Photo above – SAJ file photo of Barney Helmick at Flagstaff Pulliam Airport in 2011.
Barney Helmick, Director of the Flagstaff Pulliam Airport since 2010 and industry veteran is retiring at the end of the month. He told the SAJ that Friday would be his last day. Â
The facility is a non-hub commercial service and general aviation airport owned and operated by the City of Flagstaff. “What’s unique about Flagstaff Pulliam is that the airport is located at 7,014’ elevation,” said Helmick. “Many are surprised at how much snow we get. This season we have received over 140” at the airport.”
For Helmick, working toward their goals while at the airport has been a good experience, plus the many friends in the industry have made the experiences in his career special. In 2014/15, Helmick was President of the Arizona Airports Association (AzAA), Executive of the Year in 2015/16 and was the recipient of the AzAA President’s Award in 2014.
He first became interested in aviation at a young age. “A friend of my dad took me up in a C182 back in the 60’s,” said Helmick. Since then, he had always thought about being a pilot. “It took many years, but I did get my pilots license.”
Though interested in aviation Helmick never thought about working in the airport industry early on. “I worked for years in residential construction,” said Helmick. “I was getting tired of the ups and downs in that industry, so when an opportunity came up in 1988 to work at the city run FBO at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, I took it.”
Along the way he worked in facilities and operations. His goal was to manage one of the General Aviation airports that Phoenix operated and in 2003 the opportunity to Manage Phoenix Goodyear Airport came his way. In 2010 he applied for the Flagstaff Airport Director position and was selected.
In regard to his retirement Helmick noted that airport officials spend a lot of time away from home. “I am looking forward to spending more time with family and friends.”
