PROFILE
Jim Freeman OWNER | HELICOPTER SPECIALTIES
JIM FREEMAN IS THE OWNER OF JANESVILLE, WI BASED HELICOPTER SPECIALTIES — AN FAA CERTIFIED REPAIR STATION WITH 24 HELICOPTER MODELS AND FIVE ENGINE MODELS ON IT’S REPAIR STATION CERTIFICATE. IT IS ALSO AN AUTHORIZED CUSTOMER SERVICE FACILITY FOR SAFRAN HELICOPTER ENGINES, AIRBUS, BELL, ENSTROM AND ROBINSON HELICOPTERS. THIS MONTH, WE TAKE A LOOK AT FREEMAN’S CAREER THAT TOOK HIM FROM BEING A CARPENTER’S SON TO AN AVIATION ENTREPRENEUR AND BUSINESS OWNER.
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS Freeman grew up in the country near Beloit and Janesville, WI. Their home was near the Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport VOR. His father was, and still is, a carpenter. Their neighbors were farmers. One neighbor was an engineer and an aviator by hobby. He had RC model airplanes, free-fl ying airplanes and built his own plane in his garage that he would fl y around the cow pastures. “We grew up building things — anything mechanical.” Freeman says. “I eventually wanted to become an airline pilot, but I didn’t have any money or experience and we were in a big recession. Back then in the
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‘70s, training was really expensive. So, I enrolled in the A&P and Avionics program at Blackhawk Technical College at the airport when I graduated from high school.”
ROUGH JOB MARKET When Freeman graduated from Blackhawk, the country was in the midst of a recession. The aviation companies that were hiring wanted at least fi ve years’ experience. Freeman had earned his private pilot license while going through school. “I couldn’t get a job in aviation, so I kept my job working at a grocery store at night and a radio repair shop during the day. We confi gured radio
and light packages on municipal vehicles like police cars, fi re trucks and ambulances,” he shares. “I eventually went to American Flyers in Chicago and got the rest of my pilot ratings. That was in the early ‘80s. I ended up landing a job in La Crosse, WI at a Piper FBO in 1984. The owner hired me to work in the avionics shop and give fl ying lessons. That launched my aviation career. Unfortunately, the owner sold all the airplanes except for his personal airplane, and the only fl ight training airplane was a broken Piper Tomahawk. There was no avionics work to be had, I had no avionics experience, so I became the line boy.
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