Rotorcraft Enterprises
Founded in 1997 and based in Las Vegas, Start Pac is a family-owned American company passionate about its products and the industries it serves. Designing, manufacturing and selling ground power units for powering aircraft and jump starting any type of heavy duty engine, START PAC leads the way with the most up-to-date and safest technologies available. Integrity and reliability are values paramount to every member of the START PAC team; we are a company dedicated to providing long-term, superior service, supporting your industry with the most efficient, the most durable, the most reliable, the most powerful and the most cost effective line of ground power units. Introduce yourself, get to know START PAC and become a valued member of our family forever.
START PAC® History
One day in 1997, Jim Wurth took his MD 500 helicopter deep into the Arizona desert and set down for the night on a stretch of land 60 miles from the nearest habitation. Jim and a friend wanted to explore a set of ruins that would have taken all day to get to by car; with the MD500, they were within easy reach. Getting up the next morning however, Jim and his friend discovered that there was frost over everything; the battery was so cold-soaked that it wouldn’t start the helicopter’s engine.
Finally, they did get airborne, but only after waiting until well into the afternoon so the sun could heat up the battery. Right then and there, Jim vowed that he’d never let something like this happen to him again. Combining an innovative mind with his engineering degree and passion for aircraft – he is also a former commercial pilot, having flown 24 years for Eastern Airlines – he had the knowledge, the experience and the motivation to keep his word.
Jim’s primary aim was to design a reliable unit that could be taken with him on the helicopter easily. Soon, he had developed what would eventually become known as the first START PAC: a lightweight, portable starting unit that he could carry with him in case of emergencies. Jim saw the START PAC as a homemade fix intended mainly for his own personal use, but his wife, Judith, felt that other pilots could foresee themselves being in a similar predicament and would want to be prepared. She had the foresight to recognize a business opportunity, especially when she realized that Jim’s new design was superbly engineered and the best of its kind; it suddenly seemed obvious that this first-class product was meant to benefit others as well.
By the end of 1997, Jim and Judith had sold 11 START PAC units and thereafter, business continued to improve dramatically. Two people who had started with literally nothing except motivation and determination came to personify the American dream: START PAC is now a global phenomenon and is sold all over the world.
To date, the START PAC line for aircraft comprises 58 products: portable starting units and mobile ground power units (GPUs) to start both rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, as well as aircraft battery chargers, power supplies for avionic functions and, last but not least, combination units capable of both starting the engine and powering up the cockpit for maintenance.
START PAC has also entered other heavy duty segments, such as railroad. In fact, it was a 2007 request from the BNSF Railway to design a starting unit for its diesel locomotive engines that gave rise to these specialized products, currently used all over North America on all Class One railroads.
Additionally, START PAC has diversified into various heavy duty segments needing to secure their operations by making sure they can start their engines every morning: trucks, buses, military vehicles and heavy construction equipment (for example, in the mining industry).
Today START PAC has one main goal: we want to share our success in the aviation industry with all our customers, whatever industry they may be in and whether they are big or small. We want them, their businesses and their clients not only to benefit from our exceptional products, but also to be able to rely on our outstanding customer service, both of which have cemented our reputation around the world.