>He employs 65 "super repos"
I doubt that he employs 65 full time pilots. It sounds like more him, his wife, and his two sons.
The other people are probably just brutes that he calls up every once in a while for doing large things like taking a fleet of helicopters.
Also, I suspect that that "tidy six figures" is a net after he has paid his employees. (I'm going to assume that they get paid per job, not per year).
They used the word "fee" in the article. That isn't ambiguous. A six-figure fee is a gross amount.
I'm leaning towards calling shenanigans on this.
People in these lines of work generally aren't in it purely for the money. The money is an important part, as it legitimizes them as the victor, but generally there's an appetite for risk and excitement.
I don't know that I buy this. Contractor rates in Iraq are much higher than this guy's (especially if you take a few minutes and SWAG out the "billable hours" that must go into a single reclamation). You could easily argue that Iraq contractors face much less risk.
Call me crazy, but I think starting a tech consulting firm might be a happier way to get at that kind of money than facing down shotgun-wielding militiamen and flying off in a strange jet.
The numbers in this post kind of don't add up:
* His first repo gig got him $145k.
* Recovering a string of badly-maintained helicopters got him a "tidy six figures".
* A good year is 10 planes.
* He employs 65 "super repos" --- if these people, who actually fly dangerous aircraft out of dangerous situations --- take a desk worker's salary and have so much as high-deductable health insurance, the company's payroll overhead alone is high 7 figures.