Spokane Airports Tenants Association - President’s Letter
February 1, 2010
Dear SATA Member:
Thank you for your continued support of SATA. Following is a brief update summarizing our major activities during the year. Our successes this year are due to our members, and we appreciate your participation, guidance and support.
We would also like to announce that our next annual meeting will be later this year, scheduled to occur in the fall. We are still arranging for a speaker and will let you know when we settle on a date.
During the year, our officers focused on keeping in touch with elected officials, the Airport Board and the Airport staff, representing the interests of pilots and tenants. SATA continues to be recognized as a viable and credible organization.
June, 2009 Membership Meeting - We held a meeting for all members in June 2009 and were fortunate to have Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich as our guest speaker. Ozzie gave a very interesting talk about the issues facing our community and his priorities as Sheriff. There were many questions from the floor, and the group held a lively discussion. Our members greatly appreciated Ozzie’s attendance at the meeting and his insightful comments.
SATA Web Site - We have created a SATA web site at http://www.sataspokane.org/ and it is now being used to post announcements of interest to our members. It can also be used for posting classified ads and as a place for members to post pictures and stories about their projects. The web site was developed free of charge by a volunteer. We hope that it will become a useful site for our members and we will be developing additional capabilities as we determine the need for them. Please try it out and give us your feedback and ideas for future development.
New Card Security System at Felts Field – Your SATA officers took an active role in working with the Airport Staff to design the forms and procedures related to issuing cards and managing access to the airport. Unfortunately it was a contentious process with basic disagreements related to tenants’ rights under the leases. After several meetings with Airport management during which we were unsuccessful in resolving the issues, the SATA Board decided it was in our members’ best interest to retain legal counsel. Ultimately we were successful in achieving our goals with regard to airport access, and Felts Field tenants now enjoy a card issuance process that respects tenants’ rights.
Emergency Access to Felts Field – The maintenance staff has installed a battery powered backup system on the inbound side of Gate 1 that will activate in case of a power outage. That gate will remain open until power is restored, at which time it will close automatically. Thanks to Mike and Kenny for taking the initiative on this.
Runway Lighting Project – Larry Tobin represented SATA in an advisory role with regard to the re-wiring project going on at SFF for the last 6 months. When the new airport runway and taxiway signs went in two years ago they discovered the 1930’s vintage wiring in the ground was not adequate for the new load. The project involved digging up the old wire, pouring new vaults and essentially re-wiring the airport.
Green Area on Taxiway Bravo at Felts- For those confused by the green painted area near the end of runway 3R this is a traffic divider for taxi traffic. It is not a run-up area. If you are taxiing southwest on Bravo, go left around the green divider to go to 3L via Alpha and right around it to go to 3R. The first 500 feet of 3R is now taxiway Echo and the runway starts beyond the lines.
February 2009 Felts Field FBO Survey – The Airport staff conducted a survey related to FBO services at Felts Field. SATA provided an email list of our members to the independent firm that conducted the survey, and all of our members received an email inviting them to participate. The results were made available, and the local chapter of the Washington Pilots Association was kind enough to put the survey results on their web site for you to review at: http://www.wpaflys.org/Chapters/Spokane/FeltsFBOSurvey.pdf
Hangar Structural Inspections - For those SATA members whose hangars are subject to structural inspections in 2010, SATA has approached our fellow pilot and structural engineer, Dick Atwood, and he has graciously offered to perform these inspections. Dick will be returning from Arizona in April and will be available after his return. Feel free to contact Dick at 509.995.0071. In order to minimize the impact on Dick’s busy retirement schedule, please try to schedule several inspections on one day.
We appreciate Dick's continued support of SATA and the pilots at Felts Field.
SATA Board Members Update – At our June meeting, it was noted that John LeFriec had submitted his resignation from the Board due to work constraints. The board would like to thank John for his good work as treasurer. John Hartis, whose term expired, has accepted the position of Director Emeritus. This allows John to remain active in our organization, yet manage his work-related commitments. John was one of the founding members of SATA and has made significant contributions of time and effort over the years.
Two members volunteered to fill the vacancies: Larry Tobin and Dave Lucke. Since a quorum was not present, an informal vote was taken where the members present expressed unanimous support for Larry and Dave as new board members. The officers of the organization indicated that they would appoint Larry and Dave to the Board positions at the next Board meeting as provide for in the bylaws. This was done at the next Board meeting, and Dave and Larry will serve until the next election.
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We had a busy year in 2009 and want you all to know that our success is due to your support. We are always interested in hearing from you with regard to issues that would be appropriate to address – and hope that you will feel free to contact Directors personally.
As individuals, we have limited ability to influence the operations at our airports. Collectively, SATA has real influence with elected officials and the Airport Board. Therefore, we ask everyone to encourage your fellow pilots to join SATA. We thank you again for your support and look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.
Your SATA Board of Directors:
Jeff Hamilton, Nancy Holmes, Dave Lucke, Mike Scalera and Larry Tobin
History and Mission
The Spokane Airport Tenants Association was formed in 1994 by the tenants at Felts Field as a way to further the interests of the airport with the Airport Board, elected officials and the airport staff. After several years of inactivity, we held a general meeting in March, 2007 with over 100 people attending. At that meeting, we elected a new Board of Directors and the Board subsequently elected officers who agreed to serve for the coming year. We agreed on a mission statement for SATA that explains our purpose and will guide our actions. It is:
To protect and promote the viability of the Spokane Airports by actively engaging elected officials, Airport Board Members and Airport Staff to secure fair and just leasing policies, rational development of airport properties, and safe and sound airport operations.
Our airports are an important community asset and collectively we have a responsibility to ensure that community decision makers understand the value of the airports and have the information needed to make enlightened decisions.