EXECUTIVE WATCH Mark Schlaefli
president and owner of Dakota Rotors LLC By Rick Weatherford
“It’s not ‘Fake it until you make it,’ but ‘Keep working until you obtain it,’” says the entrepreneur pilot who accelerated through the pilot ranks into management faster than a V-22 Osprey and decided that wasn’t enough. So, he bought four helicopter tour operations that fly from Montana to Mount Rushmore. That wasn’t enough. So, he’s starting up a fifth utility operation to balance his tourist-heavy holdings. Yet, if you’re expecting to meet some hard- charging, win-at-all-costs egomaniac, you’re in for a pleasant surprise.
Here, let’s introduce you to Mark Schlaefli, president and owner of Dakota Rotors LLC and (deep breath now): Black Hills Aerial Adventures, Rushmore Helicopters, Badger Helicopters (d/b/a Badlands Helicopters) and Yellowstone Helicopters. Coming this fall is the addition of a Part 133 and Part 137 certificate to Dakota Rotors to enhance its ability to deliver a full spectrum of services throughout the Midwest and Mountain West.
Before you get acquainted, let’s first get the closet skeleton out of the way: Schlaefli’s first love was airplanes over helicopters. “I always loved aviation and spent a lot of time in school daydreaming and drawing airplanes, but I didn’t chase that interest. I was under the false impression that you had to be a military pilot to have a real aviation career.” So as a young adult, Schlaefli held working-man manufacturing jobs: steel mill work and fiberglass fabrication. Then his parents brought their blue-collar son into
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their white-collar San Diego engineering firm, where Schlaefli comfortably excelled at computer modeling and animation for engineering and architecture. He struck out on his own and that was his career until he went fishing. “I spent a lot of time fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and saw helicopters come and go from the oil rig platforms. I started researching helicopters and visiting flight schools, and discovered that a helicopter career without a military background was completely viable.” That research involved taking an introductory helicopter ride. “Once I took that flight it was all over — helicopters had me. It was way more exciting than the airplane intro flight.”
Schlaefli again heard dubious info that frightened him into thinking his rotorcraft career dream was sheer fantasy. “In 2005, I went to Heli-Expo in Anaheim and somebody there told me that it was almost impossible to have a helicopter career after the age of 40 (things have since changed). That motivated me to jump in and get started,” he says. It was just the jolt he needed. Schlaefli was determined to simultaneously pursue his two loves, the sea and helicopter flight, with the goal of becoming a transport pilot in the Gulf of Mexico. “I first earned my ratings and became a certified flight instructor-instrument (CFII) and worked in Carlsbad, California, at Civic Helicopters for a year and a half teaching other people what I barely knew how to do myself. It was the most frightening and educational time in my aviation career.”
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