 |
TGH History
|
The Official History of The Gyro House, Inc.
The Early Years:
In 1957, in his home garage in San Bernardino, California, Emery “Claude” Oxley, Sr. founded TGH, originally known as "The Gyro House." Prior to starting TGH, Claude gained extensive experience in the industry during his many years with Pioneer Instruments, Inc. and then with Eastern Airlines. As TGH started to experience initial success, Claude moved the company to Flabob Airport, just west of Riverside, and in 1960, he moved again to Riverside Municipal Airport. During that period, TGH was successful in building a foundation for the future and in developing a reputation as a quality aircraft instrument repair facility with superior customer service. Throughout Claude’s tenure, TGH specialized in general aviation gyroscopes, airspeed indicators and altimeters.
Emery C. Oxley, Jr., like his father, has acquired many years of experience in the industry. Just out of the U. S. Marine Corps he was afforded the opportunity to learn instruments from the bench up by working for his father. This eventually provided him the confidence and experience to start and manage his own company. In 1968 Emery located a potential business partner and together they founded Pacific Southwest Instruments (no relation to the current Pacific Southwest Instruments of Corona, CA.) at Deer Valley Airport in Pheonix, Arizona. Emery soon became aware that his business partner did not share the same passion as he did. Realizing that if his goals for the company were to be met, some adjustments would be needed. Eventually, the partnership was dissolved on mutually agreeable terms. This development caused Emery to temporarily return to work part time at The Gyro House.
Working with a new business partner, Emery continued to establish Pacific Instruments. He effectively built up the customer base while also subcontracting from other instrument shops such as Otto’s Instruments of Ontario, California. These steps allowed him to earn the funding needed and also to garner the additional experience required for meeting his goal of expanding his company into a major force in the aviation instrument service industry.
Claude, meanwhile, continued to successfully manage The Gyro House and in 1969 he moved the company to Reno, Nevada. In 1970, Emery Jr., after once again realizing that his business partner did not have the same goals as his own, the partnership was dissolved. It was at that time that Emery Jr. also moved to Reno taking Pacific Instruments with him. As his own company was not yet a fully viable entity, he continued to work part time at The Gyro House while still developing his own separate customer and product base.
It’s All Coming Together:
Emery Jr., having successfully built Pacific Instruments to a point where it could now stand on it’s own, decided in 1972 to move the company to Auburn, California. Auburn’s Municipal Airport was, at the time, an inconsequential out in the sticks pit stop that held little in the way of any obvious potential. However, a persuasive City Manager, inexpensive rent and a promise by the city to put up a suitable building, convinced Emery that this was the place to settle down.
The beautiful surroundings of Auburn also did much to help seal the deal. Nestled in the picturesque foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and on the Western edge of the Tahoe National Forest, one could hardly ask for a more soothing environment. Pacific Instruments was now located in a small wooden building with a simple office and attached hanger located just south of the runway centerline at the Auburn Municipal Airport.
The following year Emery Jr. was approached by his father with the idea of buying out The Gyro House. Claude, who was experiencing declining health, had decided that it was time to retire. And so in 1973, Emery Jr. purchased the assets of The Gyro House from his father and also began using that name for his own company. Pacific Instruments was no more.
In 1974, true to their word, the City of Auburn completed erection of a new steel building located adjacent to the existing wooden hangar that was occupied by The Gyro House. The Gyro House having already experienced growth, moved their offices and instrument shop into the new facilities. The hangar was also maintained in order to begin expansion into the area of autopilot sales and installation.
By 1975 the company had sought and was successful in acquiring dealerships for all of the major General Aviation avionics, instruments and autopilot manufacturers. This impressive list included but was not limited to:
King Radio (Later to become Honeywell/Bendix/King)
Narco Radio
Edo-Aire (Later to be broken up and it’s various components to become Sigma-Tek and S-Tec)
Cessna RadioThese various dealerships and the added customer base that they brought also permitted the company to continually expand its repair and overhaul capabilities. Throughout the balance of the 1970’s and into the mid 1980’s, the company added evermore repair capabilities and also built a substantial inventory of “ready to go” exchange instruments.
The Bold Expansion:
During the late 1970s and into the 1980s, particularly during the Jimmy Carter administration, the United States suffered a severe economic downturn. General Aviation was experiencing a particularly difficult time due not only to the economic conditions but also due to existing unfair tort laws, which permitted a slew of unjustified legal actions against airframe manufacturers. These conditions culminated in a drastic slow down of new aircraft manufacturing and a subsequent reduction of business in all areas of the aviation industry.
The Gyro House during this time period experienced a corresponding slowdown. However, under the shrewd management of Emery along with his prior foresight to expand the company’s product base, the company was able to weather the storm. The company was somewhat reduced from its former size, but it had survived and had developed a reputation throughout the industry for quality products, first class service and for being “Good Guys” to work with. It was also near the end of this time period that Emery negotiated a dealership agreement with R.C. Allen Co. He quickly sought after and successfully obtained most of the major General Aviation retailers as customers. This impressive list included Chief Aircraft, Pacific Coast and Gulf Coast among others. This bold move firmly established The Gyro House as the world’s largest distributor of General Aviation gyroscopes for the after market.
In the fall of 1988, Emery attended the annual meeting of the Aircraft Instrument Association in Wichita Kansas. It was while on this trip that he met with Rich Anderson. While both men had known of each other by reputation for a number of years, it was their first face to face meeting; one which would eventually lead to a long and mutually beneficial business relationship.
Richard T. Anderson had already developed a long history in both the aviation and instrument industries. Rich originally started his career in September of 1971 working for Weksler Instruments of Freeport, New York, while he was still attending college classes at night. Weksler, at the time, was the leading manufacturer of pressure and temperature indicating instruments for the construction industry and for the United States Navy. Soon after completing his schooling in June of 1978, he was offered and accepted an engineering position with Telephonics Corp. of Huntington, New York. Telephonics is a major manufacturer of aerospace communication and control systems. Rich was given the primary responsibility for in-field worldwide customer support of multiplexed entertainment and communications systems installed on board Boeing 747 and Lockheed L-1011 aircraft along with the additional responsibility of providing customer support of various military systems that were being manufactured by Telephonics at that time.
Eventually tiring of the constant traveling that the position required and also wanting to spend more time with family, in 1985 he left Telephonics for an engineering position with the Gull Airborne Division of Parker Hannifin Corporation located in Smithtown, New York. It was at Gull that he became intimately knowledgeable concerning aircraft Fuel Flow and Fuel Quantity Measuring Systems. Unfortunately that knowledge once again led to his being asked to travel much more frequently than he desired and so when offered an opportunity to manage a small aircraft instrument repair shop, Tech-Aire Instruments, in Wichita, Kansas, he gladly accepted the challenge. During his short tenure, Tech-Aire more than doubled in size and income. It was also during this time that the meeting with Emery occurred.
Upon meeting the two men realized that they shared a similar desire to manage a company that would provide both constant challenge and opportunity to achieve controlled growth. Emery had extensive experience in General Aviation; Rich had extensive experience in Commercial, Corporate and Military Aviation. Emery had available financing from his already successful company; Rich had knowledge ideas and contacts that could make that company grow even further. In 1990 Tech-Aire Instruments was acquired by new owner. Rich and Tech-Aire soon parted ways. Emery felt instinctively that this provided an opportune time to approach Rich.
Emery offered Rich a position as Chief Engineer of The Gyro House. Rich accepted with the condition that he wanted to expand the company and that Emery would have to provide the financial backing required to expand the company into the commercial and military areas of the industry. As this was Emery’s goal to begin with, the two very quickly began a long and mutually beneficial relationship.
By 1991 Rich had already designed and built the company’s first Fuel Flow Overhaul Laboratory. Emery provided the funding and support for that project, while also continuing to grow the company’s general aviation product line and inventory. By now The Gyro House had entered into the Global Positioning System (GPS) market. Emery was one of the very first aviation after market entrepreneurs to realize the potential of this new product line and began offering it for sale and installation immediately upon its availability.
In 1992 the McDonnell Douglas Company asked for Rich’s assistance to design a replacement power control switch for use in the cockpit of their aging DC8 fleet. As a result of that request and the subsequent successful design effort, The Gyro House received the company’s first FAA-PMA product approval. Also in 1992 the company was awarded their first contract with the United States Air Force for the overhaul of Fuel Flow Transmitters used on board the KC-135 refueling tanker.
For the remainder of the 1990s the company continued to increase product lines, expand repair capabilities, design new products and add new facilities. In 1993, Emery refurbished the old wooden hangar changing it into a completely enclosed office building. This change allowed the instrument repair shop to expand so that it soon completely filled the areas of the existing steel building, which had housed offices earlier. Even that was not enough however and by 1995 Emery found himself building an entirely new two story building in which to move the company. By this time the company was overhauling nearly 500 individual aircraft instruments per month, manufacturing their original line of power switches along with, manufacturing Flap Position Transmitters for DC10 and MD11 aircraft, manufacturing Pitot/Static Test Systems, Low Voltage Lights and Undersea Oxygen Controller Systems, installing autopilots, avionics and GPS systems into General Aviation aircraft and had built by this time a third Fuel Flow Calibration Test Stand. By 1995 the company had acquired a library of over 20,000 aircraft instrument maintenance manuals and had been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration to service all of those instrument types. Also earlier in that same year The Gyro House was appointed, by McDonnell Douglas as the only authorized repair facility worldwide for the MD80, MD90 and MD11 aircraft Central Aural Warning Systems and Annunciator Control Units, as Anderson had designed all of the test equipment at Douglas’ request. Emery soon offered Rich the position of Company General Manger and then eventually the position of Corporate Vice President.
Today and The Future:
Unfortunately the tragic events of September 11, 2001 had profound and terrible effects on the nation at large and on the aviation industry in particular. After that date, the company now officially known as TGH, was forced to retrench and downsizing was the only available option. The company suffered through three years of limited air travel, worldwide recession, and dramatically increased FAA monitoring requirements. Many of the company’s customers such as small regional airlines, general aviation FBO companies, and brokerage houses, were forced to close their doors. Fortunately the combination of Emery’s financing and Rich’s managing/engineering skills kept the company from meeting the same fate as those customers.
In 2004 TGH remerged from the losing years as a viable, profitable organization once again ready to take on the world.
During this re-emergence the company restructured its personnel. One of the first steps was bringing on a newer, younger more aggressive Marketing and Sales team. The TGH Marketing and Sales Department is now thoroughly modern in their approach to a new generation of customers, utilizing new tools such as the Internet to reach their potential customers. Their motto is to be ever helpful to the customer and to always give the customer more service than they expect. They have restructured the company marketing materials and the company logo, giving the company a look that is consistent with the high tech products it produces.
The accounting department is staffed with vigilante professional bookkeepers. They ensure that the company’s books are always in order and that bills are both paid and collected in a timely manner. The company has developed in-house training programs, taking raw recruits from local technical colleges and refining their skills in order to produce superior aircraft instrument technicians. Middle management consists of experienced personnel all from within the aviation industry. They know what the customer needs and they know how to achieve their goals.The company employs young energetic personnel who have new thoroughly modern ideas and they are hungry for success. The company has instituted a number of employee incentive programs where they are both financially rewarded and publicly recognized when they reach their personal and their departmental goals; and together they have gone out of their way to make TGH a nice place to go to work. Our employee morale is at the best it has ever been and the results are obviously evident in the income statement.
Mr. Emery Oxley now holds the position of Chairman and CEO having awarded the position of President to Mr. Richard Anderson. As such, Rich is now responsible for the day-to-day operation of the company, Emery still watches over, giving advice and consultation as it is needed or requested, while realizing that it is time to pass the torch on to a new and fresher generation.
