Evolution of an Enterprise, Chapter 9: A Perfect Landing

Springfield-based Voyager Industries may have found the site for its permanent base of operations … in the Branson area.

Company founders Josh Somers and Binh Uebinger had a meeting April 21 with Tammy Warner, co-developer of Perfect Landing Airpark in Cedarcreek, on the shore of Bull Shoals Lake.

The partners have cemented a deal to offer their detailing services to future residents of the 400-acre fly-in community, which Warner said will include more than 150 residential lots and a 5,000-foot, Federal Aviation Administration-approved asphalt runway for private planes.

“We’ve been working on it for about a year and a half now,” said Warner, who with her husband, Dan, has spent an undisclosed amount developing the property under Perfect Airpark LLC. “The plat has been approved for development through Taney County, and right now, the engineers are laying out the grading plans for the runway.”

She said the runway should be ready for planes by the end of the year.

A future home?

Plans for the development also include an equestrian park, a 5,000-square-foot bed and breakfast, a conference center, workout facilities and a fly-in restaurant.

But the feature that interested Somers and Uebinger – and the feature that could give the duo a permanent home base from which to run their detailing business – is Perfect Landing’s planned FBO, or fixed base of operations.

Uebinger said he and Somers found Warner while doing research on airparks that might offer an opportunity to add new detailing clients.

“She drove us around the property to show us all the excavation, leveling for the 5,000-foot runway, where all the lots will be,” Uebinger said. “At first, we went down there to just do aircraft detailing, but it evolved into a meeting where she was looking at us to run an FBO.”

While Voyager does have a verbal deal in place to do detailing work for the development’s future residents, Somers said the pair won’t charge Warner to work on her Piper Cherokee.

“We’ll clean her plane for free and probably not charge her for running the facility,” Somers said. “We’d much rather trade (work for) flight time or training.”

A new location

While Somers and Uebinger didn’t initially plan to work from the Branson area, Perfect Landing wasn’t originally intended to be in Cedarcreek, either.

Warner’s original target was Marshfield, but that development fell through in early 2006.

“We tried to put it together a couple of years ago with some partners, but it didn’t fly,” Warner said. “So my husband and I picked it up.”

After the original company, Cloud Niner LLC, disbanded, Warner found property near Bull Shoals – dubbed Someday Ranch.

“This land is more (hilly), and more costly, but it’s right on the water,” Warner said, declining to disclose the cost of the land purchase. “It’s worked well.”

The development seems to be taking off; nearly 20 residential lots, comprising two phases flanking the runway, have been sold, and sales are ongoing for Phase III.

The airpark is also the perfect fit for Voyager; Somers said he and Uebinger had originally intended to fly to other parts of the country to do detailing work at airparks as a way to build their client base.

“With this park, we don’t have to fly anywhere,” Somers said.

What is an FBO?

A fixed base of operations is a facility found at most municipal airports and many private fly-in communities. FBOs, at a minimum, include a place for pilots to refuel their aircraft, as well as radio operations to ensure safe flying. Many FBOs include other amenities such as a restaurant, a pilots’ lounge, car rental operations for people staying in the area and Internet access.