Wingtips Fall 2021

Brownwood Regional Airport	$1,418,780	Rehabilitate taxiway A, cross-taxiways, hangar access taxiways; rehabilitate/reconstruct terminal apron area; mark taxiways and apron; cracking sealing main apron areas; and joint seal replacement concrete apron.
Hamilton Municipal Airport – Statewide Foxtrot	$489,000	Surface treat and mark Runway 18-36 and partial parallel taxiway
Stephens County Airport – Statewide Foxtrot	$1,387,100	Surface treatment and marking Runway 17-34 and Runway 13/31; rehabilitate and mark taxiways and rehabilitate public apron
McGregor Executive Airport– Statewide Foxtrot	$1,310,000	Rehabilitate and mark Runway 17-35 and Runway 4-22; west apron areas and taxiways A, B, C, D, E and rehabilitate hangar access taxiways
Arledge Field/Stamford – Statewide Foxtrot	$440,000	Surface treat and mark Runway 17-35; apron and stub taxiways
Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport – Statewide Echo	$590,000	Surface treat and mark Runway 1-19
Ozona Municipal Airport– Statewide Echo	$904,600	Surface treatment and markings on Runway 16-34 and stub taxiway; and surface treatment on apron and eligible hangar access taxiway
Eldorado Airport – Statewide Echo	$495,000	Surface treatment and mark Runway 17-35; taxiway and apron
Marfa Municipal Airport– Statewide Echo	$425,000	Surface treat and mark Runway 4-22.
Stanton Municipal Airport	$2,170,000	Rehabilitate and mark Runway 16-34; rehabilitate and overlay apron and cross taxiways; rehabilitate hangar access taxiway; install medium intensity runway lights; replace airport beacon and tower; and install lighted wind cone and segmented circle.
Wilbarger County Airport/Vernon	$700,000	Install precision airport path indicators-4 at 02-20; remove visual approach slope indicator at Runway 20; replace medium intensity runway lights at Runway 02-20 and Runway 16-34; replace electrical vault.
Denton Enterprise Airport	$4,746,350	Repair and rehabilitate 800 ft. section of RW 18L and relocation taxiway A2 and remove a portion of taxiway A4 east of parallel taxiway.
Bowie Municipal Airport	$1,259,000	Mill, overlay and mark Runway 17-35; rehabilitate and mark parallel taxiways; taxiways; apron and hangar access taxiways.
Moore County Airport/Dumas	$1,934,390	Rehabilitate and mark runway 1-19, partial taxiway Runway 1-19; and rehabilitate hangar access taxiways.
Jones Field/Bonham	$1,550,690	Extend parallel taxiway to Runway 35 and construct auto parking.
New Braunfels Regional Airport	$1,928,710	Construct detention pond, install storm sewer under taxiway F.
Garner Field/Uvalde	$1,574,510	Expand terminal apron
Devine Municipal Airport	$587,690	Replace Runway 17-35 precision approach path indicators-2 at Runway 17-35; rehabilitate Runway 17-35 medium intensity runway lights and replace rotating beacon and tower.
Angelina County Airport/Lufkin	$1,344,890	Remove existing fence and install new game fence.
Stinson Municipal Airport/San Antonio	$2,195,740	Construct taxiway E.
Dalhart Municipal Airport	$5,511,090	Reconstruct and mark Runway 3-21; rehabilitate concrete apron; rehabilitate and mark Runway 17-35, and taxiways A, B, C, D and E.
Olney Municipal Airport	$497,600	Surface treatment and mark parallel taxiway to Runway 17-35; and cross connector taxiways and public apron areas.
Avenger Field/Sweetwater	$1,452,100	Rehabilitate and mark Runway 17-35 and Runway 4-22 and rehabilitate taxiway A, B, C and D.
Coleman Municipal Airport	$2,415,000	Rehabilitate, overlay and mark Runway 15/33; rehabilitate hangar access taxiway; apron and parallel and cross taxiways.

2020 WINNERS

1. Joey Baker, Sulphur Springs Airport Manager accepts the award for General Aviation Airport Manager of the Year.
2. Johnny Huizar and John Roberts with Pleasanton Municipal Airport accept the Most Improved Airport Award.
3. P. Malcolm Gulley with Karnes County Airport accepts the General Aviation Airport of the Year Award.
4. James Brown, Conroe-North Texas Regional Airport Manager accepts the Reliever Airport Manager of the Year Award.
5. Ramon Sanchez, City Manager for City of Muleshoe accepts the Airport Community Involvement Award for Muleshoe Municipal Airport.
6. Elizabeth Rosenbaum, Director of Aviation at Sugar Land Regional Airport accepts the Career Contribution to General Aviation that was awarded to Phil Savko. (see story on page 10)

2021 WINNERS

1. Missy Pillsbury, Orange County Airport Manager, accepts the award for General Aviation Airport Manager of the Year.
2. Sal Alonzo, Transportation Engineer with El Paso County Public Works, accepts the award for Most Improved Airport.
3. James Mason with Bay City Regional Airport accepts the General Aviation Airport of the Year Award.
4. Joseph Carney with Georgetown Municipal accepts the Reliever Airport Manager of the Year Award.

When Airport Project Manager Ed Mayle left the Air Force in 1973, he knew one thing was certain: he didn’t want to return home to Cleveland in the frigid north. Since his last station was at Bergstrom Air Force Base (now Austin-Bergstrom International Airport), he decided to make Austin his new post-military home.

“Austin was a great place in 1973,” said Mayle. “It was kind of a small college town of around 200,000 people.”

Mayle began his career in 1973 working as a surveyor with the Texas Highway Department and then began construction inspection on bridges and roadways within the Austin district.

In 1981, he was offered a position with a highway construction firm as an estimator and worked in the private sector for 10 years.

In 1991, he went to work for the Texas Department of Aviation, which later became the TxDOT Aviation Division.

“We were a small group back then,” said Mayle. “There were only about 15 or so of us. I worked under (ret.) Bill Fuller and our offices were located on 5th street. Now they’ve turned that building into condos.”

Working with aviation was a perfect fit for Mayle as he flew in the Air Force and always had a passion for aviation.

“I learned to fly (through the Base Aero-Club) when I was in the Air Force and had always been enthralled with aviation,” said Mayle. “There’s nothing like being at an airport at sunrise and sunset. I’ve always had that love for aviation and the people involved are just super. When you reflect on 35 years it seems like it went by in 15 minutes.”

Apart from a brief stint in the consulting world from 2006 to 2010, Mayle has worked in the engineering section since he began in 1991.

“As an airport project manager—there’s a lot of variety—we are not doing the same thing day after day,” said Mayle. We work from the inception of the project to the end. Most of us carry between 18-28 projects each so it can get pretty hectic when that number is closer to 30.”

In his spare time, Mayle enjoys riding his motorcycle cross country and flying when he has the opportunity.

By Landan Kuhlmann
The Fort Bend Star

The new terminal at Sugar Land Regional Airport will bear the name of former director of aviation, Phillip W. Savko, according to the city.

The new Phillip W. Savko Terminal is named after Savko, who served as the city’s aviation director for 21 years until he died in 2019, according to a news release.

His tenure included the airport’s first-ever business plan in 1999 that outlined plans for the airport’s role as a corporate business executive airport supporting the local community’s needs for general aviation.

The plan helped the airport net more than $112 million for improvements via federal and state grants, according to the city, including an air traffic control tower and SLRA’s inclusion in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Contract Tower Program in 2001.

Savko also led the construction of a corporate hangar as well as a new general aviation complex with 99 hangars, the release said, and was responsible for the development of two new taxi lanes for corporate aviation development as part of an “unprecedented” expansion of the facility.

“Phil had a long history of exceptional leadership, vision and service that will benefit our community long into the future,” current aviation director Elizabeth Rosenbaum said. “His passion for aviation and our community was infectious and continues to provide a standard for all of us. Phil’s legacy speaks for itself and goes far beyond what a list of accomplishments can capture.”

By Chris Sasser
Texas A&M Transportation Institute

Though the attendance may have been down a bit from previous years, the spirit and camaraderie felt by the gathered attendees at the 2021 Texas Aviation Conference more than made up for that shortcoming.

The 2020 conference was held virtually during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. With enhanced protections including capped attendance numbers and additional space for attendees, this year’s conference resumed in-person at the Embassy Suites Hotel Conference Center in San Marcos.

“Last year’s virtual conference was good,” said Aviation Division Director, Dan Harmon during his opening session presentation. “It was the result of a lot of hard work by a number of people to ensure that the conference continued despite everything. But I think we can all agree that in-person is better. To say the last year and a half has been challenging is an understatement, but hopefully smooth flying waits for us ahead.”

The conference kicked off with Harmon’s State of the Aviation Division address, which he began by introducing the members of the Texas Aviation Advisory Committee. The Committee advises the agency and public officials on aviation issues affecting the state.

Harmon then spoke about the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES), noting that of the nearly $12 million in CARES funding, the Division executed 138 grants for $5.8 million. That was followed up by two more additional rounds of COVID relief: the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act for $3.3 million, and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 for nearly $13 million.

“The airport funds in each of these bills came with their own set of challenges,” said Harmon. “So we appreciated the patience of the airport sponsors as we worked through the requirements of each one.”

Following that update, Harmon presented new Aviation Division staff. In the Grants and Administrations Section, Contract Specialists Annette Trevino and Daniel Bolden joined the group, and HUB/DBE Coordinator Eli Lopez was also introduced. At Flight Services, Raul Rivera was introduced as the new Director of Flight Services.

Harmon then provided an Aviation Funding 101 overview. In his presentation, he explained how the $88 million, the Division received, was allocated.

The $55 million in federal funding consists of:

• $19 million apportionment funding as a block grant state from FAA,
• $24 million as the non-primary entitlement (NPE) of $150,000 for eligible airports,
• $12 million discretionary funding for specific projects selected by the FAA.

The $20 million in state funding consists of:

• $5 million for the RAMP program,
• $15 million for capital improvement projects.

“For the 182 airports in our system that qualify for federal funding, excluding discretionary projects, we have about $19 million to spread across our 182 airports combined with their individual NPE available for project funding,” said Harmon. “For the 90 or so airports only eligible for state funding, there is about $15 million per year to disperse at our discretion for projects.”

Harmon then discussed improvements to the Division’s processes and tools, which include an update to the Texas Aviation System Plan and updating the software systems to make them more user friendly and resilient.

To round out his address, Harmon spoke about Senate Bill 763, that created an Urban Air Mobility Advisory Committee to examine the state’s laws and infrastructure needed to support the next generation of air mobility.

“The committee will have a broad group of members, including aviation experts, industry groups and operators, local and state officials and law enforcement, and members of the public, with a report due to the public this time next year,” said Harmon. “It starts the conversations that need to be had about how this next generation of both manned and unmanned aircraft will operate in the state.”

Following Harmon’s State of the Aviation Division address, Barry Molar presented on using the ACRP guidebook on FAA grant assurances followed by a Texas legislative session. Molar highlighted work done through the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) that developed a guidebook to better understand FAA grant assurance obligations. The legislative session included comments and discussion from a panel consisting of Rep. John Cyrier (TX-17), Rep. Gary Gates (TX-28), and Joe Magruder from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. After the morning break, Col. Mark Tillman delivered the keynote address: Air Force One: Zero Fail Mission.

Chosen as the nation’s 12th Presidential pilot, Col. Tillman served as pilot and commander of Air Force One from 2001-2009. Col. Tillman was at the controls of Air Force One through numerous national events. Most notably, he protected the President on September 11, 2001, by keeping him out of harm’s way and connecting the flying oval office to the nation’s first responders.

In his inspirational keynote, Tillman outlined the harrowing events of that historic day and how the plan was put into motion to protect the President.

“Colonel Tillman’s speech was amazing,” said TxDOT Aviation Director of Grants and Administration, Kari Campbell. “I had chills listening to him relate the story of how the events of 9/11 unfolded. It was certainly one of the more memorable keynotes, out of many great ones, that we’ve had.”

After the keynote speech, the luncheon featured an awards program for the 2020 airport awards and the 2020 and 2021 aviation art contest award winners. The afternoon breakout sessions offered conference attendees the chance to learn and share information on a variety of topics including aviation education strategies for your airport, and economic development and impact at your airport. The perennial favorites, airport manager’s roundtable, pavement management, and RAMP session were also included in the sessions.

“Every year we work hard to identify those issues and challenges our airports are facing on a daily basis. We also carefully read through the evaluations to determine how we may best serve our conference attendees with timely, relevant topics,” said Texas A&M Transportation Institute Senior Research Scientist and co-conference planner Jeff Borowiec. “We stick to some of our favorites, but also strive to offer new topics based on that feedback.”

The annual banquet was the highlight of the busy day. The 2021 TxDOT Awards Program winners were announced (sidebar for winners), and then retired TxDOT Aviation Director David Fulton received the 2021 Aviator of the Year award, and was inducted into the Texas Transportation Hall of Honor (see accompanying story).

The conference concluded with a morning session on airport compliance where planning and programming director, Jim Halley presided over an informative and entertaining session of Airport Compliance Jeopardy. This was followed by the popular Aviation Division Section Director’s Forum. The FAA/TxDOT Listening Session was not held as usual due to the FAA’s inability to attend the event. However, Aviation Division director, Dan Harmon, did make himself available for any questions before ending the conference.

“I was very pleased with how well the conference went,” said Campbell. “From the speakers to honoring Dave Fulton, it was a special event and was great to see everyone in person again!”