Op-Ed: Bill Tarpley: How America can retake control of the skies
America has lost our long-held role as the world’s leader in aviation innovation and safety in recent years. It’s time for our comeback story.
Americans were the first to fly, the first to break the sound barrier, and the first to land a man on the moon. Today, that dominance is under threat, with an aging air traffic control system in urgent need of modernization, delays in the production of critical aircraft, and other issues dominating headlines across the globe in 2025.
Reclaiming America’s leadership in aviation production is a national imperative, and our company, Mammoth Freighters, is proud to be part of the comeback story the USA desperately needs. At Mammoth, we are building the future of commercial long-haul air freighter service, delivering the world’s most productive and cost-efficient freighter aircraft by converting Boeing 777 passenger planes into advanced cargo aircraft.
Air cargo is a critical pillar of the global economy, and its importance has grown dramatically with the rise of e-commerce. The demand for next-day and same-day delivery has made reliable, long-range freight aircraft more essential than ever.
Headquartered in Texas, our operations use nearly 100 percent American-made parts from suppliers in over 22 states. We’ve already created more than 600 high-quality jobs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and expect to exceed 1,000 DFW-area jobs as we scale, not to mention the thousands of jobs created across our domestic suppliers.
Our aircraft conversion operation is one of the few of its kind in the United States today and is a true Made in America business that aligns with the goals of American policymakers: reshoring advanced manufacturing, reducing our trade imbalance, and reclaiming U.S. dominance in global aviation.
Every part of our operation is a testament to what Made in America should mean: American labor, American capital, and American engineering extending the life of American-made aircraft. While major U.S. manufacturers often perform aircraft conversions overseas, we are proud to be doing it here at home; we are supporting domestic jobs, supply chains, and innovation.
Air freighters sit at the heart of the global logistics network, enabling fast and efficient delivery across continents. Yet in recent years, the U.S. has allowed foreign competitors to overtake domestic production capacity in this key sector. Europe, the Middle East, and Asia have recognized the strategic value of air freight and have moved swiftly, often aided by regulatory systems that are more stable and predictive, and less reactive than what U.S. manufacturers currently face.
Thankfully, change is underway. We are encouraged to see U.S. leadership acknowledging the urgent need to revitalize American manufacturing and improve our regulatory environment. At Mammoth, we’re doing our part to support those goals. We’ve secured aircraft orders from cargo operators in the U.S. and around the world. We were thrilled to complete our first test flight last month, and we hosted Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) at our Texas site.
Once the FAA finalizes certification of our planes — on-target for certification later this summer — we plan to convert more than a dozen aircraft annually. These Mammoth Boeing 777 freighter conversions will gradually replace over 200 aging 747 and MD-11 aircraft still in operation today, improving the efficiency of America’s fleet by saving fuel and reducing emissions, while addressing a global market need before aircraft manufacturers can deliver new commercial freighters.
The FAA’s certification of Mammoth Freighters will mark a major milestone — for our company, for policymakers in Washington D.C., and for the country. It will be a signal that America is ready to lead again in global aviation, support U.S. supply chain competitiveness, grow domestic manufacturing jobs, and serve commercial cargo markets across the globe. And it will be a key step in restoring the U.S. as the global aviation “gold standard.”
At Mammoth, we are proud to demonstrate what’s possible when American aviation industry leads from the front. America’s dominance in the skies can be reasserted once again.
Bill Tarpley is the Chief Executive Officer of Mammoth Freighters LLC.
