In this issue

Employee Spotlight
Loren Carleton

SLN looks beyond Hawker Beechcraft

Honor Flight

The Boys are back in town

Area students awarded Hawgsmoke Scholarship

WAI Plane Wax Weekend a Success

GLA Flight Schedule Update

Need an automatic door rewired or runway lights installed? How about an old Fairbanks platform scale or a circa 1975 "Price Guide to Romance of Knife Collecting" book? Maintenance Lead Loren Carleton is your man.

Carleton certainly fits the profile of the airport's handymen. He's been here for more than 20 years, likes that every day is different and has a love/hate relationship with the many changes over the years. But what you don't see coming is his hobby turned side business.

"I antique and flee market," explained Carleton. "I look for things I think I can make a dollar on."

He said that antiquing is something he and his wife Judy have been doing for more than ten years.

"My wife's folks owned an antique store," he said. "Now I take off work about twice a year to go to the big flee market in northeast Kansas."

The Carleton's buy and sell at flea markets, on eBay, and in antique shops.

"I like the people," he said. "I've made a lot of friends over the years."

At eBay store 24cookie buyers have found everything from oil lanterns to Hofbauer crystal. EBay-ers seem to enjoy his treasures after more than 400 transactions no one has complained yet.

Perhaps this is how Carleton will help finance his retirement in a little more than two years. If he could do anything in retirement, Carleton said he'd travel everywhere and that he'd like to visit all 50 states- with a few exceptions.

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TOWER UPDATES

·  Controller Larry Nelson's retirement was effective on Nov. 5. Except for a short break in service, he has worked at SLN ATCT since 1979. When he first started at SLN the tower was operated by the FAA with FAA controllers and was a "non-radar approach control" facility. We wish Larry good luck in his retirement. As of this writing, his replacement has not been announced.

·  The tower controllers have enjoyed seeing and working the Canadian F-18s and military helicopters last week. Except for a bad weather day, we have recorded 400+ takeoffs and landings each day.

·  Thursday the 19th the FAA experienced problems with their flight plan computer. The problem did not last for a long duration but SLN did have a couple of aircraft trying to depart without flight plans. Luckily, we were able to type the flight plan information in manually and got the flights off with minimal delay. Had the problem persisted and/or if we would have had lots of flights, we would have encountered some delays.

·  Controller Scott Vredevoogd had been selected Central Region Controller of the Year for 2009 by Midwest Air Traffic Control Service, Inc. In addition to a cash award, he will attend the annual Manager's banquet in April at Kansas City. Congratulations Scott.

Thank You,
Bruce M. Boyle
Manager, KSLN FCT

Greetings!

From the XD's desk: 2010 Outlook

Daran Neuschafer, chairman of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, summed up the outlook for 2010 with the statement, "Challenges, yes. Opportunities, absolutely." The Salina Airport Authority will enter the new year with the challenge of leasing more than 595,000 square feet of building and hangar space. The challenge will be to match buildings and hangars to a variety of businesses needing room to grow at the Salina Aviation Service Center. The opportunities to be realized are new jobs and economic progress for Salina and Saline County.

Aviation Service Center buildings and hangars will be marketed to area businesses in addition to national and international prospects. Our marketing plan is based upon an understanding of current economic conditions and how Salina and Saline County is positioned to take advantage of positive changes in the economy. The Salina Airport has unique features that make Salina competitive with other national and international locations for growing aviation and aerospace businesses. We will also have the opportunity to market the Airport and Airport Industrial Center to other industry sectors such as warehousing and logistics.

Most important in our search for businesses to lease available space, is the fact that our community offers a world-class workforce. Salina and Saline County workers are motivated, knowledgeable and capable of successfully meeting the expectations of advanced manufacturing and high-tech employers. It is the quality of our available workforce that convinces me that our 2010 economic development efforts will result in business and job growth opportunities.


Tim Rogers, A.A.E.
Executive Director

·  SLN looks beyond Hawker Beechcraft

The announcement made by the Hawker Beechcraft Corporation Nov. 6, was one of significance for the Salina community.

Hawker Beechcraft Corporation has been a valued tenant of the Salina Airport Authority and a valued member of the Salina and Saline County business community since 1966. The company was one of the first tenants signed up by the Salina Airport Authority following the closure of Schilling Air Force Base. The company has leased space over the years for a variety of aircraft manufacturing operations here at Salina.

"It is an unfortunate sign of the times that Hawker Beechcraft Corporation needs to make a decision to restructure and down-size," said Tim Rogers, A.A.E., executive director of the Salina Airport Authority.

The corporation is currently leasing around 485,000 square feet, made up primarily of about 10 structures. The Hawker Beechcraft Corporation lease runs through February 28, 2012. The Salina Airport Authority will continue to work with Hawker for a smooth transition as they reduce and close down their Salina operations between now and February 2012.

Read on...

·  Honor Flight

A flurry of red, white and blue filled the Salina Airport Authority's M.J. Kennedy Terminal Building parking lot as leather-clad bikers with Old Glory proudly waving behind them escorted a bus filled with more than 30 WWII veterans and their spouses back from Washington, D.C., Nov. 6.

For more information...

·  The Boys are back in town

Once again the sky of Salina may be a little louder than usual as military units from Canada's Air Force and Army return to take advantage of the training and basing opportunities at the Salina Airport Authority and the Smoky Hill Weapons Range, from Nov. 11 through November 25.

The 425th Tactical Fighter Squadron, along with the 3rd Aircraft Maintenance Support Squadron, brought with them six CF-18 Hornets and two CH-146 Griffons.

Read on...

·  Area students awarded Hawgsmoke Scholarship

Salina, Kan., (November 20, 2009) - The Hawgsmoke Scholarship Committee awarded three scholarships to area students, Monday at the Salina Airport Authority's M.J. Kennedy Air Terminal Building.

Baker University nursing student, Jenny Baxa and K- State at Salina professional pilot student, Michael Warren were each awarded $500 and K-State at Salina professional pilot student, Travis Altenhofen was awarded $400 to aid them in their academic careers.

Read on...

·  WAI Plane Wax Weekend a Success

The Wildcats of the Women in Aviation, International K- State at Salina chapter held a "Plane Wax Weekend" fundraiser, November 7 and 8 at the Salina Airport Authority's Hangar 600.

During the weekend fundraiser, the group made more than $1,600 to help them fund their trip to the annual WAI conference in Orlando by washing and waxing eight tenant airplanes.

"It was a lot of fun," said Kristen Lingg, chapter vice president. "Getting to see the different planes and hear the history behind them from the owners was a really great experience. I speak for all of the Women in Aviation when I say that we felt a sense of accomplishment from the hard, honest work we did that weekend to raise money for our trip to the conference and we wouldn't have been able to do it without the help of the Salina Airport Authority."

·  GLA Flight Schedule Update

Starting December 1, 2009