First Airport Academy class gets in-depth look at McGhee Tyson

June 19--Sitting in an airliner at 30,000 feet, most travelers are probably unaware of all the work that had to happen back on the ground at McGhee Tyson Airport to get them there.

There are tasks nobody would think about, like replacing the windscreens on a jet. Each one of the dozens of screws that hold one panel in place have to be inspected, replaced if worn, and put back in the same slot.

There have to be police and fire fighters available at all times for any emergency. People have to monitor radar and staff the tower. Security workers must screen passengers. There are about 6,800 light fixtures on the runways to keep up with and if some repair work needs to done on a runway, the airport keeps a special 48-inch band saw handy because the pavement is about 16 inches thick.

About 30 people spent four Thursday evenings in May getting an in-depth look at what it takes to make McGhee Tyson Airport function, as the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority held the first class in its Aviation Academy.

The group, made up of business leaders, public officials, educators, journalists and others, got tours of the airport and other facilities such as McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base, the TAC Air general aviation facility, the airport's Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting facility and ExpressJet's Regional Jet Maintenance Facilty. They heard talks from representatives of the Airport Authority, National Safe Skies Alliance, Transportation Security Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, 134th Air Refueling Wing, 1/230th Air Cavalry Squadron and Express Jet.

This was the first such class the Airport Authority has held, said spokeswoman Becky Huckaby. It is part of the 75th anniversary celebration of McGhee Tyson Airport, but the plan is to offer the academy each year, she said. About 100 people applied for the first class, but the Airport Authority limited the size to 30 to keep it manageable.

Bill Marrison, president of the Airport Authority, said he believes McGhee Tyson is the first airport in the country to offer such a program. The purpose is to acquaint the public with the airport, give them a sense of the role it plays in the community and a feel for all the behind-the-scenes work that has to take place to ensure safe and reliable air travel.

"The airport is like a small, self-contained little city," Trevis Gardner, vice president of operations for the Airport Authority, told the class at its first meeting. The Airport Authority, which operates McGhee Tyson and Downtown Island airports, has a staff of about 170, but when all the airlines and other agencies are included, about 3,800 people "call the airport home," Gardner said.

"We don't directly employ these people, but we create the environment where they work," he said.

One of the lesser-known tenants at McGhee Tyson Airport is the National Safe Skies Alliance. Scott Broyles, its president and CEO, described it as something like the "Consumer Reports" organization for the aviation security industry. Its job is to test security technology, see what works and what doesn't and make recommendations to the industry. It has 18 employees at four facilities, three of them at McGhee Tyson and one in Washington, D.C.

Broyles wouldn't go into detail on the organization's work, but gave the class an overview of terrorist attempts on airliners. The problem started much earlier than class members realized, with the first casualty a Boeing 247 propliner.

"United Flight 23, from Cleveland to Chicago, exploded in midair in 1933. The explosive used was nitroglycerin," he said.

No one was charged, but investigators believed the motive was so someone could collect on a life insurance policy, Broyles said.

The Aviation Academy included a tour of the adjoining McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base, home to the 134th Air Refueling Wing, which operates KC-135 aerial tankers and the 1/230th Armored Cavalry Squadron, an Army National Guard unit that operates Kiowa Warrior attack helicopters. Besides playing a key role in the nation's defense, McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base makes a substantial economic contribution to the area with its 3,604 civilian and military personnel.

In 2011, the air base contributed $2.8 million a week, $12.3 million a month and $147.1 million annually to the local economy, according to its budget analyst, Staff Sgt. Scott Brock.

McGhee Tyson is the home of a major aircraft maintenance facility operated by the ExpressJet regional airline. Its staff of 211 can do scheduled maintenance on seven jets at a time. The facility is able to handle tasks from routine maintenance to major tasks such as the complete disassembly, inspection and testing of all major components of an aircraft.

During a tour of the facility, Aviation Academy members looked over a jet undergoing heavy maintenance. Access panels had been removed all along the aircraft and much of the maze of wiring and plumbing underneath was labeled with tags. Screws and fasteners hung close by in little cloth bags so maintenance workers could put them back where they belonged.

Windshield panels were replaced, and the dozens of screws that held each panel were removed and placed in a template that matched the shape of the windshield panel so the screws could be inspected and put back in the same place. Any screw that showed signs of wear must be replaced.

Besides an education in the nuts and bolts of an aircraft, the class also learned some nuts and bolts of airport economics. The four main sources of revenue for the airport include FAA airport improvement grant funds, a 4.5 percent fee on the sale of aviation fuel, concessions fees on parking and rental cars and airline user fees and landing fees, Marrison said. Oddly, the airline user and landing fees are the smallest revenue source. The airport makes much more from parking and rental car concessions, he said.

McGhee Tyson and Downtown Island airports add about $616 million a year to the local economy, according to a University of Tennessee study commissioned by the Airport Authority. The airports provide about 4,630 jobs and in 2010, brought in 1,691,000 total passengers, of which 366,000 were nonresidents. These visitors spent an estimated $151 million in the area, according to the study.

McGhee Tyson Airport has 175 acres and about 7.8 million square feet of airfield pavement. It serves six airlines that fly a total of about 140 flights per day, serving 19 nonstop destinations. For the airport, the airlines are like the tenant stores in a shopping center, with Delta Air Lines the largest tenant at McGhee Tyson, Gardner said.

"Our Dillards is Delta Airline," he said.

Copyright 2012 - The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.