getting the program up and running In 1981 PHI finally agreed and Acadian began operating a Bell 206L1 JetRanger after Babineaux and some engineers designed and built a medical interior capable of carrying 2 patients Initially the flights were daytime VFR only due to safety concerns with using a single engine helicopter By 1984 wanting to operate around the clock Babineaux knew he needed a twin engine aircraft I went to the mechanics at PHI and asked them which aircraft they would choose if they wanted to fly 24 hours a day Their unanimous response was the Bo105 Acadian acquired a total of 12 MBB Bo105 Bölkows which were spread around their 6 aviation bases This fleet allowed them to keep at least 6 aircraft operational with the others available as spares through maintenance and mechanical issues The Bo105s were used until 2009 when they transitioned to Eurocopter now Airbus EC135s for their increased patient space updated IFR avionics and NVG capabilities The relationship with PHI continued for the next 20 years until 2001 when a change of management and contract requests within PHI caused Acadian to look elsewhere for operational assistance of their aviation program First on the list of potential companies was Metro Aviation led by fellow Louisianan Mike Stanberry With similar family oriented management styles Acadian and Metro were a perfect fit and for the past 15 years Metro has handled the helicopter operations including aircraft acquisitions maintenance and pilot staffing Addition of TPs and jets As things were progressing on the rotary wing side of the house as a commercial multi engine rated airplane pilot Babineaux saw the opportunity for using fixed wing aircraft as well During the early 80s Acadian had been renting airplanes from Paul Fournet a former WWII pilot and FBO operator In 1990 with the oil industry in decline Fournet sold most of his fleet forcing Acadian to decide whether or not they wanted to stay in the medical airplane business They bought a Cessna 414AW Chancellor that year and a Cessna 441 Conquest II in 1992 both retired a few years ago In 2005 Acadian added a Beechcraft King Air which saw so much demand it necessitated the addition of 3 more Then in 2008 Acadian welcomed its 1st jet aircraft to the fleet a Learjet 35 that was replaced in 2013 with a Lear 45 Popularity of the jets led to the addition of a Cessna Citation Bravo in 2015 and another in 2016 which Acadian manages for private owners While Acadians roots are in the medical transportation field this fleet expansion would not have been possible if not for branching out to other areas notably charter work Babineaux points out We have a base of about 75 customers with a balanced portfolio between hospitals and charters Today 85 of all of our fixed wing work is charter the other 15 is medical But the 85 keeps us in the air medical work Just like Zuschlag Babineaux credits Acadians success to the people and the relationships they maintain Its like a big fraternity here a fraternity of 4100 employees We are the largest private ambulance service in the country but its a business where you actually feel like youve accomplished something during the day VP of Air Services Erroll Babineaux has been with Acadian for over 42 years