by Eric J. Wallace / Photo above: David Lumgair, managing partner, Luminary Air Group.
When an uncle introduced Luminary Air Group Managing Partner, David Lumgair to the hidden and elusive world of private airplanes as a young teenager, “it was definitely very cool,” says the now 52-year-old. But the event didn’t bring “some profound, a-ha moment where I said, ‘Oh, this is what I want to do with my life!”
That would take some time. Lumgair’s father worked as a high-level chemical engineer for ExxonMobil and the family globetrotted around the U.S., Europe, and Canada as a result. Travel was counterbalanced by summers spent with his mother’s family on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The region subsequently came to “feel like home.”
Lumgair planned for a career in customs and border control when he enrolled at Sam Houston State University in Texas. Boredom and academic drift inspired a stint in the Coast Guard, where his love affair with airplanes began.
“I started getting certifications and became a very active flight instructor,” says Lumgair. He worked marine patrols by air and sea, and the experience fortuitously led to a position doing the same for the state of Virginia in 1998. Soaring over the Eastern Shore’s scenic wild barrier islands brought new perspective and a deep appreciation for the region’s “incredible uniqueness and beauty.”
Lumgair’s professional calling entwined with the Shore and the greater Hampton Roads region. Twenty years of increasingly ambitious directorships with high-profile aerospace companies like BaySys Technologies, Flying D Solutions, Tempus Jets, and International Communications Group (ICG) followed. Responsibilities ranged from coordinating VIP transports, to overseeing contract fleet maintenance schedules, to managing manufacturing teams that supplied equipment to major clients like Boeing.
The pivot to entrepreneurship came when RTX Corporation subsidiary, Rockwell Collins, merged with ICG in 2016 and announced plans to relocate its Newport News headquarters. Lumgair’s parents were retired on the Shore and his emotional and professional anchors were set in Hampton Roads. Lumgair and three partners saw an opportunity in an aerospace company with succession issues based out of Melfa’s Accomack County Airport.
Consequently, Luminary Air Group launched there with a focus on fabricating and installing custom, ultralightweight insulation for the U.S. military and special operations contractors. “It’s cheaper and quicker to buy a plane like a King Air and customize it to fit than to contract a custom build,” says Lumgair.
While commercial airline regulations allow decibel levels around 85—loud enough that you must raise your voice to be heard three feet away—special ops missions demand much lower levels (typically around 47 or below). They also need to slash weight.
Lumgair knew VIP customers had similar needs and quickly expanded operations.
Innovations like built-to-suit, bolt-in sidewall panels with attached insulation allowed regional service and maintenance companies like Central Virginia Aviation to outsource interior shop work. Adding a Federal Aviation Administration-certified manufacturing facility convinced groups like Duncan Aviation—the world’s largest privately owned business jet service provider—to tap Luminary for help with luxury fleet upgrades. Department of Defense contracts have included insulation for its presidential E-4B fleet of Boeing 747s, aka the “Doomsday” planes.
Other clients have private helicopters or aircraft like 100-foot-long Gulfstream Vs flown into Accomack for interior makeovers that can include extravagances like heated leather seats with recliner leg rests, designer wool carpet, midcentury-style walnut paneling, and marble-topped bar areas.
Demand has boosted Luminary’s footprint to include 20 full-time employees and a half-dozen local contractors. The company’s workload can differ radically from year to year—ranging from 50 to 60 small planes and helicopters to a handful of football-field-sized jets.
While some presume its Eastern Shore location would be detrimental, Lumgair calls the area an untapped goldmine for aerospace innovation. He chairs the Accomack County Economic Development Authority and points to factors like a well-equipped rural airport that has few residential noise constraints and is surrounded by developable land—including two large industrial parks—and proximity to both NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility and the planet’s largest concentration of military bases as fuel for an inevitable boom.
“The thing about planes is they can be flown in from anywhere,” says Lumgair. “We haven’t done a great job of telling the story of everything this region has to offer. As we lean into that moving forward, I think we’re going to start to see some really exciting developments.”
