TxDOT Aviation Welcomes Two New Employees:
For those of you who work with us closely, you are probably aware that we have recently been operating with a smaller staff than normal due primarily to recent retirements. Fortunately, that is about to change. We have just added two new employees, Paul Slusser and Ed Mayle, to our division that will provide much needed project management relief for our Engineering Section.
Paul, a Kansas farm boy, moved to Austin in 1981 where he worked for the next nine years on residential, commercial, high rise and industrial concrete construction, specializing in placing and finishing super flat and hardened surface industrial concrete floors. He then moved to the Seattle, Washington, area working for the Washington State Department of Transportation in Contract Management, the City of Sea/Tac, Washington, in Contract Administration, and finally for the City of Covington, Washington, as a Construction Inspector/Manager on development projects and CIPs. As you can easily see, Paul is well experienced in project management and is a welcome addition to our Aviation Division team.
Our other “new” employee, Ed Mayle, is not really new to us at all. Ed has over 37 years of construction related experience, beginning with the Texas Highway Department from 1972 until 1981 at which time he joined a heavy highway construction firm as project manager/estimator. In June 1991, Ed began work with the Texas Department of Aviation which soon became a division within the Texas Department of, Transportation. Ed retired from the Aviation Division in August of 2006 and worked in the private sector until May of this year at which time he returned (home) to the Aviation Division. Ed has two daughters and a son, plus two granddaughters, all living in the Austin area. He enjoys spending time with his family along with outdoor activities including, swimming, water skiing and motor cycling.
I am absolutely delighted that Ed chose to come back and work with us in the Aviation Division. He is well liked and highly respected by airport sponsors throughout Texas.
Dave’s Top Ten Requirements for Having a Successful Airport
During our recent Texas Aviation Conference, I mentioned what I felt are the top ten requirements for a successful airport since then, I have had some requests for a copy of the list. So here it is. The requirements are listed in order of importance.
- Good Community and Local Government Support
- A Good, Capable On-Site Airport Manager
- An Airport Infrastructure Capable of Meeting User Needs.
- All Weather Capability
- A Public Facility Adequate to Meet Local and Transient Needs.
- On-Site Weather Information
- 24 Hour Fuel Services.
- Availability of Ground Transportation
- Secure Aircraft Storage Capability for Based and Transient Aircraft.
- Maintenance, Charter, Flight Instruction and Other Services.
