After months and months of trying to talk to, deal with, and otherwise straighten out business dealings with Quartz Mountain Aerospace, the City of Altus, along with the City’s economic development group, finally took action recently to set wheels in motion to repossess an airplane that the local manufacturer had put up for collateral on a defunct loan. Local City representatives had hit a brick wall in trying to get QMA to return calls, letters and other communication about the matter, and finally went to the hangar on their own late Thursday afternoon and took the plane themselves.

Representatives of Altus’ economic development corporation, including City Administrator Mike Nettles, the Jackson County Sheriff’s office, along with vice-mayor Jack Smiley and City Electric Department crews, met late yesterday afternoon at the hanger where Quartz Mountain Aerospace housed their airplane.

“The airport manager and his crew were witnesses,” said Smiley, “But we just turned on the power, opened the hangar doors, rolled the plane out, shut the doors back and turned the power back off,” he explained.

“We had been working with lawyers on this matter and how to handle it,” Smiley said, “and then we realized that we had not told the lawyers that we (the City) actually owned the hangar the airplane was housed in - so they told us to just go get it, and that’s what we did.”

Smiley did say that they had filed a lien with the FAA in Oklahoma City, and that they were the only ones to have done so, so they are the legal first.

Although Smiley thinks the plane could bring around $50,000, the loan the plane was used for collateral on is for $220,000.

Aside from the $220,000 loan, QMA owes the city, local banks and others, millions more in defaulted loans and unpaid bills. QMA also received $32 million in financing through Oklahoma’s rural venture capital tax credit programs before closing this past year.

“When they (QMA) needed something, they were right there in our faces,” Smiley said. “But when we try and contact them about these matters, they won’t return calls or other communications - it has been so frustrating. I don’t know why they haven’t shown any good faith in all of this.”