Aviator flying high with several locally owned businesses

Pilot training school among companies

marlene karas/viewShawn Mullin, who co-owns Elite Aviation, stands in front of one of the Cirrus SR22 airplanes he owns, which are housed at the North Las Vegas Airport. Advertisement

Shawn Mullin always has his head in the clouds. His work as a private pilot for public works company New-Com Inc. keeps him flying sky high. But he has his own aspirations.

At 23, he is part owner of Summerlin Aviation, an aircraft leasing company, 6171 W. Lake Mead Blvd., Suite 193, and Elite Aviation, a pilot training school out of North Las Vegas Airport at 2810 Perimeter Road, Suite 206.

Actually, Mullin wears a variety of hats. His other businesses involve a coordination company called Managed Flight, an airplane detailing company called Above the Rest and a fuel discount program named Fuelino, which has an e-mail component delivering technical services. All the companies relate to the aircraft industry.

Eric Raseoy, a flight instructor for Mullin with 30 years' experience, said he's never had an employer so young.

"He's someone who thinks ahead and is goal oriented -- not typical of a younger person," he said. "I wish I'd been so motivated when I was that age."

Mullin lives with Nicholle Sanchez, whom he met at a flight school where he was an instructor. Sanchez said they are both on the go all day.

"I wake up at 6 a.m. and don't go to bed until midnight or 1, and it's the same for him," she said. "I haven't watched a movie in a couple of months."

As for Mullin, he said that if he and Sanchez didn't work together on the airplane detailing business, they probably wouldn't see each other. She also helps with the pilot training business.

Mullin's many hats means he's slept on a cot at the airport more than once. He spends about 60 percent of his workday teaching student pilots. The rest is devoted to various flight services. Every day, he also gets to fly a plane for business executives of New-Com, his employer. Piloting a plane -- that's what he likes best, he said.

"My work is relaxing," Mullin said. "It's like a vacation. Like yesterday, fun for me was to fly down to Henderson (from North Las Vegas Airport) to have dinner."

Other flights might take him to various airports in California or all the way across the country. He logs about 150,000 miles a year using the company's 12 planes.

Mullin said he's never had an emergency situation while flying. But all pilots undergo training to handle a plane should such instances occur. Nine of the company's Cirrus airplanes have a parachute pack, much like a skydiver.

"You just pull the handle like a fighter pilot," he said. "Only you don't get ejected."

Elite Aviation, the flight school, includes an $80,000 flight simulator, which is programmed for everything from a two-seater Cessna up to an eight-passenger jet. It saves student pilots about half the cost of renting out an airplane and an instructor. It costs $55 for the simulator, as opposed to as much as $295 for the airplane, plus another $45 to $65 for the instructor's fee. Mullin said the simulator was just as effective for training as was actual flight.

"Plus, there's a pause button on it, for when you're confused," he said. "There aren't any pause buttons when you're up there in the sky."

Mullin's fascination with flying began when he was a child. At 15, he convinced his parents to let him go up in a glider, an experience he called fun and exhilarating. It was so exhilarating, his one-hour flight took two hours, as he intentionally caught updrafts to learn the craft's capabilities, he said.

"It's the purest form of flying," he said. "And you can hear the wind. With a regular plane, you don't get that."

From there, he went to Rancho High School's aviation program and had his pilot's license at 17.

He underwent an accelerated program in 2003, cramming two years of schooling into 12 months to get his instrument rating.

Sanchez started a company called NSMC Inc. in February 2006. It is an ownership company with real estate holdings and a hot dog cart business arm. She persuaded Mullin to start a business, too.

"I told him, 'As a pilot, you're at everyone's beck and call and they can call you up at midnight and say, 'We want to go somewhere.' The only reason I do it is because I see the light at the end of the tunnel," Sanchez said. "This allows me to have a lifestyle that I would not have if I was just a salaried employee."

Soon after Sanchez set up her company, the two of them established Above the Rest together and he bought into half of NSMC Inc.

That was followed by Managed Flight, which came board in July of that year. The other companies were set up in 2007.

For 2008, Mullin said he plans to expand the companies even more by adding more services. The detailing company, for example, will be expanding to a nationwide network of detailers and will add warranties to its service. Another of his companies, Above the Rest, will offer specialized products.

He said in five years, he'd be ready to watch life go by on a beach or a mountain.