Jennifer Draughon, president of Neptune Aviation in Missoula, walked briskly through the company’s airplane hangars near the airport on Wednesday to talk about 30 years of aerial firefighting and how it has adapted and evolved.
With more than 220 employees, including 37 air tanker pilots, the firm is one of the larger private employers in Missoula. And Draughon, a former collegiate track and field athlete who once worked at Boeing, is one of the few female leaders in the aviation industry.
With the climate changing all over the world and wildfires becoming more frequent and intense, Neptune’s nine air tankers that can each drop 3,000 pounds of fire retardant are more in demand. They go everywhere from Florida to Montana to Chile.
“One of the things that I think we’ve had to shift is (the work) used to be seasonal,” she said. “I think, watching the news, those once-in-a-10-year-span fires are happening like on a yearly basis. So it’s pretty catastrophic and it is becoming pretty much year-round. So for Neptune, definitely back in the day it used to be seasonal. You knew you were gonna go out in March and come home in August. Now that’s not the case, so we prepare for all year round.”
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When the BAe 146 air tankers aren’t flying, they go through a meticulous maintenance schedule. Draughon also has to make sure employees have a solid work/life balance.
The company has an air attack division and a general aviation maintenance division; they broker charters, they have a flight school and the company owns NorthStar Jet, among other things.
Draughon said there are very few women in general in the aviation industry, fewer in the aerial firefighting sector and very few in leadership positions.
“Am I usually the only one in the room? Yeah,” she said, laughing. “I mean, I think just in aviation in general, it’s a male-dominated industry. And most people know that. I think the latest statistic I’ve read, which it’s been a while since I’ve looked, but I think women are about 20% of the aviation workforce. So I do not know a woman leader in aerial firefighting.”
She pursued her dream by working her way up through the company, and she said she would encourage anyone to do the same.
“If it’s your dream, you should go for it,” she said. “It’s not without challenges. But really, if you come in with confidence, go after what you want to do, keep learning and understand that, I really truly believe everybody brings a unique perspective to the table and the more inclusiveness we can have the better we’re going to be. So I just think go for it.”
She acknowledged that there’s not a huge amount of mentorship out there for women who want to get into the industry.
“Young girls don’t see a lot of women in aviation, so it’s kind of like not something that they put in their mindset when they’re young,” she said. “So I think we could do better with that. I try to do that. I think industry-wide, if we could do that, mentor as a woman if you’re in the business.”
Draughon said the industry needs bright minds and there are good-paying jobs to be found.
“We have an amazing leadership team and they bring incredible talent to the table,” Draughon said of the company. “And we all just pretty much love what we do.”
David Erickson is the business reporter for the Missoulian.
