Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Where Are They Now?
"What I miss most about New Rockford are the people who steered me in the right direction at the critical stage in my life when I thought I knew it all," is what Jeff Voigt, a 1990 graduate of New Rockford High School, says of the community where he lived for only five years of his life. His current success in the aviation industry can indeed be attributed to certain encouraging New Rockford residents, and also largely to the local airport.
Living in Fargo-Moorhead, Garrison and Bottineau two different times all before he was a teenager, Jeff had a difficult time developing any hobbies or lasting friendships. When his father bought the "New Rockford Transcript" business from Ed Doherty in May of 1985, the family moved to New Rockford. Jeff then began his eighth grade year, and sister Jacy started her fifth grade year, in the New Rockford school system. (Jacy presently lives in Oregon and works as a registered nurse.)
His years in New Rockford allowed Jeff to develop a fun friendship with Brian Nelson, whose father Eldon would teach the young boys how to rebuild anything motorized or mechanical. Even though his dad was "not the least bit mechanical," Jeff became very interested in rebuilding cars, motorcycles, 4-wheelers, and old Arctic Cat snowmobiles. "We would ride them for an hour and then work on them for two hours!" he declared with a chuckle.
Noticing the long hours that his dad spent working with the newspaper, recreation guides, and phone books cultivated a strong work ethic in Jeff. "Everything was a competition in whatever I did," Jeff states. Whether it was stuffing newspapers every week or transplanting or delivering flowers and plants when he was employed at Craig Romanoski's greenhouse, Jeff found every job to be a personal challenge. While he attended high school classes, it was not unusual for him to put in 40 hours a week working for his dad, as well as for Craig and Steve Romanoski.
During Jeff's senior year of high school, he made the decision to become a pilot. His need for speed and adrenaline rushes matched perfectly to this career choice. A friendship with classmate Troy Georgeson, whose family was largely into aviation, further spurred Jeff's interest in flying planes.
Jeff decided to enroll at the University of Minnesota Crookston for Aviation Administration with the goal of becoming a corporate pilot. He took an aggressive approach, completing his business aviation degree in only two years and graduating with his Commercial Instrument ratings. During his second year of college, he met his future wife, Angie, a Crookston native, who was a visual merchandising major.
Due to the fact that he actually liked the "snow belt," as he calls it, Jeff wanted to work in Alaska. Like many other young aviators at the time, he applied for every possible flying job in the northern section of the country. Unfortunately, jobs were scarce in the early 1990s. Jeff decided to attend classes for Airframe and Powerplant Mechanics in Thief River Falls, Minn., while working nights at various jobs. Angie and Jeff were married in Australia in late 1993, and Jeff completed his degree in the spring of 1994.
Finally a break occurred for the young couple, and it involved a move to Bismarck-Mandan where Jeff took a job with Capital Aviation. Then a different job emerged for Monroe Chase, which involved rebuilding a spray plane that had been a pile of parts for many years. Jeff rebuilt the plane himself all the way through to the paint job. After that year-long task, Jeff wanted to start his own airplane mechanic business, so he partnered in late 1994 with another mechanic to form Airplane Services in Mandan. Desiring more, Jeff and Angie later seized an opportunity to move to Park Rapids, Minn. They have managed Park Rapids Aviation since April 1, 1999.
Jeff and Angie have built their business from just two employees to 16 today. They run complete services of aircraft sales, refurbishment, paint, interior work, avionics, and any modification that a customer needs or wants to have done to his or her plane. The business also handles transient traffic from fuel, hangar space, catering, car rentals, hotel arrangements, flight instruction and other aviation services. Although the largest foreign market is Canada, Park Rapids Aviation likewise does work for customers in Japan, China, India, Norway and all over North America.
A typical day for Jeff starts by meeting with his four managers of his three different businesses: the Park Rapids Aviation ownership; the Northpoint Aviation operation at the Brainerd, Minn., airport; and his newest acquisition of the C'Mon Inn, a comfortable motel in Park Rapids. Since Brainerd has much more air traffic than Park Rapids does, Jeff and Angie must provide more services there. With these three businesses, the Voigts employ about 50 people.
Jeff remarks, "The aviation business is booming like nothing I have seen in my 25 years in the business." With more youth interested in this line of work, the flight schools are extremely busy. According to 2018 projections from Boeing, the world's commercial aviation fleet is expected to double over the next 20 years. This will result in a demand for as many as 790,000 pilots, so a career in aviation would mean a guaranteed job and a very lucrative salary.
Jeff believes that small airports are critical to travel almost as much as large airports are. He isn't able to come back to New Rockford to visit his parents, Craig and Bonnie Voigt, as often as he would like to at this point since the local airport is in major disarray. Because he has a limited amount of free time, flying is his only real option, but a major concern of his is having inside space to overnight an aircraft.
"I am excited for the New Rockford community because of the government grants that are available. I have not seen this kind of funding available in my 25-plus years in the aviation industry. The town could rebuild the airport at a very minimal cost to the taxpayers. This could pay great dividends to the area with the potential for new industries," Jeff points out.
Married for 25 years, Jeff and Angie also manage a very busy household with their four children. Oldest son Ean is following in his father's footsteps. He is completing his first year at Mankato State University in the professional pilot's program after already securing his private pilot, seaplane and instrument ratings at the young age of 19. Daughters Chloe, Aleah and Claire will be in grades 12, 11, and 8 respectively when school commences this fall. All of the girls are competitive swimmers, and Jeff and Angie will often fly to their out-of-town meets rather than drive.
"I feel like I am a racehorse with blinders. Once I start in one direction, I can't stop whether it is right or wrong." This is the metaphorical description Jeff Voigt uses to define his personality and goals that he sets for himself. Well, this New Rockford graduate definitely won the horse race when he and his wife opened Park Rapids Aviation 20 years ago, a decision which has led the couple to other fruitful ventures. The blinders worked!
