Tavzel's Sonrise is taking off

“I can start today. I have everything I own in my car,” Hal Tavzel told Dave Miller in January 2005.
He had driven to Jay County from Lubbock, Texas, desperate for a flying job.
Miller Aviation had one.
Tavzel was flying later that night.
He still works part time for Miller Aviation, but right now, Tavzel is taking off on his own.
He’s been the manager at the Portland Municipal Airport (where he took over from Miller) for two and a half years. And on Dec. 28, 2011, he started his own aviation company, Sonrise Aviation LLC.
The infant business currently has two employees: Tavzel and Ed Hautala, the chief pilot.
Tavzel has experience working in multiple large  and regional airports, including ones in Baltimore, Lubbock, and Ruston, La.
Hautala, a Detroit native, has lived in Muncie for the past 20 years and has more than 30 years of experience.
When Tavzel started flying for Miller Aviation, Dave Miller was still the manager at the Portland Municipal Airport. In early 2010, a clash of personalities on the Portland Board of Aviation led to the ousting of Miller as manager.
Miller encouraged Tavzel, who has a degree in aviation management from Louisiana Tech University, to go after the job.
Tavzel got it and has been working there since. It’s a part-time job, requiring Tavzel to put in about 28 hours every week.
As manager, Tavazel maintains the airport, makes sure everything stays fixed, and updates the aviation board at its monthly meeting about the state of the airport.
As manager, Tavzel is also the local representative of the Federal Aviation Administration.
He spends his spare time (“Every waking hour,” said Hautala) getting Sonrise off the ground.
“It’s a little bit of a juggling act,” he said about splitting his time between the airport, Miller Aviation, and Sonrise. “But I have a good relationship with (Miller Aviation).”
In fact, Dave Miller was one of the people who encouraged Tavzel to start his own business.
The other, John Thomas, a surgeon from Lubbock, is currently Tavzel’s business partner.
Tavzel said the idea initially came about when Thomas said he wanted to buy his own jet. Tavzel informed him of all the costs – pilots, maintenance, storage, etc. – that would go into that and suggested he start smaller, get a small aviation business going, and build up to buying a jet.
Thomas, a friend of Tavzel’s from when he also lived in Lubbock, got behind the idea.
Thomas, an Ellis Island Award winner and the founder of Operation H.O.P.E., a major charitable organziation, wanted a jet because he spent a large amount of time traveling across the world for his charity.
Operation H.O.P.E., based in Lubbock, uses charity and ministry to help those from all walks of life. H.O.P.E. is an acronym for Healing Outreach for People Everywhere.
Thomas was also the inspiration behind the name Sonrise.
Tavzel said he remembered Thomas coming up with the name. “It was Easter Sunday,” he said. “And (Thomas) is a religious guy.”
“I don’t want to push my religion on others, but he wanted to call it Sonrise,” said Tavzel.
And apparently the name stuck.
Hautala, the only other employee right now, came on as chief pilot for the company and Sonrise was able to apply for and receive its air carrier certificate from the FAA, allowing it to start business as an aviation company.
Hautala and Tavzel knew each other from their dealings within the aviation community. “It’s such a small community,” Tavzel said.
So when Tavzel went looking for a pilot, one was easy to find. Hautala said he was enjoying the experience of starting a new business so far. “It’s fun and exciting,” he said.
But it’s not all new business for Hal.
He still has to manage the Portland Airport, a job he still takes seriously.
He’s hoping the airport will expand in the near future, saying there’s a chance to increase economic development in the city if it’s done.
He would like to see the runway at the airport expanded from its current length of 4,000 feet to 5,000 feet. If this is done, he believes the airport could become a “portal for economic development.”
The airport, which sees around 3 flights a day in local traffic, currently can’t receive jets due to the size of the runway. Tavzel said that the ability of the airport to receive corporate jets would increase the chances of corporations bringing business to Portland.
And while he notes it’s not the only thing corporations look at, it’s “one of the variables needed.”
The extension would allow more, and larger, planes the chance to stop in Portland, which could increase business in town as more visitors come into the city.
And while Sonrise is operated out of the Portland Municipal Airport, Tavzel is trying to keep it its own independent business — separate  from his duties as manager of the airport.
He does, however, see possible collaboration down the road.  The airport currently doesn’t have a fixed base operator (FBO).
An FBO, in broad terms, is a private aviation business that is granted the right by a public airport to operate out of the airport in return for providing services to general-use pilots who stop at the airport.
Miller Aviation was previously the FBO at the Portland Airport until a contract dispute left the airport without one.
Sonrise Aviation offers carrier and charter services. It also recently started offering flying lessons. Hautala will be offering the lessons. He can be reached at (765) 744-6934.
Sonrise Aviation LLC can be reached at (260) 726-1577.
Tavzel said he is optimistic about his company and is happily looking toward the future. But for right now, “we’re still getting off the ground,” he said.[[In-content Ad]]