The 2013 California Pilots Association (CalPilots) annual meeting, “California Dreamin’,” was much bigger and better attended than past CalPilots get-togethers. Jolie Lucas and Mitch Latting are recognized for their inspired advocacy of the Oceano Airport (L52), and they turned their considerable skills toward organizing and promoting the meeting.
It was a rousing success. Spread over one and a half days, the event drew nearly 300 pilots, advocates, airplane owners and other nonspecific wing nuts.
The program included advocacy speakers such as Jamie Beckett of the Polk Aviation Alliance, Mike Jesch of the Fullerton (Calif.) Airport Pilots Association, and Bill Dunn of AOPA. Other presenters included 2011 National CFI of the Year Judy Phelps, John Kounis of Pilot Getaways magazine, and Rod Machado, aviation educator and humorist.
WE can save airports
Experience dictates that the most effective tool to use in preserving airports is a concerted grassroots campaign designed to educate residents and city and county administrators about the value of their local airport.
What happens when you or I sit on the sidelines and “let someone else do it”? The effort becomes an uphill slog with a slim chance of succeeding.
Witness what’s happening today near the Tehachapi Municipal Airport (KTSP) in California. The Tehachapi airport is located in a wide valley at 3,950 feet MSL and is right in the middle of the town of approximately 14,000. Construction has started on a regional 25-bed hospital located 1,800 feet off the end of Runway 29.
Ken Hetge owns Recover-Your-Cub, an aviation maintenance business at the Tehachapi airport. During the 2013 annual meeting of the California Pilots Association in San Luis Obispo that took place Oct. 18–19, Hetge was one of those recognized by CalPilots for his advocacy efforts.
While it appears as if Hetge failed at Tehachapi, his trials added strength to his message. He warned attendees that “once the ground has been broken, it’s three years too late to do anything.”
The elements that cast a shadow over the future of the Tehachapi airport are familiar. The county turned over the implementation of the airport land use plan to the city of Tehachapi. Citing the need to comply with state guidelines for a new earthquake resistant regional hospital—and eager to obtain federal money for the hospital construction—the city administrators opted to ignore the safety zone guidelines set out in the California Airport Land Use Plan by approving construction on city-owned land near the airport.
Since the community benefits of a hospital are much better known than the community benefits of an airport, a cloud now hangs over the Tehachapi airport.
Hetge is not alone in believing that the inevitable airplane-generated noise complaints from the hospital staff and patients will eventually be a factor that weighs against the airport. Hetge said, “I either fight for my airport, or I lose everything.”
Slowly but surely
The facts are sobering. Airports are being lost at a steady pace. California has 24 fewer airports than it did in 1990. Big deal, you might say—but 24 airports represents 10 percent of the total public-use airports in California.
The reason is simple: the economic, community and safety value of their local airport has been lost on the everyday tax-paying residents of cities and towns in America. The most effective way to maintain our airports is to enlist these citizens into our airport communities.
Jamie Beckett, president of the Polk Aviation Alliance in Polk County, Fla. took the stage Friday evening and told attendees, “We have to be involved in our community.” He spoke about the value of forming an alliance of local airport and aviation entities. “The people in this room are the people who will keep aviation alive in California,” Beckett continued.
Tools for advocacy
Beckett pushed the idea that airplane people need to talk more about their passion for flying, airplanes and aviation—to their neighbors, to people they run into during their everyday activities, and to anyone involved in city government.
Other suggestions included developing a short program that demonstrates how aviation and flying are grounded in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) principles. Show the program to school administrators and suggest the benefits of airport tours for all students.
Produce displays and handouts to educate students and participate in school career days. Develop open house Saturdays and invite the community.
Take time to contact the local television and newspaper sources to educate editors and reporters. Volunteer to act as a sounding board for aviation stories.
Bill Dunn, the Vice President of Airport Advocacy for AOPA told everyone that the biggest problem in airport advocacy is that, in his view, “We stop our aviation enthusiasm at the boundary of the airport.”
Dunn also pointed out that airports thrive when the local citizen who is not a pilot and does not go to the airport knows they benefit from their local airport. Airport advocacy groups that have held off development have banded together, engaged early and worked together to speak as a single voice, according to Dunn.
Dunn also said that airport advocates need to deal in reality not emotion and said that the most effective advocates act as informed citizens, not as pilots. Educate your local governments to the economic value of its airport.
According to “Aviation in California: Benefits to Our Economy and Way of Life,” a 1993 study by the California Division of Transportation (CalTrans), aviation generates almost 10 percent of the state’s GDP and employment base. Similar studies have been done in other states.
Flying and fun
Judy Phelps took the stage and told everyone how her journey from a waitress in a local restaurant to CFI of the Year started when Clay Phelps, a flight instructor at the local airport, asked her for a date, then took her on an airplane camping trip. Phelps said she didn’t like not knowing what was going on—so she got her pilot’s license. Today she teaches aerobatics at CP Aviation at the Santa Paula (Calif.) airport (KSZP).
John Kounis of Pilot Getaways magazine presented a beautifully photographed hour-long photo tour of flying destinations in the western states. Rod Machado used his understanding of human behavior and a finely tuned sense of humor to pass on safe flying tips.
Machado said, “Your ability to be safe in an airplane is directly related to your ability to resist doing something you know is wrong.” He suggested each pilot establish a personal “bushido,” or code of flying ethics. A couple of the items in Machado’s bushido include never flying more than five hours in one day due to fatigue; not flying if he has to be a certain place at a certain time; and not flying if he hasn’t had breakfast.
Machado also warned us that we’re most likely to make poor decisions when other people are in the airplane since our greatest strength as humans—empathy—can also be our greatest weakness if we allow it to compromise our bushido. Machado joked that, in his experience, a person can go to college and get a Ph.D. in psychology or he can work as a certified flight instructor for three years and get the same level of insight.
Joe Borzelleri received an award for his advocacy work at the Sutter County Airport (O52) in Yuba City, Calif. Borzelleri came up with a strategy that relieved the county of its airport management and supervision chores by forming a nonprofit group to run the airport.
The takeaway
Airports are community assets and the most important tool in protecting those airports is the realization that your airport will be in a developer’s crosshairs someday, if it isn’t already. There is help available from CalPilots and from AOPA but none of that matters if the local pilots aren’t willing to keep track of the politics at their airport and work with others at preserving one of their community’s assets—the local airport.
Steve Ells has been an A&P/IA for 39 years and is a commercial pilot with instrument and multi-engine ratings. Ells also loves utility and bush-style airplanes and operations. He has served as associate editor for AOPA Pilot until 2008. Ells is the owner of Ells Aviation (EllsAviation.com) and the proud owner of a 1960 Piper Comanche. He lives in Paso Robles, Calif. with his wife Audrey. Send questions and comments to editor@www.piperflyer.com.
RESOURCES
Airport and Amenities
Oceano Airport (L52)
oceanoairport.com
Aviation Consultants, Inc.
Organizations
California Pilots Association
Friends of Oceano Airport
friendsofoceanoairport.com
Further reading
“Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields” by Paul Freeman
airfields-freeman.com
