Evolution of an Enterprise, Chapter 4: On the Job

Binh Uebinger arrives at Springfield-Branson National Airport’s General Aviation area about 8:15 on this Tuesday morning.

The day’s job is detailing the inside and outside of a 1977 Piper Seneca owned by Jack Webster, who also is the corporate captain for Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co.

Webster intends to sell his dual-propeller airplane, and Uebinger was hired to spiff it up.

Uebinger is flying solo on today’s job because Josh Somers, his partner in aircraft detailing company Voyager Industries, is feeling under the weather.

Uebinger unloads his equipment and conducts an inspection, looking for sensitive static ports and extra-dirty areas. After about 15 minutes, he gets down to business.

He starts with the belly of the airplane, because that’s the most labor-intensive, he says.

“You’re on your back,” Uebinger says. “It’s just (difficult) leverage.”

The dry-wash process underneath the plane takes about an hour. Uebinger uses what looks like a generic rubber ketchup bottle to squirt a specially made wax onto the painted aluminum surface. He usually spreads the wax out by hand with a cloth, but since he doesn’t have Somers to help, Uebinger uses an electric polisher called an orbital.

Once the wax is spread and dried, Uebinger uses a microfiber cloth to wipe it away, taking the grime with it.

With the hardest part out of the way, Uebinger continues the exterior dry wash until about 11 a.m. He first works front-to-back on the passenger’s side. He blocks off the ultrasensitive Plexiglas windows with towels to avoid scratching them with the wax cleaner.

In between cleaning the passenger’s side and the pilot’s side, Uebinger heads to the main General Aviation building to grab an energy drink from a vending machine.

With the outside sparkling, it’s time to tackle the inside of the plane.

The inside takes more than two hours, including vacuuming and shampooing carpet, treating leather trim, wiping down the vinyl ceiling and side panels, applying fragrance, and detailing the flight deck – using compressed air, tiny brushes and a vacuum to clean the instrument panel.

Then, Uebinger cleans the windows with a substance that won’t scratch or break-down the Plexiglas, conducts a final walk-around inspection, sweeps the floor, picks up his equipment, locks up and leaves.

It’s 2 p.m., and the detailing job on Webster’s Piper Seneca is complete. Uebinger spends the rest of his day talking to potential clients from Arkansas and studying for his pilot’s license before heading off that night to a part-time job as a bartender at Tonic Ultralounge.

“It’s definitely a feeling of accomplishment,” Uebinger said of the day’s job. “I know the plane isn’t mine, but when I’m done with it, I just appreciate the looks of a gleaming plane. It’s just beautiful.”[[In-content Ad]]