Three years after 9-11, the nation's airlines were trimming the fat from their businesses and staging a comeback.

So a Santa Fe aviation consultant and a Dallas businessman took a bet, converting a former electronics plant into a business that overhauls and repairs airliner parts.

And it appears to have paid off. Today, Aero Mechanical Industries Inc., or AMII, employs 94, and has become part of a growing aviationrelated business cluster for Rio Rancho and Albuquerque's West Side.

Now, its vice president and cofounder, Rodney Doss, has expansion on his mind.

"By the end of '08, we'll be at about 120 employees," he says. "We're right on track with our original plans."

Aero Mechanical fixes structural and fuselage parts, such as cowlings and fairings, wings and control surfaces - industry-speak for parts like rudders and elevators.

These parts of the aircraft face a daily barrage of hail and bird strikes, vibration and temperature fluctuation. The Federal Aviation Administration, alongside similar bureaucracies in other parts of the world, have strict safety requirements that necessitate frequent inspection and repair.