by Jeremy Smith,
Texas Transportation Institute
If you would have asked people in Jefferson, Texas, about Cypress River Airport a little over 10 years ago you may have gotten a lot of blank stares. Unfortunately, at that time this general aviation airport had essentially been abandoned and was on the verge of being completely forgotten. No planes were flying out or in and the grass growing on the runway stated that things had been that way for a while.
Now, it’s been said that “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” and for Cypress River Airport the saying certainly holds true. Jefferson native Ray Keasler, a retired airline pilot, experienced his first plane ride at Cypress River back when he was ten-years old and has literally been flying ever since. According to his mother, he’s been flying ever since he saw his first airplane. Fortunately, Keasler’s history with Cypress River and lifelong passion of planes and flying lured him into becoming the airport’s manager just about nine years ago.
“When Mary and I first began managing the airport it was really little more than a hayfield,” explains Keasler. “Between the run-down mobile home that served as the terminal building and the grass growing on the runway, the airport was practically unusable.”
From his experiences as a pilot with the Air Force, Texas Air National Guard and Braniff International Airways, Keasler knew what pilots needed and wanted out of airports. He had also been involved with the development of Northwest Regional Airport in Roanoke, Texas, as it went from an airport with a 1,800-foot runway to a runway of 3,500 feet, so revitalizing the dying Cypress River Airport was right up his alley.
Knowing that he would need more than just himself and Mary to turn the airport around, he reached out to Doug Reiter, TxDOT RAMP coordinator and engineering specialist for the Atlanta District. As the local RAMP coordinator, Doug explained all that the routine airport maintenance program (RAMP) could do to help Keasler improve the airport.
“When I first met Ray, I was pulling up to the airport and I saw Ray and Mary both out in the field installing a wind sock,” states Reiter. “Needless to say, it didn’t take long to see the passion and drive Ray had to improve the airport.”
With assistance from Doug and the RAMP program, Keasler has been able to overlay the runway and taxiway, obtain a historical airway beacon tower and most recently constructed a brand new terminal building. Equally as impressive is that all of this has been accomplished with minimal costs to the county (Marion County).
The RAMP program is a $50,000 maximum per airport per fiscal year grant program that requires the local government to match 50 percent of actual costs. Known as a dollar stretcher, Keasler worked to find donations and great deals on all that he could and also worked by hand to build the terminal building.
And by hand means he literally built a large portion of the terminal building with his own two hands. It took 15 months from concept to completion because throughout the process Keasler was gathering donations, such as a dishwasher, cabinets and even countertops, and recruiting help from the Marion County Airport Volunteers (MCAV) for things like plumbing and hanging sheetrock.
“The cabinets that were donated from the mayor of Jefferson had actually been cabinets that were pulled out of another job,” explains Keasler. “Instead of perfectly good, new cabinets going to waste, they were donated to us. In order to make them work, I took them apart and put them back together to fit our layout.”
That creative and “can do” attitude is how Keasler was able to provide the county’s portion of the funds for the building without the county having to spend any extra money. When all said and done, the RAMP program, Keasler’s hard work and the hard work and generosity of others (that Keasler recruited), landed Cypress River Airport a $75,000 terminal building for a total expenditure, including the RAMP program, of only $38,000.
Equipped with an improved runway and taxi area, airway beacon and brand-new terminal building, the airport is now having about four planes per day fly in.
“Five to six years ago no planes were flying in, but we knew what it would take to change that and with the RAMP program were able to make the necessary improvements,” explains Keasler. ‘We would not have been able to do this without the RAMP program though. It is a fantastic program that is a tremendous benefit for this and other general aviation airports in Texas.”
Despite the improvements that have already been made, Keasler is far from done with the airport. He plans to have fuel at the airport by the end of 2010 and has longer term goals of lengthening the runway from 3,200 feet to 3,650 feet, adding hangars and even building an aviation museum at the airport.
“Ultimately, I hope that this airport can be a multi-million-dollar asset for the county,” states Keasler. “We obviously aren’t there yet, but I’m not done yet either.”
In the meantime, the airport is helping to boost the local economy as more and more people fly in to visit the historical town and stay at some of the local bed and breakfast locations. A few of the bed and breakfast locations have even added the airport’s information onto their Web sites.
As a final note, Reiter says, “I wouldn’t doubt any of Ray’s plans for this airport; what he, Mary and the MCAV have done so far is truly amazing – they rescued this airport.”
