It all started with 2 brothers one cold Carolina morning more than one hundred years ago...
In those brief seconds, North Carolina became first in flight thanks to Wilbur and Orville Wright. Their risky take offs changed the world. Today, aviation is once again changing the Tar Heel state.
As the 4th largest military state-- military related industries have become a critical part of the economy. Take the US Coast Guards Fleet Readiness Center in Elizabeth City.The motto here at the Aviation Logistics Center in Elizabeth City is: Keep em flying.
It's a big job considering a quarter of the local fleet is on deck ready day or night for search and rescue, law enforcement or any other needed homeland security duty. Commander Thomas Boross is the ALC Executive Officer. "The location of the aircraft here is vital. With 50 aircraft here on any given day, we spend over a half billion help us sustain this fleet."
It's a huge job: filled by members of the US Coast Guard and civilians. "Here in north east North Carolina, we are the primary economic engine... we employ 3000 to the base to work everyday, "Boross explains. They're busy- overhauling aircraft, supporting 26 US Air Stations, and overseeing one Billion in aviation inventory.
Surrounded by some of the state's most economically distressed counties, the US Coast Guard Station has become a magnet for aviation related businesses. Carver Machine Works is a sub contractor for an Elizabeth city based company. Here, in Beaufort County, workers precisely fabricate components for an Aerostat, a military defense system headed to Afghanistan.
Kyle Barnes is the Project Engineer for Carver. "We're being held to 4 decimal places. 10ths of one thousandth of an inch." Expectations like the customer base have shifted. Stewart Asby, VP of Operations explains, "Our original customer is a dying market, pulp and paper, tobacco markets."
With a loan from the Golden Leaf Foundation, the machine shop invested in new equipment and a larger 4 Million dollar building. Today, Aerospace components account for 25 percent of Carver's business. Three years ago, it was zero percent. With 80 employees, Lindsey Crisp the President and CEO at Carver hopes to continue to expand services and attract highly educated workers.
Kyle Barnes graduated from East Carolina's first engineering class in 2008. Now, he's overseeing military contracts for Crisp. "Mind blowing, it really takes your breath away what these guys do and what we're involved in," Barnes says. To keep up with the latest technologies, the US Coast Guard has forged academic partnerships with 2 of the state's historically black universities, Elizabeth City State and North Carolina A & T to encourage more students to study aviation systems.
As an A & T sophomore, Emmanuel Johnson is interviewing for a summer internship. "I'm looking to get real world experience and work with aircraft and dealing with components." Academic and industry partnerships become more important as some of the aviation suppliers have gone out of business. So the coast guard must come up with ways to make parts for older model aircraft. Boross says, "We're trying to grow our federal civilian workforce."
But, those workers must maintain enough business to stay up and running during the tough time, not knowing if the uncertain economy and funding budget battles will help the military aviation industry to soar or stall. Lindsay Crisp, President and CEO or Carver Machine Works says, "We all joke we can't all mow each others lawns, we have to make something." According to the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the future looks promising. Military growth is expected to increase North Carolina's Gross Domestic product by $2.9 billion by the year 2013. And some 49 Thousand additional jobs are expected in the next 2 years due to increased military activity.
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