Three more tenants rent space at SLN, Airport Industrial Center |
Tim Unruh
September 2021
One return tenant and three newcomers have been welcomed to the Salina Airport and Airport Industrial Center.
A familiar face and firm are Matt Schroeder, environmental engineer with Dragun Corporation, of Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Dragun Corporation has leased a portion of Building 412, 2804 Arnold Ave., and will use the space as a field office during the clean-up of former Schilling AFB environmental contaminations. The company signed a multi-year lease.
Dragun was hired by Salina Public Entities — the City of Salina, Salina Airport Authority, Salina School District and Kansas State University. Dragun and its subcontractors are responsible for the design, building and completion of multiple phases of work and tasks needed to complete the clean-up.
Dragun’s lead environmental engineer, Matt Schroder stated that, “We’re beginning to implement the remediation relating to the environmental problems (at the former base),” Schroeder added. “Hopefully, in the fourth quarter of this year, we will start our first remediation task.”
Much of the cleanup of the sources of the contamination will be done in the first five years, Schroeder said, but the overall project, involving removal of the contaminants from the groundwater, will require roughly 20 years.
The project is funded from a $68 million settlement from the federal government.
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One Office Solution relocates to Airport Industrial Center
When Stacey Blenderman was transferred from Sioux City, Iowa, to Salina as operations manager of 1 Vision Aviation, her husband, Aaron, saw it as a perfect opportunity to expand their business.
The couple’s company with a similar name — One Office Solution — opened up an office furniture and supply store in May of 2020, at 110 S. Santa Fe in Salina.
“We fell in love with the area, with good Midwestern people,” Aaron Blenderman said.
While it was challenging to open a new store in the throes of a global pandemic, it didn’t take long for One Office Solution to become crowded in the downtown digs.
“We quickly outgrew that location and started looking around,” he said. “We needed a warehouse to unload product.”
One call to Shelli Swanson, director of administration and finance at the Salina Airport Authority, filled the void.
“She mentioned, ‘We have this spot,’ and we made the move on Aug. 1 (to Building 520),” Aaron Blenderman said. “It’s a little off the beaten path, but we absolutely love it.”
One Office Solution sports a full showroom and now has plenty of space for all company needs, including office design services.
“We’ve got a full installation crew that is our own,” he said. “My main focus is office furniture, but we’ve had several requests from customers to have office supplies and equipment.”
He has access to a full line of supplies and furniture from such manufacturers as AIS, Hon, and SIT-ON-IT.
“We serve customers who need anything from one item to several, and small companies to Fortune 500s,” Aaron Blenderman said. Wichita State University is among his current clients.
Aaron grew up in the office furniture business, working for and with his father and family in a company named Standard Office in Sioux City. It later merged with One Office Solution, with locations also in Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska and Minnesota.
The Blenderman’s are part of a new neighborhood in the Salina Airport Industrial Center. Their son, Cain Blenderman, is an airframe and power plant mechanic, also working for 1 Vision Aviation, but in Sioux City. Aaron and 1 Vision president and CEO Jim Sponder, have been friends since they were eight years old. Now they both live in Salina.
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Engineering firm leases hangar space
RMA Engineering, based in Concordia, has leased hangar space at Salina Regional Airport.
The company works for electric cooperatives all over the country. The company engineers, many of them pilots, fly to their destinations. RMA’s King Air will be housed at Hangar 506-2, and one or two employees will be based out of Salina, said J.P. Metzler, of Concordia, RMA’s owner and manager.
The firm’s Headquarters are at Blosser Municipal Airport in Concordia, and a third office is in Decatur, Texas.
“We do civil, environmental, electrical and network engineering,” he said.
RMA provides fiber optic and broadband deployment to electric co-ops and some municipalities, and is working to bring broadband to more rural areas.
The firm’s roster of 20 employees includes several journeymen linemen, engineers, and Geographic Information Systems technicians who conduct routine maintenance. Other personnel are located in Atlanta, Kansas City, Arkansas, and Texas.
RMS offers GIS database management, electrical staking — marking new locations for electric lines and poles — as well as an emergency response crew for ice storms and the aftermath of hurricanes.
As demand grows for RMA services, Metzler said, more workers will be added.
“We’re experiencing some pretty big growth in the fiber area,” he said, “with network engineering and broadband deployment.”
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Did You Know?
- The Blendermans’ son Jackson is attending Salina Area Technical College, studying diesel mechanics. Jackson’s girlfriend, Madisen Kratz, also moved from Sioux City and is attending Kansas Wesleyan University. She is majoring in secondary education.
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Air tour makes stop at Salina |
Fly KS Air Tour stops at Salina Regional Airport (Photo by Salina Airport Authority) |
Tim Unruh
September 2021
An armada of small aircraft joined in the Fly Kansas Air Tour of nine airports Sept. 23 through 25, with overnight stops at Lawrence Municipal and Salina Regional Airport.
Jointly sponsored by the Kansas Commission on Aerospace Education and the Kansas Department of Transportation Division of Aviation, the air tour aims to raise interest in aviation and celebrate Kansas as the “air capital of the world,” said Logan Falletti-Wright, program development manager for KDOT Aviation.
The first tour was in 1928, and was revived in 2008. It focuses on general aviation pilots who promote the industry to students and community members. A least 42 pilots and co-pilots registered this year, she said.
“We wouldn’t have pilots without general aviation,” Falletti-Wright said.
This year’s tour started Sept. 23 at Wellington Municipal Airport, then Fort Scott Municipal Airport, Allen County Airport in Iola and Lawrence Municipal.
First stop on Sept. 24 was Clay Center Municipal, followed by Phillipsburg Municipal and Salina Regional Airport.
Participants were given a tour at the Kansas State University Salina Aeronautical Technology Campus before dinner catered by Ya Ya’s Eurobistro at Homewood Suites by Hilton courtyard in downtown Salina.
On the morning of Sept. 25, following a pilot briefing in Hangar 600 at the airport, the tour left Salina.
The air excursion wrapped up with stops at Concordia Regional Airport and concluded at Beech Factory Airport in Wichita, with a tour of Textron Aviation.
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SAA promotes two in ARFF, Maintenance |
Tim Unruh
September 2021
A relative newcomer and a veteran have been promoted at the Salina Airport Authority.
Kyle Moyer was elevated to maintenance operations supervisor from maintenance operations Aircraft Rescue Firefighting technician.
“We take care of the airport, all the buildings and grounds,” said Moyer, who has worked for the airport authority since November 2012.
He farms on the side in southeastern Saline County, and is helping raise three young boys with wife, Erica.
“They’re a handful,” said Kyle, 32. “I like working at the airport, and enjoy it, and it’s got good insurance.”
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Andrew Hodge, 21, has taken on added tasks as Aircraft Rescue Firefighting (ARFF) operations officer. Hired in October 2020, he had been working as an ARFF operations specialist.
Andrew’s new job entails focusing more closely on operations.
“I will be making sure the Airport Certification Manual is followed, making sure it’s up to date, and relaying information from ARFF to our superiors; keeping a calendar of events.”
He’s also involved in making sure military units “have what they need” when they make stops at the airport.
Born in Cincinnati, Andrew move to Salina in 2008.
David Sorell, SAA Manager of Operations stated “While looking to add new positions at the airport we felt that we already had the talented people already on staff to fill those positions. With the promotions of Kyle and Andrew we will improve our operations and Maintenance capabilities.”
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State gains first aerospace and technology campus with rebranding of Salina campus |
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Kansas State University's Polytechnic Campus will be rebranded to Kansas State University Salina Aerospace and Technology Campus to align with its mission of supporting the aerospace and advanced manufacturing industries. |
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August 26, 2021
"This change establishes the first aerospace and technology campus in Kansas and shows our Salina campus is ready to take on the accelerating needs of the aerospace and advanced manufacturing industries," said Richard Myers, K-State president. "The Aerospace and Technology Campus will be a national leader in advanced aviation and aerospace training, education and engineering through research, innovation and instruction."
Since joining the Kansas State University system in 1991,the campus has housed the university's aviation and engineering technology programs. These are niche programs, separate from any programs offered on the other K-State campuses. The historical lineage of the campus — a two-year technical institution that merged with a public university — uniquely positions it to serve all career-entry points into the aerospace and advanced manufacturing industries.
The Aerospace and Technology Campus will retain the College of Technology and Aviation, which includes three academic departments: aviation, integrated studies and unmanned aircraft systems. The campus offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs, as well as credit and non-credit technical and graduate-level certificates. It is also home to in-demand programs that assist employers with upskilling their current workforces.
Alysia Starkey, CEO and dean of the campus, says the new name better represents what the campus offers for prospective students, donors and community and industry partners, and is a better representation of the education received by alumni.
"We are very excited to influence the future of aerospace and technology," Starkey said. "We already offer world-renowned programs in the operational segment of aviation and look forward to expanding our offerings. Equally exciting is that the program expansions required to achieve this vision support the same business, engineering and technology workforce needs of the recent expansions in the advanced manufacturing sector in central Kansas."
"Since the closure of Schilling Air Force Base in 1967, the mission of the Kansas State University campus in Salina has been to maintain excellence in aviation and engineering," said state Sen. J.R. Claeys, Salina. "This rebranding enhances the campus's ability to support the growth of the Kansas economy. Some of the top employers in Kansas require highly skilled, educated professionals in the technologies that will drive innovation in aerospace and advanced manufacturing. The median annual wage for these industry sectors is $104,312, benefiting economic development in Salina and across the state."
Aligning the campus brand and name has been a goal since 2017 when the campus, with help from community partners in Salina, launched its Global Aeronautics Initiative with the vision to establish an aerospace and technology campus.
Starkey said that the campus's focus on a hands-on and real-world approach to preparing students to be career-ready will remain the same.
"Our commitment to student success, personalized education and world-ready learning experiences is embedded in our institutional DNA," Starkey said. "Our students, alumni and industry partners have come to expect the quality experiences that the polytechnic teaching philosophy provides. This approach is at the heart of everything we do."
For more information, visit the Aerospace and Technology Campus website, salina.k-state.edu.
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Feature Facility
Hangar 509
2734 Arnold Court
The Salina Airport Authority has available for lease, a 45,532 sq. ft. hangar located at the Salina Regional Airport. This is a great location on the field as well as easy access to I-135 & I-70.
Commonly known as Hangar 509, this well maintained facility features 27,672 sq. ft. of hangar bay and 17,859 sq. ft. of office and/or shop space. Hangar 509 is a perfect location for any business or regional jet, MRO or aircraft storage facility and is equipped with a fire suppression system.
Call Shelli Swanson at the Salina Airport Authority today at 785-827-3914 to schedule a tour, or email shellis@salair.org.
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On the Flightline at America's Fuel Stop |
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Operations at Salina Regional Airport - September 2021 |
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Salina Airport Authority | www.salinaairport.com
3237 Arnold Avenue
Salina, Kansas 67401
785-827-3914
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Copyright ©2021 | Salina Airport Authority | All rights reserved
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