Intermountain Crew Bios

These bios describe the various furs and the mechanical star associated with Intermountain Charter.
All characters described within these bios are my creations and are copyrighted. Use with permission.
The information in this bio is current as of the beginning of the stories.

The Bitch, Matt Barstock, Angie Rockwell, Rick Carter, Randy Clarkson, Slam Whiteline, and Jerry Kitt are all copyright © The Silver Coyote
2003, 2004

The Bitch

The Bitch was born one fall day in 1973 at the Lockheed Plant in Marietta, Georgia. She is, or was, a C-130E model, one of the last to be built before the production of the E model ended in March of 1974. As an E model she was originally delivered with the following specifications:

Maximum takeoff weight 155,000 pounds (175,000 pounds wartime). Maximum landing weight 130,000 pounds. Maximum useable fuel 60,000 pounds (approximately 8950 gallons). Maximum allowable cabin load 36,000 pounds. Wingspan 132 feet 7 inches, length 97 feet 9 inches, height 38 feet 3 inches. Cargo bay dimensions 40.4 feet long by 9.0 feet high by 10.0 feet wide. Speed 374 MPH (Mach 0.57) at 20,000 feet. Range fully loaded 2,356 miles, range empty 5,200 miles.

The Bitch originally entered service with the United States Air Force, but in the summer of 1987 was assigned to support mission roles with "The Company", the Central Intelligence Agency. In this capacity she was operated, maintained, and piloted by "Company" employees, while maintaining her USAF ownership. During her brief service with The Company she received the new H-model engines (the Allison T56-A-T5 turboprops, adding an additional 391 horsepower per engine to the 4200 horsepower each T56-A-7 engine was capable of) and the wing box modifications that enhanced her service life well past an expected limit of 40,000 flight baseline hours. Her flight deck and electronic systems were also modified to allow for a three fur crew: pilot, copilot (which incorporated the flight engineer function), and navigator / loadmaster. Lesser airframe modifications were also made, most indistinguishable to the casual observer and some of which baffle even the crews who now fly her.

According to USAF records The Bitch was "lost" while in service with the CIA in Central America in March of 1989. Yet somehow she reappeared in a serviceable condition at Davis Monathan Air Force Base in Arizona early in 1990. Matt found her in Arizona looking disheveled and un-loved, yet recognized her for the jewel she was with her almost new, low-time engines, solid airframe, and lack of history. He was able to acquire her on a "no questions asked" basis for pennies on her original dollar value. The fact that the Commanding Officer of "The Boneyard" was a member of Matt's graduating class at the USAF Academy had nothing to do with anything, of course.

Matt brought The Bitch to Intermountain Charter and quickly established his charter service as a major contender in the heavy load lifting arena. With his C-130 Matt was able to contract his services to all branches of the military, various agencies of the Federal Government, several public utilities, and just about anyfur who needed something big moved to just about any point on the globe in a short period of time with minimal paperwork. If it was legal, and the cash was plentiful, The Bitch would fly.

And fly she has. Her wheels have touched the soil of twenty six nations flying for Intermountain, she has been above the Arctic Circle and south of the Equator. She is now middle aged, nearing an estimated 20,000 service hours on the airframe and close to 2,000 hours on the engines. There is a significant, if brief, "hole" in her service records while in the employ of the CIA, but since coming to Intermountain she has been pampered and maintained at the height of mechanical excellence, in spite of her appearance.

She was named by a former pilot of Matt's, long since retired. No fur knows what her USAF or CIA crews called her, but after developing a propensity for seeming to fail at least one system on each and every flight, the Intermountain crews tagged her as The Bitch and acted accordingly. Today they refer to her that way with grudging affection, for while they grumble about the stuff that doesn't work, Matt and his furs invariably, unhesitatingly entrust their lives to the strength of her broad wings and put their complete confidence in her powerful engines.

The Intermountain Charter Crew

Matt Barstock

Matt is a Retriever, a Labrador / Golden mix, born in 1948 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He has markings and coloration typical of a lab (all black) except for a cream-white patch on his chest and matching paws. Matt stands six foot one and weighs 205 pounds. Matt's father was a big wheel in the Duluth iron and steel industry, and had quite a bit of behind the scenes political power. Matt's parents divorced when he was a pup, they are both deceased.

Matt was appointed to the United States Air Force Academy in 1965 with the help of a Minnesota state senator, a friend of his father's family. He graduated near the bottom of his class in 1969, with average marks and no particular specialties or strengths. Matt went through primary and intermediate flight training and was assigned to transport training in 1970. He served two tours with MATS, the Military Air Transport Service, and it's descendants, during which time he flew primarily the C-130 Hercules, the C-141 Starlifter, and the C-5 Galaxy aircraft. Matt flew in most major theaters of the day including Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Arctic. Matt mustered out of the service with an honorable discharge in 1977.

Not much is known about portions of Matt's life between 1977 and 1984. It is known that he flew as a 747 copilot for NASA in the early part of the Shuttle Program, and that he flew DC-8s for a freight hauler in the northeast in 1980. Matt flew a DC-6 for Shell Oil in the Persian Gulf for a year or two. Rumor / speculation has it that Matt did a lot of work for "The Company" in Central and South America, and perhaps elsewhere, in the late seventies and early eighties, flying everything from DC-3s to the venerable C-130.

In 1984 Matt suddenly appeared on the scene in Columbus, Ohio with a Douglas DC-6 and a Rockwell Commander 680 in his possession, and started a company called Intermountain Charter. Matt's claim to fame was little regard for the cargo, as long as it was legal and the cash was green. He'd fly anything, anywhere, for anyone. His "no questions asked" policy bought him a lot of attention as well as customers. Matt branched out into corporate charter services in the late eighties, and by the turn of the century his company had several aircraft including a Lockheed C-130, two Grumman Gulfstreams (a G III and a G IV), a Lear 55, two Cessna Citations (an Excel and a III), and a Cessna 208 Caravan. Matt's sales force consisted of himself and his pilots, and while corporate charter was good, air cargo continues to be Intermountain's bread and butter.

Matt has logged 44,700 hours of flight time over a thirty four year aviation career. Assuming a five day work week, this impressive number works out to a little over five hours a day since he graduated the USAF Academy in 1969. There were days in Central America and the Persian Gulf when Matt flew for a dozen hours or more a day.

Matt has never been married, and has no family to speak of. His social life consists of hanging out with his pilots and any old buddies left over from his Air Force days.

Angie Rockwell

Angie is a local girl, a brown-eyed Calico feline born in 1955 in Dayton, Ohio. Angie stands five foot six and appears to weigh about 130, she won't say for sure. She is Matt's right paw at Intermountain, running the office, scheduling the charters, keeping the books, answering the phones, and making the best coffee on Port Columbus International Airport.

Angie has aviation in her blood. Her father flew fighters for the USAAF in 1944 and 1945 in Europe, and spent the balance of his productive life as a civilian engineer for the USAF attached to Wright-Patterson AFB. Angie has two brothers and a sister. One brother is a captain for a major commercial air carrier, the other brother works for Rockwell as an aerodynamics engineer. The sister owns an FBO on Long Beach Airport in California, which has charter and rental services as well as a flight school.

Angie is single and lives alone in a condominium in Columbus.

Rick Carter

Rick is the youngest pilot on Intermountain's employee roster at age 29, like Angie Rockwell a native of Dayton. He is a trim yet somewhat muscular badger, five foot eight and 145 pounds. While not as heavy as a typical badger, his markings are fairly typical of his family. A narrow white stripe runs up the bridge of his nose and between his small ears, narrowing to nonexistence at the back side of his head. On each side of his muzzle an additional white stripe, broader then the first, starts beneath the center of his nose, curves down and back along his jawline below each eye, and then up in front of each ear. The rest of Rick's fur is black on his sides and upper surfaces, blending to a cream color on his chest and stomach.

Rick graduated as an aeronautics engineer from Embry-Riddle University in 1999 and hired with Intermountain the following year. He flys by choice, and is perhaps one of the most qualified pilots Intermountain has. The only one of their aircraft he is not type rated in is the C-130. Rick's log books account for about 2,500 hours of flight time.

Rick is single and owns a small farm southwest of Columbus in Jefferson, Ohio. While not aggressively seeking a life mate, he is none the less actively engaged in pursuing female companionship. Rick's boss and peers figure it's just a matter of time before some enterprising female snares him.

Andrew "Randy Andy" Clarkson

Anyone who knows Andrew knows him as "Randy". The nickname has nothing to do with his name, it is rather a reference to his somewhat relaxed attitude towards female hygiene. Enough said.

Randy was born in 1977 in Battle Mountain, Nevada, and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at age 17. During his tour of duty he rose to the rank of Lance Corporal and was trained as a loadmaster on the Lockheed C-130 aircraft. As such Randy flew all over the world with the USMC, and learned virtually everything there is to know about loading and balancing a C-130. Randy came to Intermountain almost the very day he mustered out of the USMC in 1999, and has been flying with them ever since.

Recently Randy has expressed an interest in becoming a pilot himself, and as a result of this interest has begun accompanying pilots on runs in other aircraft. It is expected that he will obtain his Pilots License and ratings with assistance from and using aircraft belonging to employees of Intermountain Charter.

Randy is a skunk, relatively short at five foot six, but wide of shoulder and deep of chest, built like a loadmaster should be. Randy has been known to muscle around cargo twice his weight and size while others were off fetching the forklift. Randy weighs 165 pounds, has brown eyes, wears his black hair long, and wears glasses for distant vision. His markings are typical of a skunk except for one foot, which is white. As Randy almost always wears boots this is never noticed.

Randy is almost always seen wearing the green jumpsuits typical of aviation crewfurs and service personnel. No one at Intermountain has ever seen him dressed in anything else.

Teddy "Slam" Whiteline

Teddy Whiteline was born on the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona in the little town of Chilchinbito in 1983. Somewhat like Randy Clarkson, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on his seventeenth birthday and currently holds the rank of Lance Corporal. Teddy is detached from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Lejune, North Carolina, and is normally bivouacked at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton. He is detached to Columbus on a regular basis to support secure cargos that Intermountain flys for the federal government or the military. It is suspected that Matt pulled some strings to get him more or less permanently assigned to this duty, Teddy is a common fixture on any Intermountain flight involving secure loads on the C-130.

All who fly with Teddy know him as "Slam". The polite explanation for this nickname is that it refers to his second favorite pastime, drinking shots of whatever alcoholic beverage happens to be handy. However, more than one fur has heard that it actually was bestowed on him by a former girlfriend, and refers to his enthusiastic participation in his favorite pastime. No one has yet to question Slam as to whether this is true or not.

"Slam" is a coyote / mountain lion hybrid, his paternal great grandfather was the mountain lion. Slam is tall, six foot four, broad shouldered, and quite muscular. His markings are more or less typical of a desert coyote, but his fur is more of a golden color than the normal color of the coyote. He has brown eyes that stare intently at one when they speak. Slam gives the appearance of being someone you would want to avoid, yet he is a very gentle fur. However his training was taken to heart, he is all Marine, and would kill a fur as easily and unemotionally as look at one.

Jerry Kitt

Jerry is a brown bear, born in the mountains of northern New Mexico in a little town called Chama in 1964. Small for a brown bear, Jerry is "only" six foot one and 225 pounds. He has brown fur of medium length and wears his hair relatively short. Jerry's build is typical of the brown bear, which is to say he looks like a football player.

Jerry has been a motorhead all his life, he started wrenching on mini-bikes when he was eleven years old. He went to a vocational technical school in Albuquerque to learn diesel engine mechanics, and while at the school took an interest in aviation. Three years later he graduated as a master Airframe and Powerplant mechanic. Suffering a case of wanderlust, Jerry moved about the country working for various airlines, FBOs, and as a subcontractor to the US Army repairing Bell UH-1 Huey helicopters.

Jerry met Matt Barstock one night at the terminal lounge in Port Columbus while waiting for a connecting flight back home to New Mexico. A few rounds of scotch and a firm pawshake later he signed on as Intermountain's A&P mechanic. The Bitch, and every other airframe on Matt's roster, has been in Jerry's capable paws ever since. Time permitting Jerry also takes on outside work, helping to generate a little revenue for Intermountain.

Jerry is married to Sheryl, a brown bear from the Conejos River ranch country west of the small town of Antonito, Colorado, just across the border from Chama. Sheryl was his high school sweetheart. He was on his way home to propose to her when Matt talked him into hiring on in Ohio. Jerry went home, proposed, bundled her up as she said yes, and two weeks later they were married in Columbus.

Jerry and Sheryl have two cubs, Rolly and Zeke, ages eight and seven. They now live outside of Columbus on the northeast side in the suburban community of New Albany, not terribly far away from Port Columbus International.