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Mark Phillips and Peter Krotje (left) stand next to the Zenith kit plane that
Phillips is building in the Jabiru North America hangar at Shelbyville Airport.

the plane truth of an aircraft

business in Shelbyville

H story by terence corriGAn

hat convinced peter krotje to relocate his aircraft seemed to be very welcoming.”
business 700 miles south from wisconsin to krotje said that his first visit to shelbyville’s airport set a first
w shelbyville 14 years ago was in large part an impression that weighed heavily in his decision to move here.
encouraging, hands-on airport manager; an airport board he flew in on a saturday. “the assistant manager called hank
composed of pilots and good, supportive local inter governmental (williamson) who was mowing his lawn on his day off. he came
relationships. right in, in his sandals with grass clippings on his feet. that’s how
krotje started his business in 1999 in wisconsin when it all started. hank was down here every couple of months asking
he became a dealer of jabiru aircraft, an Australian airplane us how it’s going and asking us if the airport can do anything to
manufacturer. help.”
“we needed a place to build airplanes,” he said. “we had three Also playing in shelbyville’s favor, krotje said, was its “nice
small hangars at a private airport in wisconsin but only one was long runway” (5,500 feet) and open fields surrounding the
heated and it was too small to build airplanes. we were looking airport.
around for a more central location to the eastern two-thirds of “we’re doing first flights of experimental and light sport
the u.s. we visited 16 airports in tennessee and kentucky and a airplanes and should something go wrong – fortunately nothing
couple in missouri and one in southern Illinois. from an airport has – there’s lots of places to land. tullahoma made a really
standpoint we really liked what was here in shelbyville. strong bid for us but that airport is right up against the city and
“one thing that was really attractive was that the airport all around it is woods.”
manager (hank williamson) was very encouraging and the airport krotje has also been pleased with the absence of government
board was made up of all pilots, rather than political appointees. intrusion and the lower taxes in tennessee.
we visited several airports where the city council was at war with “I told walt wood (the former director of the shelbyville-
the airport board.” bedford county chamber of commerce) that in wisconsin a
In shelbyville, he said, “the airport and city government small business owner has to work until may or june before all

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