EL RENO — Police have helicopters, hospitals have medevac helicopters, the military, of course, has helicopters, and choppers are used in news and weather reporting, tourism, firefighting, and for heavy lifting and hauling — but why would a real estate broker need one?
Ask Zach Martin, 41, owner of Adept Commercial Real Estate in Oklahoma City and owner of a Robinson R44 Raven II, a four-door, four-seat light chopper by Robinson Helicopter Co.
After explaining how he uses it in his specialty — the sale and leasing of warehouses and other industrial properties — he will admit: “It’s something I always wanted to do. Every since I was a little kid, I wanted to fly a helicopter, and kind of used my job as an excuse to get one maybe.”
He has not been long at piloting his chopper, which he keeps in a hangar at El Reno Regional Airport, with service and maintenance by Jess Shannon of Hangar 58 Helicopter Services.
“In January, with zero previous aviation experience, I set out to fulfill my lifelong dream of learning to fly a helicopter. In March, after a lot of lessons, I bought a helicopter out of Los Angeles and flew it all the way back to OKC,” Martin said. “Next month I plan to fly to Florida (and back), thus completing my helicopter-across-America aspiration.”
In real estate, house hunting by helicopter is nothing terribly new, especially by agents and shoppers for upscale homes in luxury neighborhoods. And helicopters are sometimes used as cranes in construction and building maintenance and improvement, for example, in hoisting and placing rooftop heating and air-conditioning units.
Martin said he knew of no one else using a chopper in commercial real estate brokerage. But he said it works for him with industrial property, for speed and ease of access to faraway locations.
“I fly into downtown OKC all the time. I can depart from a parking lot near my downtown OKC office and land at my final destination,” Martin said. “Best of all, instead of zigzagging with the roads, you travel at 140 mph as the crow flies,” he said. “Industrial buildings almost always include large yard areas, meaning you can almost always land on site, which makes for a short trip to almost anywhere.
“Additionally, being up in the air allows you to quickly gain understanding of a location and surrounding areas,” Martin said. “Google Maps is helpful, but there is something about flying an area that you don’t get with the computer screen.”
Although it was a lifelong passion to learn to pilot a chopper and own one, Martin said he did buy the helicopter as a flying workhorse. He said he added the Adept company logo as an afterthought, which made it something of a marketing show horse.
“It’s kind of turned into a fun thing,” Martin said. He choppered in to the monthly Coffee & Cars OKC event in May. “I did the Edmond Fourth of July parade, and I’ve done a couple of fun things since then.”
He said the Adept chopper turns heads — up, but not too far up.
“Unlike airplanes that fly thousands of feet in the air, helicopters generally travel around 800 feet above ground level — that’s about the height of the Devon Tower — or lower,” he said. “Flying that low, I’ll often see people waving, I’ll bank my window towards them so they can see me waving back.
“Arriving at an industrial building to meet someone can be an inadvertent show, as I first need to conduct a low-altitude reconnaissance by orbiting the intended landing zone three or four times to be sure the location is clear of hazards. Most people find it to be exciting and want to go for a ride.”
Martin said he’s happy to oblige the curious.
“Since it can seat four people, I never pass up the opportunity to take people up, especially if it’s their first time in a chopper,” he said, and personal trips give him special joy. “The other day my sister called and said they were about to have a last-minute birthday party for my toddler nephew. I really got a kick out of flying my mom to Dallas and landing in my sister’s backyard, just in the time for the party. I also get a kick out of how much my dog Barney likes flying.”
Senior Business Writer Richard Mize has covered housing, construction, commercial real estate, and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com since 1999. Contact him at rm***@ok*******.com.
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