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Well, we've gotten out of the first part of the winter with some pretty windy days, but so far, so good - not too much damage and people seem to be flying pretty carefully. We hope your New Year is off to a good start! October - December 2007 Notes from around the airport: • New Radio - first to be used by the likes of us! Bob Brunkow, one of our friends, a tenant, a SJPA board member, and the owner of ICOM Radio, told Pat that he has sent one of his new ICOM ground-to-air radios to us to test and keep. The beauty of this radio is that one can monitor two frequencies at the same time. The airport gang loves this because we can monitor our own frequency, and monitor our old frequency 122.80. This radio will make the airport a little safer. • Longtime friend to the airport Phil White passed away suddenly in October - he'll be missed, both for all he did for making flying fun around here, and for his easy smile.
• Marilee Pribble, of WASHDOT aviation, told Pat that she often flies her parents to Friday Harbor for lunch. She said what all airport operators want to hear: "Your airport is clean, neat and standard.” Hearing the wonderful word of “standard” is a real compliment in the world of airports. • Which museum? You may hear some of the pilots calling the museum at the Franklin Terminal, the Roy Franklin Museum; but the Port’s real name for the museum is the San Juan Air Museum. The museum in the old terminal was dedicated in Roy’s name well before the new terminal museum was started. The San Juan Air Museum will be a museum telling the story of flying in the islands and about some of the aviators who live here. compiled by Ian Byington, Port reporter August-September 2007 Except for more foggy mornings than usual in the mornings, the airport has been busy and the skies have been clear enough (the way they are in early autumn, a great time to fly!) Here's some news from around the airport: • That's Todd Roberts' little red plane he has been using for aerobatics over the past couple of months. • The Airport Master Plan is complete! We have three hundred pounds of airport master plan notebooks to show that the airport master plan is complete. We have yet to put signatures on the great many documents showing we’ve approved the plan but there is no rush. The Federal fiscal year is still a month away and we can’t apply for funds for the next year until later in the fall.
• Seems like there have been more & more jets (right) at the airport this weekend, which is a trend that seems likely to increase. • Steve retires - After 21 years at the helm of the Port of Friday Harbor, port director Steve Simpson (left below, with his wife Nan) announced at the Port Commission meeting at the end of August that he'll be retiring at the end of the year.
Ian Byington, Port reporter July 2007 If you're making your summer plans to fly around the Northwest, this is the month to come to the islands. The weather is usually pretty good, visability is as good as it gets around here, and it's a nice time to visit. Here are some notes of things happening around here: • It gets pretty busy around the airport around the Fourth, and thoughout the month of July. Lots of people fly in this time of year, but we always have room to park one more aircraft. However, if you don’t want to live on the edge, give us a call to double check availability of tie downs. • You've probably seen E. Carroll Contruction's crew around the island - they do paving, and that included Dane Armstrong’s helipad, and next to Greg Simon’s hangar.
• Did you know? (Part II): Airport Operations Manager Pat Mayo (left) has other talents besides running top-notch airports. He also is a great bagpipes player, having played for decades. He's a common site around the island, playing for events & occasions, including Port Director Steve Simpson's 20th anniversary party last month. Pat also played for Steve & Nan's wedding as well.... • In mid-June, it was announced that we have been awarded some much needed money. Friday Harbor Airport is due to get an $807,500 federal grant for land acquisition necessary to provide access to the hangar area. The grant was announced today by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. The grant is part of $8.3 million in federal support approved for critical airport improvement projects across Washington state. Ian Byington, Port reporter
Hope your summer is off to a good start - the days are long enough for flying just about anywhere before it gets dark. Hope you have a chance to take advantage of them! Some notes from around the airport: • The picture to the right is what you think it is - there's an ultralight that has been using the airport lately. • Mowing the airport: Daisy and Buttercup, two weed eatin’ goats, are ready to take on the nasty plants at the airport. Daisy and Buttercup were brought to the island by Candice Yager from the WSU Extension Office. Candice hopes to recruit a few more goats to start nibblin’ on the brush at the south end of the airport near the storage units soon. • Speaking of weeds, Richard Lee of the Weed Board meet with Steve and Pat to tell us that we have Sulfur Cinque Foil (spelling is correct) plants growing on certain areas of the airport! If untreated, this plant can spread worse than Scotch Broom. Richard said the plant takes over all ground cover in its path. Right now there is no widespread outbreak, but the biggest concentration of this plant has been found on our paved maintenance road leading to the Club House. Since the plant is suppose to bloom in 3 or 4 days, Stuart was taken off all other duties to spray this plant with a special chemical. We will add die to mark the plants, because once sprayed, we can’t cut the plant until next year. • San Juan Island Air Force: Stuart Hansen, Bob Jamison, Brian McGlynn, Bob Jones, Chris Bob Jamison and Bob Jones will probably be the first kids on the block to complete their airplanes by next year. May 2007 One of the great things about flying around the island is how beautiful the island is, from the air. For much of the spring we have had good visibiity for seeing this place many of us call home.
See the picture to the right? That's a shot taken by famous wildlife photographer Alison Gill, coming into the harbor, over the marina. If you click here or on the photo, you can see a much larger version. Thanks for sharing, Alison! Meanwhile, have you been by Earnie's Café and checked out the spring menu? Go by for lunch and see what you think. Planning on coming here soon? You can always come - we have plenty of room - but if you want to reserve a tiedown, check the availability before you come. Give us a call and we'll help you out! More next month - stay tuned! Ian Byington. port reporter December 2006 Hi Folks, Pat Mayo is Airport Operations Manager at Friday Harbor Airport. August 2006 Hi Folks,
Lots of good folks fly to the airport this time of year, but we always have room to park one more aircraft. However, if you don’t want to live on the edge, give us a call to double check availability of tie downs. Pilots have told us they love walking from their aircraft to downtown. This trip only takes 6-10 minutes, depending on how fast you can walk. But town is close. Once you’re in town, you have all kinds of places to eat and shop. If you walk from the airport, figure you're only 15 minutes from the Port’s marina, where you can look at all the boats. You can even catch a boat and check the whales out while you’re hanging around town. Best time to see the whales is in the late afternoon. Also if you’re around town on a Friday afternoon, you can listen to great music played by real musicians. This music is located at the Park near the Port Marina. You will be able to find it. The hospitality house is always open and welcome to transient pilots. The Port provides a free phone for local calls, and we provide maps to help you find your way around the big city of Friday Harbor. We plan to change the hospitality house into a real nice facility in the next few years. For the whale lovers, the pods are out and having a good time showing off in front of tourists. So if you haven’t seen one of these killer whales yet, now is your chance. Look forward in seeing you in Friday Harbor. Happy Trails, Pat July 2006 Hi Folks, The old timers say after the 4th of July, expect sunny weather. Well the 4th is coming up soon, and we already have wonderful weather. Let’s hope it hangs around for the big parade in Friday Harbor. If you like a small town parades, visit us on the 4th of July. The distance from your aircraft tie down to the parade route is only a 5 minute walk. Can’t beat that! Lots of good folks fly to the airport this time of year, but we always have room to park one more aircraft. However, if you don’t want to live on the edge, give us a call to double check availability of tie downs. Pilots have told us they love walking from their aircraft to downtown. This trip only takes 6-10 minutes, depending on how fast you can walk. But town is close. Once you’re in town, you have all kinds of places to eat and shop. If you walk from the airport, figure you're only 15 minutes from the Port’s marina, where you can look at all the boats. You can even catch a boat and check the whales out while you’re hanging around town. Best time to see the whales is in the late afternoon. Also if you’re around on a Friday afternoon, you can listen to great music played by real musicians. This music is located at the Park near the Port Marina. You can find it. The hospitality house is always open and welcome to transient pilots. The Port provides a free phone for local calls, and we provide maps to help you find your way around the big city of Friday Harbor. Try not to get lost! Look forward in seeing you in Friday Harbor. Happy Trails, April/May 2006 Hi Folks, We have been told the current administration is having a hard time with how they plan to distribute money for public airports. We have heard that the Contract Tower Program is going to be scratched because of problems with funding. That means that even if Friday Harbor Airport qualifies for this program there will be no money available. So Friday Harbor Airport will have to continue with using Unicom. The airport’s enhanced Unicom is much better than the average Unicom but not as good as a Contract Tower Program where you have real traffic controllers calling the shots. We will just have to do the best we can with what we have. For those of you who haven’t heard yet, the airport terminal now has a name. It’s called the, ‘Roy Franklin Terminal’. Roy is an aviation pioneer that built the first airport on San Juan Island and did most of the early flying in the islands. Roy is also a wonderful guy and we are proud to have the terminal named after him. The Port is working with the historical aviation committee and the San Juan Pilot Association to present displays of early flying in the islands. So far the month of May has been wet but warmer than usual. Our snow plow drivers have put their gear away and taken the snow plows off their equipment. So our Maytag repair team will just have to keep busy with cutting grass instead of moving snow. May is a good time to visit the island because the summer crowds haven't arrived yet and it’s just us islanders hanging around the town. So try to come up this spring and meet with some of these characters. Where the only bright lights you will see are those from Victoria, B.C. Happy Trails, Pat February/March 2006 Hello, Friends, As our readers will remember, a federally funded airport like this airport needs to show to the FAA that we are making plans for the future, that we will be able to accommodate the changes needed in the future at the airport. All federally funded airports need to do this every 10 years. Otherwise, there could be bottlenecking on taxiways, a shortage of runways, or not enough room in terminals for all the passengers. The master plan helps prevent these downstream problems. January, 2006 Hello Friends, The airport master plan engineers have completed the first phase of our master plan and submitted this for review to the Port Commission. Once this is approved, the airport technical committee will review the changes and make comments. So we are getting closer to completing the master plan.As our readers will remember, as a federally funded airport, Friday Harbor Airport needs to show the FAA that we are making plans to accommodate any changes needed in the future. All federally funded airports are required do this every 10 years, otherwise, there could be bottlenecking on taxiway, shortage of runways, or not enough room in terminals for all the passengers. Having a master plan in place helps prevent these downstream problems.
This January has been wet, but warmer than usual. Our snow plows drivers are getting restless, but we don’t see any sign of snow for the near future. So our Maytag repair team will just have to keep busy with other things until the next snow storm, or summer arrives! January is a good time to visit the island because the crowds are gone, and it’s just us islanders left hanging around the town. So try to come up this winter and meet some of these characters. Cheers, Pat Pat Mayo is Airport Operations Manager at Friday Harbor Airport. |
• We found this coyote (right) in Cabela’s magazine. This is a big archery target, made out of some kind of foam. We're hoping it scares the Canada geese away - so far it's been working pretty well!
• In August, The San Juan Pilots Association put on a BBQ at Dodie Gann’s hangar on Saturday the 11th. Roy Franklin was there to sign autographs, and books. There was a silent auction of aviation stuff, and prizes were given away. The Gullwing and the breezy were closeby for inspection, while the 99er’s put on a birthday party for Dodie,
We'll talk more about it all later, as we learn who is taking his place & how things might change, but for now it's easy to note that Steve has run a good ship at the Port for over two decades with a fair & steady hand, and he's going to be much missed.
• Did you know? Many years ago the Port allowed San Juan Coffee to use a storage unit at the airport, and they have been very good tenants ever since. They also have provided free coffee to the airlines, which results in relaxed passengers, or wired passengers; but either way, their free coffee has served FH passengers for the last 18 years. 
The President of the the San Juan Pilot’s Association, John Volk, passed away this month. We are all sad for this great loss. The funeral was held on Dec 16, at the Island Air terminal. Over 400 of John’s friends attended the funeral. Local pilots flew over the funeral gathering and preformed the missing man approach for John. (Here is the 
