My Bias Diminishes

True confession time: I have long been biased against airports at which the fuel is sold by a guvmint body, be it city, county, or other. This is based on years of flying general aviation aircraft in and out of (usually) smallish airports coast to coast and border to border. This week, as Paul Harvey might say, I saw the other side of the story. It was the Elizabethton (TN) Municipal Airport. I was there to meet a friend who flies, believe or not, an orange—repeat, orange, and I do mean totally orange—Cessna 210. Elizabethton has a population of not quite 14,000, so I expected to see the typical small airport with several Cessna Skyhawks, a Champ, and a decades-old Piper Aztec with a flat tire. I was amazed. I arrived to see a Pilatus depart, an MU-2 on the ramp, and a Citation in the hangar. This was an alive airport. The fuel was sold by the city, but—surprise, surprise—the front counter and ramp employees were eager and friendly. They looked good in company shirts and treated us as if we were topping off a Gulfstream instead of putting 30-something gallons into an orange 210. As I waited, a line person reminded me that soft drinks were free. The airport manager, Randy Musick, is a friendly sort, proud of his airport and evidently a prime source of the friendly service. He urged me to come back during the next NASCAR race at nearby Bristol, TN, suggesting that I just sit in a chair on the ramp and watch the frenzied activity. He promised the mix of corporate, race crew, banner towing, and pleasure craft would boggle the mind. I am definitely going to take him up on that. I’ll sit in that chair and try to look as if I’m waiting on a Boeing Business Jet. We'd love to post your comments. Please click the comment tab at the top.