maintenance side,” relays Klein. “In high school they can get training, and then they come to Legacy to finish that training. Then, within a year, they have an aircraft airframe and power plant license, and they can go to work.” With starting salaries in the $75,000 to $80,000 range, the program is addressing a workforce shortage while providing high paying jobs for graduates. On the healthcare side, North Flight Aero Med operates from the airport in partnership with Munson Medical Center. Its fleet, which includes a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter and King Air 200 aircraft, provides rapid patient transport across Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Klein recounts,“They will go up and pick up patients and take them down to U of M or bring them into our hospital here. We have a major trauma center, cancer center and heart center here in Traverse City. So the ability to have an air ambulance to get people from rural areas when anything major happens is an awesome advantage. It makes our quality of life here very high.” 178 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 12, ISSUE 09
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