Arkansas Air Museum | Tower Talk | Fayetteville Air Service | Air Host | USAir | The Shine Box Welcome to the Drake Field Newsletter. It has been some time since we last issued a newsletter and thanks go out to Mr. Rudy Furr for his patience in my request to reestablish it. I would like to welcome our newest tenant, DHL Worldwide Express. We are pleased to see that they are already wanting to expand their work space and are interested in the hangar next to their office space, which happens to be mine. Well, I only hope the gals and guys of DHL will pitch in to assist in my move to the east side of the "B" hangar, so they may occupy my current hangar space. The most important subject to be addressed, currently, is our July meeting with the FAA's Flight Standards District Office (FSDO). We have found another FAA friend in Pete Dula, who just transferred in from Alaska (to Little Rock) around the first of 1997 to assume the manager's position of the Arkansas FSDO. In that meeting, it was agreed that a 60 day pilot comment period would be established for the review of the LDA-DME 34. You will find an evaluation form in this newsletter and I ask that each and every time you (the pilots) fly this approach, please complete the evaluation form and mail it to Dale's office (Airport Administration). The FAA has stated that if a majority of positive evaluations are received, they will set departures at 400 and 1 mile visibility criteria along with 312 and l mile for the approach to be issued in the November 1997 approach chart publication, as promised by the FAA in June 1996. Please let Dale or myself know if you have any questions about the approach or the evaluation forms. Remember, the lower approach criteria can only be obtained with your participation and the evaluation period ends October 15, 1997. Contact Dale at: Airport Administration Office 4500 S. School, Suite F. Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701. Phone: 501-521-4750. ext. 6. We have several projects I'd like to tell you about, and also invite your observations and suggestions. Our most important goal is to make air travel as convenient, safe and pleasant as possible at Drake Field. We strive to make you proud of our accomplishments! The parking lot expansion has been completed, adding 117 new spaces to accommodate the passenger overflow and permit parking. Work has begun on the sewer lift station for the east side hangar complex. Completion is expected in the early fall. Ditch work on the south end of the runway is scheduled for this fall. It will extend the safety overrun area for Runway 16 an additional 600 ft., remove a waiver, and will establish a standard 1,000 ft. overrun. Bids have gone out for a new fire truck. The new truck will give us the capability to be an Index B airport and will allow the airport to accommodate larger aircraft. The north addition to the terminal was completed last fall, providing longer counters and office areas for each car rental. This was an attractive addition to the terminal and has been received well by the passengers. This helped to remove the congestion in the north hallway and baggage claim area and also added (much needed) restrooms at the north end of the terminal. Landscaping has been added to all the passenger entry doors. For those who like to wait outside, the benches and ever changing colors of the flowers continues to provide a restive atmosphere. The Air Museum and Information Center continues to draw numerous visitors. Their total for 1996 was 19,335, and 1,629 for July. The control tower went from FAA managed to contract personnel and we've heard nothing but praise for their staff of six. General aviation interest continues to grow on the field. One of the most recent changes has been Fayetteville Air Service moving their maintenance facility to the west side of the airport. This move will provide access to their hangar from the highway, as well as the airside of the field. Within the Airport Administration Office we have had several personnel changes. Last year we hired Rudy Furr as our Marketing and Development Coordinator. Mark Mellinger was promoted to Assistant to the Airport Manager and Don Green was hired as the Operations Supervisor. Easter Keith, Eric Larson, and Raul Urena were hired as night custodians to replace the contract cleaners. The rest of our staff includes Leon Kichline, Tom Sargent, Kevin Henson as our maintenance crew, and Louise Powers in the office We've got an enthusiastic group, and we look forward to seeing you at the airport!
The Air Museum has enjoyed hosting the fixed base operators meeting in our meeting room. The meetings have resulted in several decisions beneficial to all. The Air Museum is looking to build its membership. There are projects on the horizon that could use the expertise of many of you. Why not stop by and see how you can support these projects. Its been a busy season with the P-51 Mustang visit. The 51 flew 40 flights in the two days it was here. Joe Kittinger flew the New Standard Bi-Plane almost nonstop for three days and was a great addition to Air Fest '97. Almost 2000 people attended. We are looking forward to next year. Recently, a new, systems-wide procedure was implemented which most of us have already incorporated into our pre-taxi routines: When calling the tower for taxi instructions please give your position on the airport, i.e., "East hanger area," or "Fayetteville Air Service parking ramp," etc. This, of course, doesn't include air taxi or air carriers since their locations are known to us. Airport Mowing Operations: Caution and alertness should be exercised due to almost constant mowing in progress in virtually every grass area of the airport. Animal Sightings: Anyone sighting an animal on the airport proper, especially on or near movement areas, should alert control tower personnel immediately. This includes species from dogs, groundhogs and deer to people and/or flocks of birds. Occasionally, secondary duties preclude the tower guys from seeing all movement at all times on the field. We need your help. Razorback Approach Control has asked that when inbound to land at Drake, all aircraft contact them on: East sector, frequency 128.15 and West sector on 121.0. Sequencing into the traffic pattern by approach control makes them aware of your position at all times and adds just a little more safety to your flight. Radar Flight Following: When you know you will be requesting radar flight following on a VFR, cross country flight, advise the ground controller upon initial contact with your request and give the following: aircraft call sign, type (with equipment), airspeed, intended altitude to be flown and destination. (Include location identifier if possible). Practice Approaches: We welcome student operations, from pre-private beginners to advanced re-qualifications. All types of aircraft. Kudos to airport management and airport maintenance personnel in maintaining the airport in such clean, constant and ready-to-use condition. They can be observed hard at it day and night, weekdays and weekends. They put in long hours in the summer sun in order to achieve this... and we say thanks. Tower Visitors: We welcome and encourage interested observers in the control tower. We strive toward bettering pilot/controller relationships and expanding mutual understanding. Our business is communications. So, what better way to accomplish this, and promote good will, than to share our environment with you, the pilot. We're No longer FAA: Some would say that makes us #2... Maybe, but we also try harder. The prime mandate of our parent company, RVA, as well as that of Fayetteville Airport Management, is for the safe, orderly, expeditious flow of air traffic at Drake Field. Plus, being courteous and friendly is also a high priority. We want to work with you to accomplish this for a better system... and a friendlier one. Recent Evaluation of our Facility by the FAA: In April of this year the FAA evaluated all aspects of our control tower operation. We are very proud of the numerical value we received -- 100%. We found out later that this was the only 100% our parent company, Robinson-Van Vuren and Assoc., had ever gotten. To show their appreciation, the CEO of RVA visited us personally, hosting a Bar B-Q for us and airport personnel. We, at the tower, unanimously and overwhelmingly agree that this could not have been accomplished without the direct help of the pilots who operate here as well as airport management and support personnel. Thank you. You make our job not only easier, but highly enjoyable. We've been busy! This month was my first with FAS. I have learned so much, and have met so many great people. There are a lot of different things going on at Drake Field, and keeping track of who's who has been a challenge. That's my focus this quarter, Who's Who. I've included Fayetteville Air's staff, hours of operation and all of our services. Drake Aviation's news, all of the charter services, instructors and plane rentals that are on the field. I encourage everyone to take this opportunity to say hello to the people they didn't know, and to patronize the local services. Sincerely, Terrie Pelfrey
YOUR LOCAL FBO SERVICES THAT WE OFFER
Gary Cook - Director of Operations Perrin Blout - Line Supervisor Jeffery Gibbs - Assistant Line Supervisor Terrie Pelfrey - Customer Service Line Technicians: Will Richie, James Luck, Brian Presley, Bill Jones Charter services, instructors, & plane rental services are available. If you need telephone numbers for these listing call Terrie at 443-4343.
CHARTER SERVICES
PLANE RENTALS
INSTRUCTORS
DRAKE AVIATION ACADEMY Congratulations to: Lou Gonzaga, Lisa Fowler, Henry "Pudder" Huddson, Terry Rhew, Jack Kingston, Tony Greer, Sam Gurel, Curtis Cumbie, Ralph Hammer and Daniel Sayre on your first solo flights! Air Host would like to introduce our new employees: Paulette Wilhite, Charlene Coker, Sharon Gieb, Sarah Price, Jeny Hendrickson, Pat Wetherly, and Dewayne Rhoden. We would like to remind everyone that we prepare box lunches and catering trays for meetings, picnics, parties, etc. Please call us at 443-4343 if we can be of service to you. USAir has said goodbye to Shawna Bailey this month. Shawna has been employed in the Fayetteville airport since 1991. She first worked for American as a customer service agent and supervisor before coming to work for USAir in September 1994. Shawna has moved to Little Rock to pursue a graduate degree in pharmacy. We will all miss Shawna and have enjoyed knowing her and working with her. We wish her the very best for the future. ATTENTION ALL AIRPORT EMPLOYEES: Just so everybody knows, pilots and all airport employees of this airport receive half off the regular price.
Shoes-$1.50
Shine 'Em Up! P.S. Shining your shoes on a rainy day protects the leather by making them water resistant!
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