By Brandon V. Webb
Texas Transportation Institute
Drive north this spring or early summer on Hwy. 183 out of Brownwood, Texas, and you might be tempted to double-check your map. Nestled amongst the rolling, easy-going hills and sprawling mesquite trees of Central Texas, the landscape of the Brownwood Regional Airport is uncharacteristically verdant and lush. It’s a far cry from the weathered, chapped outpost its name implies.
Airport Manager Sharlette Bain says the rains that have inundated the area haven’t hurt business all that much.
“Has it affected operations here? Not really,” she says. “Business is even picking up over last year.”
The airport Bain manages is surprisingly beautiful. Stand on any of the rolling hills that surround it and you can see what would happen if you grabbed a mixing bowl and threw in a bit of north, south, east and west Texas along with a healthy dose of hill country.
A modern, sturdy and welcoming terminal adjoins hangar space for 61 single- and twin-piston engine planes. A busy FedEx facility sits not far from two large commercial hangars, three ”T” hangars, a patio type hangar and the terminal building.
Who flies through?
More than 400 flights pass through the airport in an average month, and Bain says with a smile that travelers are typically outfitted in swimsuits or hunting camo.
“Lake Brownwood is a big draw for pilots, and hunting is too,” Bain says. “You’ll notice a lot of game fences as you pass along the ranches around Brownwood. Howard Payne University [a private, Baptist university] is another reason people use the airport.”
Wal-Mart, Staples, 3M and a number of other large corporations use the airport to visit their facilities in the area, as does Kohler, which manufactures china, fiberglass and acrylic plumbing products in Brownwood.
“For our community,” Bain says, “this airport means growth and commerce. Some businesses won’t locate in communities that don’t have airports because they need access to their facilities. We make it accessible for companies to come here.”
And Bain’s view of what the community means to the airport?
“Brownwood supports us,” she says. ”They helped us build this airport. I try to stress to people that it’s their airport and they should come out and see what’s going on. We’re doing what we can to help the community, and the community helps us with their support.”
Formation flying
During a recent visit to the Brownwood Regional Airport, Wingtips visited with some of the 26 pilots who had signed up for a weekend of formation flying. Stu McCurdy, retired U.S. Air Force colonel and leader of the formation flying team, said the group was made up of about one-third experienced formation flying pilots, one-third pilots with intermediate skills and one-third who were new to the skilled flying technique.
McCurdy said he chose Brownwood for this formation flying event because it has a nice, open runway and there isn’t too much air traffic.
“We brief these pilots-who come from all walks of life-for three hours the night before the first flight,” says McCurdy. ‘We’ll fly four missions on Saturday, and on Sunday we will do an ‘all up’ for those qualified.”
McCurdy says the pilots who fly cross-country to participate are looking for new challenges, skills and more flying discipline.
Trish Russell, a 4th and 5th grade teacher and the lone female pilot in the group, said she’d been flying in formation for six years.
“Maybe only six percent of pilots are women,” says Russell, “but a lot of women fly with their husbands. I took 19 years off from flying to raise my kids, but now I’m back at it.”
