{"id":21804,"date":"2022-04-24T20:15:50","date_gmt":"2022-04-24T20:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=21804"},"modified":"2022-04-24T20:16:52","modified_gmt":"2022-04-24T20:16:52","slug":"massachusetts-dot-officials-impressed-during-three-airport-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/massachusetts\/massachusetts-dot-officials-impressed-during-three-airport-visit\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts DOT Officials Impressed During Three-Airport Visit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photo above – Chris Willenborg, Westfield Airport Manager, begins the three-airport tour by briefing Massachusetts DOT officials.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than a dozen top state DOT officials made a round-robin\nvisit to three Massachusetts airports to get an up-close look at how the\nfacilities are managed and the value they provide to the state’s citizens. The\ntour was coordinated by the MassDOT Aeronautics Division at the invitation of\nthree MAMA-member airports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MassDOT Aeronautics Administrator Dr. Jeffrey DeCarlo said,\n“There is no better way for us to educate and engage the very folks who\nare key to ensuring investments in our airport and aviation system. Based on\nthe enthusiastic response and engagement from senior leaders, I believe they\nwere blown away.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mass DOT officials learn about the mission of the National Guard unit based at Westfield. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The day-long tour began early with a visit to\nWestfield-Barnes Regional Airport (KBAF) and the proceeded to Westover Air\nReserve Base\/Metropolitan Airport (KCEF) and ended in the late afternoon at\nSouthbridge Municipal Airport (3B0).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Westfield, officials were able to witness military,\ngeneral aviation and business aviation activities which included a visit to the\nGulfstream facility as well as a stop at Westfield Tech and Western Mass Wright\nFlight. WMAWF is a non-profit, all volunteer, after school aviation STEM\neducation program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group then proceeded to nearby Westover Airport for\nlunch at the Base Club and a walk through a C-5 Galaxy, the Air Force’s largest\ntransport aircraft and a demonstration of the UMASS Aviation Center’s\n360-degree, hi-fidelity, 3D simulator for airspace design and the training of\nair traffic controllers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day concluded with a visit to the smaller, but very\nbusy, Southbridge Municipal Airport which is undergoing a major renovation\nincluding the replacement of the runway and associated taxiways and support\nfacilities. There, officials witnessed demonstration flights of the Aeronautics\nDivision’s unmanned and autonomous air systems and toured Southbridge’s new\nAdministration Building, one of several secured through state funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the day-long tour, Massachusetts Airport\nManagement Association (MAMA) President Matt Elia said, “These visits\nallowed MAMA member airports to show key MassDOT personnel the value that each\nairport provides to their community thanks in large part to the support of\nMassDOT Aeronautics. High-paying skilled workers are employed at each of the\nCommonwealth’s thirty-five public use airports which is one illustration of how\nstrategic investment from MassDOT results in aviation-related opportunities for\nthe community.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Massachusetts Airport Management Association (MAMA), now\ncelebrating its 50th anniversary, is a member-based organization dedicated to\npromoting and advocating for a healthy Massachusetts aviation industry through\nits thirty-five public use airports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo above – Chris Willenborg, Westfield Airport Manager, begins the three-airport tour by briefing Massachusetts DOT officials. More than a dozen top state DOT officials made a round-robin visit to three Massachusetts airports to get an up-close look at how the facilities are managed and the value they provide to the state’s citizens. The tour […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-massachusetts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chris-Willenborg-edit.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21804","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=21804"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21809,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21804\/revisions\/21809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}