OSU AIRPORT N EWSLETTER

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1 2160 West Case Rd. Columbus, OH Phone: Fax: Volume 12, Issue 12 December 2012 Inside This Issue: Cover Story 1 Notes From Around The Airport 2 Airport Outreach 3 Senator John Glenn Teaches 4 Tower Talk 5 Advertisers 6-8 OSU AIRPORT N EWSLETTER Airport Economic Impact Study Updated The Ohio State University Airport recently updated its Economic Impact Study, originally completed in The updated study highlights the significant economic contributions that Central Ohio realizes from The Ohio State University Airport. The analysis presented in this study considers the economic impacts associated with on-airport tenants, capital construction projects, and visitors who arrive via privately-owned general aviation aircraft. Airport Staff Airport Administration Doug Hammon, Director Mike Eppley, General Mgr (Business Office) Airport Facilities Dale Gelter, Mgr Customer Service Sue Riggs, Mgr Line Service Greg Jones, Mgr Maintenance / Avionics / Parts Roger Tucker, Mgr (Avionics) (Parts) Flight Education Candi Roby, CFI Owned and operated by The Ohio State University College of Engineering, The Ohio State University Airport is a vital transportation link, connecting Central Ohio businesses to the global economy and visitors from across the country to the diverse attractions and activities found in our region, whether it be attending an Ohio State University sporting event, shopping in the Short North, or exploring the Columbus Zoo. The airport also serves as a world-class teaching and research laboratory for students of the University s Center for Aviation Studies and other departments. As of July 2012, the airport was the fourth busiest airport in Ohio and one of the top 100 busiest general aviation airports in the United States. The airport was recently categorized as a National facility in the Federal Aviation Administration s study General Aviation Airports: A National Asset, which highlights the pivotal role of the nation s nearly 3,000 general aviation airports. Major tenants at The Ohio State University Airport include the University, which serves as the airport s fixed base operator in addition to its teaching and airport management role; Med- Flight, a non-profit air and ground critical care transportation company that completes nearly 7,000 transports by helicopter and Mobile Intensive Care Unit each year; the Ohio State Highway Patrol s Aviation Section, which enforces traffic safety laws and assists motorists on the state s highways; the Ohio Department of Transportation s Office of Aviation, which conducts various functions for aviation customers throughout Ohio; and several local corporations Please support our partners. ~ Continued on page 6 ~

2 NOTES FROM AROUND THE AIRPORT Please welcome the following new employee to the airport; Brandon Hildreth - Flight Instructor The OSU Airport will be contributing to the Put Your 2 in for LifeLine Pilots promotion on December 20th. Two cents of each gallon of Jet-A or AvGas sold will be donated to LifeLine Pilots. LifeLine Pilots mission is to facilitate free air transportation through volunteer pilots for financially distressed passengers with medical/humanitarian needs. There is no charge to the passenger or referring agency for a LifeLine Pilots flight. All of the flightrelated expenses are covered by the volunteer pilot. LifeLine Pilots was founded in 1981 by Wanda Whitsitt of Champaign, IL. The original network consisted of forty pilots coordinated by a small group of volunteers. The original pilot network focused mainly on emergency cases, such as organ transplants. In 1986, the organization expanded their area of coverage outside of Illinois. LifeLine Pilots also started taking cases based on financial need. Today, there is a volunteer network of over 500 pilots that has flown over 1,000,000 passenger miles serving the Midwest. If you are interested in volunteering as a pilot for LifeLine Pilots, the requirements are: 250 hours PIC; proof of insurance; and access to an aircraft (own, rent, or borrow). Pilots can request a volunteer pilot application by calling LifeLine Pilots at or by visiting their website at: Congratulations to the following students on their recent accomplishments: November 2012 First Solo Timothy Brophy Hyun Kim Sebastian Norgaard Raymond Fontaine Private Craig Meierhoffer John Bauchmoyer Instrument Justin Abrams CFI Alexander Mulac CFII Andy Johnston Multi Brian Rutter The FBO will have shortened hours during the Holidays. Please see the chart below. If you have special requests during these times, please contact Greg Jones ( ) prior to these days. OSU Airport News Page 2 Volume 12 Issue 12

3 AIRPORT OUTREACH Young Astronaut Program Aviation Outreach and Recruitment staff mentored 10 Young Astronauts Program students at the 20th Annual Young Astronaut Day at NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland Ohio on November 3, Pictured here are students who won the second place ribbon for the Parachute Drag Competition. The Young Astronaut Program of Metropolitan Columbus (YAP) offers upper elementary and middle school students the opportunity to compete at the NASA John Glenn Research Center s Young Astronauts Day on November 3, 2012 in Cleveland, Ohio. YAP students began meeting weekly at the OSU Airport in early October to prepare for the competition in November. Each lesson includes a hands-on activity. The topics are teambuilding, wind tunnel aerodynamics, shuttle repair, rocket launch, Mars Rover, and Remote Sensing. Student participating in the program come from Central Community House as well as neighborhoods near OSU Airport. Although the Annual Young Astronaut Day event has been conducted annually for the last 18 years, this is the first year that Aviation Outreach and Recruitment staff has participated as instructors for the students preparing for the competition. The purpose of Young Astronauts Day is to enable students to hone teamwork skills, to learn something new, and to discover that math, science and engineering can be fun for everyone. The event is made possible by volunteers from industry, academia, and government. Financial support is provided by NASA Glenn Research Center, the Northern Ohio Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and businesses. Besides the CAS instructors, other instructors who are pilots and crew members from The Limited and Rickenbacker have been involved with this program. In addition to practicing team-building and critical thinking skills, upcoming activities include NASA Kids Club computer challenges, aviation simulation exercises, field trips to the Challenger Space Learning Center (Dayton), NASA Glenn Research Center s Young Astronauts Day (Cleveland), and the Air Force Museum (Dayton). Scholarships are planned for Space Camp, Huntsville, Alabama. For more information, contact Dr. Cynthia Hardy at (614) , or Cindy Overly at (614) Andrew Trick and Young Astronaut Program students at Fairview Elementary School. OSU Airport News Page 3 Volume 12 Issue 12

4 SENATOR JOHN GLENN TEACHES Senator John Glenn visits OSU Aviation Class The CAS hosted former astronaut, United States senator and Marine Corps pilot John Glenn in Martin Rottler s Aviation 2000 class on November 11. Senator Glenn spoke about how much the aviation industry has matured in the relatively short time since the Wright brothers first flights. I am amazed at how far we have come in a short period of time. After the Wright brothers, it was less than 15 years until aviation was used in the military in World War I, Senator Glenn stated. Senator Glenn went on to discuss that in the early days in the Marine Corps, aviators had to fly at night using light patterns to identify towns. During the day, pilots also identified towns by the name of the town painted on the top of a barn or water tower. As technology developed, a radio beam system became the standard navigation system for the country. Senator Glenn described the operation of the system using sometimes unreliable audio signals of Morse code to navigate to and from airports. Senator Glenn also discussed the importance of the space program. He described the importance of the International Space Station as the most unique lab that has ever been put together and has resulted in important research that impacts business as well as human health. Glenn stated his belief that an understanding of the overall importance the NASA space program to the country and the world will return. He also believes that citizens of the United States will realize that the research is necessary because this country has traditionally recognized the value of having an educated citizenry. When the United States was founded, explained Senator Glenn, we were the first nation to recognize that each individual deserves to have an education, and this lead to the United States quickly growing from its infancy to becoming a world leader. He commended the students in the class for taking an important step in their education by attending Ohio State University. As the class concluded, Senator Glenn took questions from the aviation students and faculty. When asked to compare his first Project Mercury space flight in 1962 with his flight on the Shuttle Discovery in 1998 when he was 77 years old, the Senator replied, The emphasis of the Mercury flight was to find out if we could even do a space flight. On the shuttle flight, we were doing basic research. When asked which flight was the better ride, Senator Glenn replied, The shuttle. John Glenn, who became the first American to orbit the Earth, is pictured in the Friendship 7 spacecraft (left) and in this 1998 official portrait as a crewmember of STS-95 shuttle mission. Photo Credit: NASA. Martin Rottler stated that having the opportunity to hear from Senator Glenn, a true American hero, is both a professional and personal highlight for the students and for me, and is not something we will soon forget. OSU Airport News Page 4 Volume 12 Issue 12

5 TOWER TALK IFR Opposite Direction Arrival Changes Pilots are noticing a huge change as of late that involves the approval of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) opposite direction arrivals. Recently, strict, new changes have altered the rules that air traffic controllers (ATC) use to conduct IFR opposite direction arrivals. Everyone - pilots and ATC alike - can agree that the ATC system must be the safest that it can be. This is the justification for the recent national change for IFR opposite direction approaches. Here is the change. Satellite towers and approach controls everywhere cooperated together in developing new opposite direction procedures using strict guidelines set by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Basically, no aircraft can depart an airport - operating on either IFR or Visual Flight Rules (VFR) once an IFR opposite direction arrival reaches a 10 mile final. Any traffic departing prior to the IFR opposite direction arrival must turn to avoid conflict prior to the opposite direction aircraft reaching the 10 mile final point. Aircraft on a final to the advertised landing runway must be on the ground prior to the IFR opposite direction reaching the 10 mile final point. Therefore, it has become extremely difficult for towers to approve routine IFR opposite direction requests. To further complicate matters, traffic to the parallel runway at OSU also affects this outcome. For IFR opposite direction purposes, there is not sufficient distance between the two parallel runways for conducting simultaneous IFR opposite direction operations. Therefore, both runways are considered as one runway in this case. So when does OSU not ever have aircraft landing or departing? Not often. However, this does not mean OSU Tower must completely stop IFR opposite direction arrivals. There is a short list of exceptions that include: emergencies, medical air ambulance flights or operational necessity situations (IE: low fuel, aircraft equipment limitations, icing or significant weather situations, etc.). Pilots who need an IFR opposite direction arrival who meet these criteria will certainly receive one. Additionally, this does not mean that the tower will never approve a routine IFR opposite direction request. Approval or denial for these is completely based upon this factor: Is there any other traffic coming or going within the next 8 to 10 minutes? Bottom line: if you don t ask, then you don t get. But wait! There is a work-around - especially for training or proficiency approaches. The restrictions only apply to IFR opposite direction. If conditions allow, you may cancel IFR for the opposite direction into OSU. Simply let Columbus Approach Control know that you want to do the opposite direction approach VFR and that you will cancel IFR to get it. While there is never a guarantee for any opposite direction approval when it comes to traffic volume at OSU, the odds of getting one is greatly increased. See you in the pattern. Deral Carson / Air Traffic Manager, OSU Tower OSU Airport News Page 5 Volume 12 Issue 12

6 OUR ADVERTISERS ~ Continued from cover page ~ that base their aircraft at the airport and rely on it to improve their business efficiency. In total, the airport s tenants directly employ 271 persons. Other common activities include air cargo operations, environmental patrol, military exercises, and aerial photography. Annually over 2,000 kids of all ages visit the airport for career exploration, introductory flights, and tours. Visitors also fly or drive to the airport to enjoy breakfast or lunch at the Barnstormers Grill. The Ohio State University Airport improves the quality of life in Central Ohio, even for many individuals who never directly use the airport or the many services it provides. When on-airport tenant, capital construction project, visitor, and multiplier impacts are summed for 2011, The Ohio State University Airport is responsible for 813 jobs, more than $35.3 million in payroll, and nearly $157.8 million in output throughout the region. OSU Students Receive 20% OFF with Valid I.D. OSU Airport News Page 6 Volume 12 Issue 12

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