![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Wally-funk-edit.jpg\")
State Director of Aeronautics Grayson Ardies reported on the\nstate of the aviation, aerospace, and airport industries as the agency looks to\nbring a successful 2021 to a close. \nRecent highlights reported on by Director Ardies and staff include the\nagency\u2019s best-ever Oklahoma Women in Aviation and Aerospace Day event that saw\nover 600 people attend to hear famed aviator Wally Funk share her passion for\naviation along with state dignitaries including Governor Kevin Stitt, Secretary\nof Transportation Tim Gatz, Mayor David Holt, and former NASA astronaut, Commander\nJohn Herrington. Other successes that\nwere reported on include the Aero Caucus\u2019 discovery flights event that was held\nin partnership with the Experimental Aircraft Association\u2019s (EAA) local\nchapters and Aeronautics Commission at the Guthrie\/Edmond Regional Airport in\nOctober. Over 25 legislators experienced\ntheir first flight in a general aviation (GA) aircraft. EAA chapter members helped to educate\nlegislators on the basic principles of flight and how important the GA sector\nis the overall aviation and aerospace industry in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Building on the general aviation theme and the importance of\nmaking Oklahomans aware of what aviation and aerospace can mean to their\ncommunities, Director Ardies and aviation and aerospace education coordinator\nPaula Kedy reported to the Commission on the progress of the agency\u2019s aviation\nand aerospace education program. Staff\nwas excited to report on the announcement of the agency receiving one of the\nFAA\u2019s Section 625 Workforce Development Grants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe look forward to implementing this grant program with our\nstatewide consortium of partners to bring more aviation and aerospace\ncurriculum, STEM training, and career awareness to Oklahoma\u2019s youth. Workforce is one of the biggest challenges we\nface in our industry, and we need to do everything we can to ensure our\nstudents are prepared to join a career in aviation and aerospace,\u201d said\nDirector Ardies. Education coordinator\nPaula Kedy also discussed her efforts to reach out to school superintendents,\nencouraging them to sign up for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association\u2019s\n(AOPA) \u201cYou Can Fly\u201d high school curriculum. \nCurrently, 31 Oklahoma high schools are teaching this program and the\nagency hopes to increase that to 50 schools for the 2022-2023 school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OAC Airports Division staff reported on their airport outreach efforts throughout 2021 including many site visits to help airports conduct strategic visioning meetings, airport safety inspections, and pavement evaluations.\u00c2\u00a0 These inspections help municipalities with the technical expertise on how to operate, develop, and maintain an airport. In 2021, agency staff utilized their newly created GIS based Airport Pavement Management System (APMS) to inspect 31 airports. This APMS information helps public officials determine the condition of the pavement and is available to the public through the OAC website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Commission was briefed on projects in the Airport\nConstruction Program that were completed during the 2021 calendar year. Projects totaling nearly $30 million of\nfederal, state, and local funding were highlighted, including several notable\nprojects. The agency\u2019s largest,\nsingle-phase project at a GA airport occurred in Ponca City with the\nreconstruction of its runway for $8.1 million. \nOther notable projects included $4.4 million for phase 1 of the terminal\nbuilding reconstruction at Lawton\/Ft. Sill Regional, reconstruction of the\nrunway at Skiatook for $2.2 million, and phase 1 reconstruction of the parallel\ntaxiway system at Max Westheimer Airport in Norman for $5.7 million. The agency also reported on its progress in a\nfocus area that has been highlighted over the last several years by conducting\nlighting and navigational aid improvements across the airport system including\n2021 projects at Alva, Atoka, Chattanooga, Christman Airfield (Okeene),\nCordell, Lindsay, Mignon-Laird (Cheyenne), Mid-America Industrial Airport\n(Pryor), Robert S Kerr (Poteau), Seminole, and Tahlequah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Commission also approved adding seven hangar development\nprojects to the current 5-year Airport Construction Program as part of the\nagency\u2019s newly created hangar program. \nNew hangars will be constructed ranging from large, multi-thousand\nsquare foot hangars intended to help increase the aerospace business or\ncorporate aircraft presence at our airports all the way down to smaller sized\nT-hangars for single-engine aircraft that will spur additional growth and\nactivity for airports. Communities and\nairports that will participate in this newly formed program include Ardmore Municipal\nAirport, Grove Regional Airport, Okemah Municipal Airport, Pauls Valley\nMunicipal Airport, Stan Stamper Municipal Airport in Hugo, Stroud Municipal\nAirport, and Thomas Municipal Airport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At its December meeting, the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission elected officers for calendar year 2022. At-large Commissioner Jerry Hunter will serve as Chair, District 4 Commissioner Lindy Ritz will serve as Vice-Chair, and District 3 Commissioner Charles Ortega will serve as Secretary. State Director of Aeronautics Grayson Ardies reported on the state of the aviation, aerospace, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oklahoma"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20452,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20450\/revisions\/20452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}