What Would You Keep in Your Steel Building
For example, why does this 76-year-old man keep a fully functional, one-person helicopter inside of his steel building that sits in the backyard of his home in Tickfaw, LA?
The short answer is simple-building and flying helicopters are hobbies
of his. The long answer is much more interesting and involves travel,
intrigue, high flying adventures, duty to country, and loss.
As a young adult, the Marine Corps taught Abadie how to fly, and after
his four years of service were finished in 1960, he knew he wanted to
focus his career around flying. He was due to rotate back to the states
before his discharge from his post in Okinawa, Japan, but he accepted an
offer from the CIA to work for Air America, doing various covert
operations during the next 15 years in places such as
Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. After the company disbanded in 1975, Abadie
came home to Louisiana and finished earning his college degree in
professional aviation.
From there he worked for various companies during the next two decades
and lived in Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Kwajalein Island, Abu Dhabi,
and the Bahamas before returning to Louisiana where he retired in 1996.
"When it was time for me to retire, my wife and I were quite happy to
come home to Louisiana and settle down here," says Abadie. "Our three
sons were grown and out of the house, so we were ready for a slower pace
of life."
When Abadie's wife of 30 years died in 2007 after battling thyroid
cancer for six months, he realized that the best thing he could do was
keep his mind and hands busy, so returning to flying was the natural
choice for him.
"I bought a helicopter kit and built a rotary wing gyrocopter, but I
soon found out that it was too difficult to fly it out of my yard," says
Abadie. "I sold it and then built a Helicycle instead. I wanted to move
it out of my garage, and that is when I bought my SteelMaster building.
I wanted something durable and something easy to put up. SteelMaster
was it."
For more than 29 years, SteelMaster Buildings,
which is located in Virginia Beach, VA, has manufactured, designed, and
supplied pre-fabricated arched steel structures to 40,000 customers
located in every state of the United States, in 40 countries, and on
seven continents around the world.
"SteelMaster Aircraft Hangars provide clear span buildings that are both
economical and durable, making the steel structures world-renowned in
the field of aviation," says Michelle Wickum, the company's director of
marketing. "The unique design of SteelMaster's metal buildings allows
spans up to 150 feet in width, with unlimited lengths. With no need for
interior supports, people can maximize the use of the space in these
steel Airplane Hangars. Whether you have a single, twin engine, or
commercial jet, SteelMaster steel buildings can accommodate your needs."
Now that Abadie has his own helicopter and a proper building to store it in, where does he want to travel?
"Out of all the places I have been, I'm more than content to just fly
around here for fun," says Abadie. "I'm comfortable here-Louisiana is
where I belong.
