After 44 years in State Aviation, 27 of those years as TxDOT’s Aviation Division Director, Dave Fulton is stepping down. Although retiring from State service, he plans to continue to work on behalf of general aviation in Texas. Fulton told the State Aviation Journal that he will be serving as an unpaid lobbyist in Texas working to garner increased funding for the state’s general aviation airports. “The level of funding for our airports hasn’t changed in years,” said Fulton, who as a state employee was restricted on how much influence he could wield. “As a Texas citizen, I’ll be free to do what I want.”
Fulton came to TxDOT in June 1992 after serving with the Tennessee Department of Transportation Office of Aeronautics for 16 years, including a decade as director of that state aviation agency. “I have decided that it is time to move on at the end of the month,” said Fulton. His last day will be June 30th. In a memo, Fulton wrote that working with the great staff of the [Texas] Aviation Division and those in the industry has made his job a fantastic one for a long time. “Together, we have made the Texas General Aviation Airport System the best in the nation.”
Fulton was thankful for all the great support everyone has given him and the staff over the past 27 years and encouraged them all to “please continue to work with and support TxDOT’s Aviation Division, keeping Texas airports the very best.”
“I’ve known Dave since he became the Texas director in 1992,” said Kim Stevens, Publisher of the State Aviation Journal. “He has had a tremendous impact on aviation in the states, not only in Tennessee and Texas, where he served, but on a national level as well, having provided a consistent and much needed voice while on the board of directors for the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO).”
Fulton served as President of NASAO in 1986. He and his wife Charlotte plan to continue to live in the Austin area. A celebration of his retirement will be held at Fiesta Gardens in Austin on June 27th.
