FROM PAGE ONE
Wallowa County Chieftain
A18
expand to K-12.
“The goal is to expose
kids to all types of aviation,
from the mechanics side, the
NOAA (National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration), the weather side,
the pilot’s side, air-traf-
fi c control — all of those
pieces,” she said. “That
would be a beginning-avia-
tion course work and classes
and then actually dive into
what they’re really inter-
ested in. Eventually, I’d like
this to be a K-12 aviation
program.”
Plans for the latter are
underway.
“We’re already work-
ing on little lesson plans for
(younger students) for this
year, but hopefully it will be
something that they do more
often,” she said.
Rindfl eisch said that even
once she gets her pilot’s
license, she’s not sure she’ll
be able to teach fl ying as
part of the school program.
She did say it’s conceivable
she could teach the ground
school portion of learning
to fl y.
“I don’t know if that’s
something we can do on
school time, but we may be
able to introduce them to
pilot’s certifi cation and if
that’s something they want
to do, we could help them
get scholarships,” she said.
“Obviously, that would be
working with their families.”
In addition to the simula-
tor — which still needs to be
calibrated before it’s usable
— there are “parts of” three
aircraft in the CTE Build-
ing. One of them is a Fisher
Experimental with a Subaru
automobile motor that has
been retrofi tted for use in the
aircraft.
The
students
will
be learning about air-
craft mechanics in a truly
hands-on way at the school.
Rindfl eisch said that once a
plane is airworthy, the wings
can be removed and it can
be taken to the Joseph State
Airport to fl y. But that’s still
in the future.
She hopes to see the
school’s aviation program
Two of the students with
Rindfl eisch during the Sept.
23 interview covered the
gamut from “would like to”
take aviation to one who
already is.
“I have pilots in my
class,” Rindfl eisch said.
“I remember graduating
from aviation my freshman
year,” said Jett Peterson,
who proudly showed off his
student pilot’s license. “It’s
just like a learner’s permit
only to fl y.”
Savanah Seeley, on the
other hand, has yet to try her
wings in the program.
“I want to take it, but I
haven’t yet,” she said.
The two youths — and
the other aviation students
— are part of an active avia-
tion community in Wallowa
County. Although there are
but the two public airports
— in Joseph and Enterprise
— there are a number of pri-
vate landing strips scattered
around the county.
“This is such a commu-
nity of aviators. After I get
myself a little more with
them and their vision for it
as well, and where they see
themselves fi tting,” Rind-
fl eisch said. “I certainly
am not an expert in all
things aviation and I want
the people who are help-
ing, as well, and involved
with the kids and getting
them excited. It’s going to
be a community process. In
terms of the ground school,
they can take ground school
and take fl ying lessons at
the same time.”
which employees appreci-
ate. Certifi cates are import-
ant for crane operators.
Many work sites, includ-
ing ones owned by Amazon,
allow only certifi ed workers.
And many employers, Karl-
son said, require employees
to fi nd and pay for their own
certifi cates.
He said he suspects his
employees appreciate their
training, but also other
perks. He off ers insurance
and vacations. Depending
on their experience, a new
driver can earn $20 to $22
per hour. His crane operators
can earn $23 to $40 or more.
These are nonunion jobs,
but Karlson said employees
can benefi t from not being
union members. Union
employees, he said, might
have to wait years before
they can receive crane train-
ing. This is not the case for
his workers — they can start
training right away.
Turnover, then, is low,
according to Karlson. His
workers appreciate their
jobs and the benefi ts of their
labor, so they work well,
but this is not all. They did
not just start working hard
when they joined his com-
pany; they started as good
workers.
Karlson relies on pre-em-
ployment interviews to
screen potential employees.
Even if he has to do inter-
views by Zoom, rather than
in person, he likes to be able
to look a potential employee
in the eye. He said he tries
to fi gure their abilities and
their character. If he thinks
an employee will be a good
fi t, he said, they usually are.
Karlson said his com-
pany is “in the best position
we’ve ever been,” and this
is during a pandemic when
many other companies are
struggling to retain or to fi nd
employees.
N.W. Crane has expe-
rience in worker relations,
which Karlson attributed to
its humble beginnings. The
company grew as part of
N.W. Metal Fabricators Inc.,
a company owned by his
father, Kerry Karlson. His
father was doing well with
metal fabricating, but he saw
the need for cranes. When
he started operating his
own crane, more and more
employers approached him
for help. He added a second
crane, which led to more.
By 2005, the crane side
of the business was large
enough to justify a separate
business, and N.W. Crane
Services was born. It began
operating on its own prop-
erty, separate from the fabri-
cation company from which
it started.
A family operation that
has developed since Karl-
son’s father fi rst came to
Hermiston with his family
in 1986, the companies treat
their workers like family,
according to Karlson. That
approach has “gone a long
way” to inspiring employees
to stay, he said.
Having
experienced
workers is vital, Karlson
said, because their jobs are
no small feat.
He has nine cranes. The
smallest weighs 40 tons.
The largest tops out at 550
tons. He recently had this
biggest crane on site at
Lamb Weston. It took 15
semitrailers to move the
crane and a 60-ton sup-
port crane to put it together.
Taking it down, after the
job, takes his staff 5½ hours
of coordinated, skilled and
diffi cult work.
“They’re amazing,” Karl-
son said of his employees.
Soar:
Continued from Page A1
so they weren’t sure how
many classes they would
be able to off er,” she said.
“Hopefully, next year the
schedule will be designed so
that the classes will be avail-
able to more.”
The fi rst-year class caters
primarily to freshmen and
sophomores, while the sec-
ond year is for juniors and
seniors.
Aviation background
Rindfl eisch
always
wanted to be a pilot, but she
wanted more than that.
“My dad’s a pilot and
he did a lot of backcountry
fl ying when I was a kid in
Idaho, mostly in the Frank
Church/River of No Return
Wilderness,” she said. “We
lived about 15 miles upriver
from Riggins. … I wanted
to fl y. … But I like to under-
stand it. I took ground school
in Hood River. … I told my
dad, ‘I need to know how
they work.’ If I fl y in the
backcountry and something
breaks down, I need to know
how to fi x it.”
Workers:
Continued from Page A1
much of his success to luck,
his company’s achievements
in hiring and maintaining
staff seem to be more than a
fl uke.
First, he said, crane busi-
nesses attract a special sort
of person. Karlson’s com-
pany employs 12 crane oper-
ators and drivers. Karlson
is himself an experienced
crane operator and knows a
thing or two about this type
of worker.
Crane operators, he said,
are excited by the challenge
of their work. Often, prior
to beginning their careers,
they looked up at cranes
while doing other construc-
tion, and they wanted to get
behind the controls of the
huge machines.
D
L
O
S
,850
$66
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
A metal lathe, left, and a drill press are two of the machines
aviation students learn to use in Lexi Rindfl eish’s aviation
classes at Joseph Charter School.
That led her to the two-
year Aircraft Maintenance
Technology program at
Idaho State University in
Pocatello.
“When I moved back to
Idaho, I bought a house …
and decided I was going to
go back to school to con-
tinue my education,” she
said. “Eight weeks later, I
was accepted into the pro-
gram at ISU.”
Rindfl eisch was eager to
get the job at Joseph.
“My husband’s cousin,
who lives in Enterprise,
said, ‘I’ve got this perfect
ONLINE
See this story at wallowa.
com for an interview with
leading state economists.
This desire, he said, is
sometimes hidden deep
in their hearts. When they
fi nally talk to an employer
about crane work and they
learn about the opportuni-
ties, they are excited. And
when they get a job, often
they do not want to leave
it.
Being able to off er
employees a challenging,
fulfi lling and enjoyable job,
then, accounts for part of
N.W. Crane’s employment
success. This is not the end
of the explanation, however.
A major reason Karl-
son has been able to foster
loyalty is because he off ers
in-house
certifi cations,
,350
$65
Wednesday, October 6, 2021
job for you.’ So I talked to
Lance Homan, the superin-
tendent here, and sent him
my resume, and he was like,
‘When can we meet?’”
Her husband, Josh Rind-
fl eisch, is a freelance vid-
eographer/photographer, she
said.
She also is working on
her pilot’s license, but still
lacks several hours in the air
before that’s achieved.
The program
,885
$48
,900
$44
‘Community
of aviators’
,685
$43
D
L
O
S
,885
,885
$20
$39
2019 CHEVROLET
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