Telford Aviation, which operates out of the Owls Head and several other Maine airports, has the contract with UPS for flying air parcels from the UPS terminal in Manchester, New Hampshire. Manchester is one of several UPS distribution centers in the northeastern United States.
Lisa Haczynski, 31, flies the freight from Rockland to Manchester and then takes another load to Hartford, Connecticut, where she lands at the Bradley Airport (New England’s second largest airport). The routine is pretty much the same every night, Monday through Thursday. The UPS truck brings the cargo from the Rockland UPS terminal to Owls Head, where it is loaded into the Cessna Caravan. The entire plane is configured to haul cargo. The Cessna Caravan is capable of carrying large loads, 3,000 pounds being the maximum that is hauled for UPS. When the cargo is fitted into the back of the craft like so many rectangular pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, rugged nylon webbing is dogged down over the entire load to prevent it from shifting during flight.
The UPS run leaves the ground around 7 p.m. and a short while later, Lisa lands at the Manchester Airport. Here the aircraft is unloaded using a large conveyor. Boxes are sorted, scanned and put into the proper air cargo cans for transshipment to other UPS destinations.
After a few hours sleep at a crew house leased by Telford Aviation, Haczynski and other pilots making similar runs return to the UPS terminal and help the crews load their aircraft for the next leg.
Haczynski takes the flight to Hartford, CT, where once again, the plane is unloaded. The crew ‘lounge’ here is in the UPS building, so sleep is caught in one of a number of recliners in the lounge. The pilots rest there for a few hours before taking their flights back. Packages destined for delivery back to Manchester are loaded on the plane and flown back there. By the time Haczynski lands there, the cargo that is going to Rockland and the outlying islands served by UPS is already sorted and in one “can.” Reversing the unloading procedure, the cargo is carefully packed in the back of the aircraft. The pilots always help with the loading, as they want to ensure the weight is properly distributed. A UPS truck is waiting in Rockland at the Telford Aviation ramp and picks up the load when the plane arrives there.
This procedure is repeated Monday through Thursday nights. The UPS air cargo to be delivered on Monday is trucked to Rockland, as there are no deliveries made on Sunday by UPS.
The packages destined for Matinicus, North Haven and Islesboro are delivered to the islands by Telford Aviation’s other pilots. Vinalhaven usually has a larger amount of freight in both directions, so a UPS truck and driver ride across Penobscot Bay on the ferry for the Vinalhaven delivery and pickup. Kevin Waters, the station manager for Telford Aviation, estimates that up to 35 percent of the air cargo hauled by Telford Aviation results from island business.
“There are companies and small businesses that probably could not exist if it were not for UPS, Fedex, and other air cargo carriers.” He states.
Haczynski, one of Telford Aviation’s three female pilots, has always been interested in flying. She very nearly became an architect, as her dad is a general contractor and she knew she’d have a job with him. She started her flight training at Fall River Airport (now closed) and progressed to her private pilot’s license there. She then attended Embry Riddle in Daytona, FL. From there, she went to American Flyers in Dallas, Texas, where she worked her way up to Certified Flight Instructor, and acquired her multi-engine rating. She was a flight instructor to help offset the cost of her training. From there she went back to Rhode Island, the state where she was born. While flying skydivers on weekends, she made some contacts and one of them was Telford Aviation. She has been flying for Telford since October, 2000. She has nearly 2,000 hours of flight time now.
“All I want to do is fly freight. My goal is to fly jets for one of the major freight companies,” she comments.
Asked about changes in security procedures since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, she says, “UPS has always had pretty good security, but they have made some improvements; things like closer inspections of vehicles coming into their areas and now all personnel have to go through a metal detector when entering their buildings.”