Inside the Fence

April 15, 2009

On death, respect ... and comments on the circus going on in Washington, from one who knows ...

Back in the day, when I was the communications manager at NATA, I had the opportunity to work with Andy Cebula, then a manager of legislative affairs for the association but today the VP of things governmental at AOPA. Through the ensuing years, we both had the opportunity to work with Hal Wight, A.A.E., who was the airport manager at various general aviation airports and was very helpful with NATA’s Airports Committee.

Hal Wight died in January. He most recently was the director at the airport at Klamath Falls, OR, from which he retired. He had this matter of fact, let’s get it done approach — and to heck with the obstacles.

Cebula on Wight: “On Hal I would say that he really understood the need for airport executives and the businesses at airports to have a partnership as the best way to ensure success. He not only spoke about it, he exemplified it. His contribution to improving relationships between the operators and the businesses brought relationships into a positive, win/win mindset, and set the stage for changes that occurred across the industry.”

Not only that, he was a good man, and one always willing to help.

As was Frederick J. ‘Fred’ Krum, director at the Akron-Canton (OH) Airport (CAK) since 1981, who turned a sleeper airport into one of the most vibrant in the industry — just miles from a major international facility. He too recently passed away.

At a reception during the Aviation Industry Expo in Las Vegas in March, I ran into Michael Grossmann of Castle Aviation, a long-time tenant of Krum’s at Akron-Canton. It was Grossmann who lured me to CAK, at which time I met and interviewed Fred Krum. I subsequently interviewed him when he was awarded NATA’s Airport Executive Partnership Award, given to those who foster solid airport/tenant relations.

I remember both interviews like they were yesterday. Here’s this unassuming man — a lifelong public employee — talking about aggressive marketing, promoting tenants, and taking a ‘don’t say no’ approach to air service development. His personna masked his drive.

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Shifting gears ... during a recent interview with NATA president Jim Coyne, I asked him to characterize the political mood of Washington these days. After all, Coyne is politically driven, having been a U.S. Congressman and White House appointee, among other notable assignments.

His response: “It’s almost mob rule in Washington right now. I’m surprised they’re not handing out pitchforks and torches. The political environment is toxic. The fiscal crisis is unprecedented.
“The environment for user fees is worse now than it’s been in a long time. We’ll be in a much, much more difficult position on that this summer. I think this is going to be the most chaotic year you’ve ever seen.”

Thanks for reading.