PORT ANGELES — A pair of former commercial airline pilots have returned to the flying business in hopes of creating a niche in the freight hauling market.
Jay Sakas and Bill Benedict, both of Sequim, recently purchased Mountain High Aviation and moved its base from Walla Walla to Port Angeles.
The 20-year-old company has been flying parcels for United Parcel Service between Port Angeles and Seattle for eight years, according to Sakas.
The company’s tri-engine airplane — a Britten-Norman Trilander — currently makes one round trip daily, stopping at the Bremerton airport to pickup and delivery UPS freight.
Sakas flew for Northwest Airlines for 34½ years before retiring earlier this year.
Benedict, now a deputy in the Clallam County sheriff’s department (he plans to continue as a deputy), was a U.S. Navy aviator and then worked for TWA and American Airlines as a pilot.
He was furloughed from American Airlines in December 2001, a victim of the downturn in airline travel following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Sakas and Benedict are trying to position their new company to take advantage of commercial and industrial growth of the North Olympic Peninsula.
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