Nov. 18--Barely settled into the job he was hired for three months ago, to run the municipal airport, Sean Parker already jumped into a new position as deputy manager.

Attending a Lincoln County Commission meeting Tuesday, Parker, a Ruidoso native, mentioned his new title as he introduced himself to commissioners. On Thursday, Village Manager Debi Lee also announced his promotion and the hiring of a new airport manager to members of the Military 365 Committee.

Thirty-eight applications were received for the position of deputy manager, but none were recommended, Lee told village councilors about a month ago. She said at that point, the focus shifted to people already on staff and they were invited to apply. Parker was selected.

Dave Pearce was hired to replace Parker as manager of the Sierra Blanca Regional Airport. In September, Pearce was listed as chairman of the Alamogordo-White Sands Regional Airport Advisory Board.

When he joined the board as a new member, Pearce stated that he was semi-retired, an instrument-rated pilot, flew with the Aero Club and that he previously managed three different general aviation airports in Texas, according to minutes from that meeting in April 2010. In the April 2006 minutes of a meeting of the Kerrville/Kerr County Joint Airport Board in Texas, Pearce was listed as the airport manager.

Pearce already was on the job Thursday and elaborated on his credentials, saying he was at Kerrville from 2004 to 2007, and before that at the Addison,

Texas, airport from 2002 to 2004.

He was with the McKinney Municipal Airport now called Collins County Regional Airport from 1997 until he left for Addison.

"I'm on the job and retired military," he said from his office at the airport. "I'm living in Alamogordo and looking at that (a move to Lincoln County). (Sierra Blanca) is a great airport and there's a lot of wonderful things to do in development and future growth. I came up here frequently to visit and have flown in and out of the airport. I've seen it from both directions and felt this would be an ideal fit. Honestly, I guess you could say I flunked retirement 101."

Copyright 2011 - Ruidoso News, N.M.