Hemmeter Aviation arrived in Kahului in 1986 after acquiring Ware Fuller and Carl Schirm's Maui Flight Center.  The MFC was primarily a flight school but sold fuel and just started to provide into-plane fuel services to airlines. Hemmeter did not take on the flight school but further developed the operations into a premier FBO. Check out the photos and stories below.

When first acquiring the Maui Flight Center it was clear we need more space. The neighbor was Pacific Air Express and operated an air cargo business. They had a much larger foot print on the ramp. The above photo shows a yellow line between the hangar (warehouse) and MFC on the right. Hemmeter was fortunate to acquire the space within a year. See more on changes below. 

< Hemmeter Aviation prepares for the arrival of numerous TEAMSTER executives arriving in multiple private aircraft. We always provided impeccable  service  and on  occasion we even surprised ourselves.

The group requested Lincoln Continentals for each couple. Rounding up numerous luxury autos from the car rental company's in 1987 was not easy. The union made it very clear ... "Absolutely no Cadillac's" 

How was the drive to Hana? 

The aerial view above shows the various buildings that makes up the Hemmeter Aviation complex. The biggest change would be the airport security. Notice the  4 foot fence separating AOA and public space. Also the parking areas on either side have been eliminated.  The entire footprint is  on a revocable permit with DOT-A.

With the acquisition of General Aviation Services, Hemmeter Aviation had several 1967 GMC 4000 Consolidated Diesel  R-9 fuel trucks to refurbish. It was decided to acquire additional R-9 units. Bill Damolin from Santa Rosa assisted us bringing in a few more. The ones already in Honolulu were in pretty bad shape but we had a plan. The 1967 GMC 4000 has a big b;ock V-6 351 cu. in. engine and they were hard to come by. We found that the government was disposing of a number of Garbage Trucks and we picked them up real cheap. We only wanted the engines as well as the cabs. We contracted, good friend, Harry Clark ( Genavco DC-3 guy) to assist with the cab and engine changes. Hemmeter  now had 5 "R-9" 5,000 refuelers  in service.  Kaiser Air in Oakland, CA also ran "R-9's"  and we provided each other with support.

Kahului Heliport

General Aviation Services, Inc. was obtained by Hemmeter Aviation in 1987. We knew that the equipment was below  our standard  but we didn't expect it to break on its first movement.. When the tanker was being relocated, (to transfer the fuel so we could start a full inspection)  the trailer separated from the tractor and cracked the tank. A fuel spill cleanup was the exercise with this piece of equipment. This tanker never saw service with Hemmeter.