AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2011 - 83

in a matter of weeks. “We immediately formed our association, the Reno Tahoe Aviation Association. We started going to virtually every meeting, every committee meeting,” he recalled. But the association didn’t seem to be getting anywhere by talking with the airport authority. “There didn’t seem to be anything else we could do, other than to talk to our local officials—so we set about telling our story.” Howitt rallied the turbine pilots as well as the piston-aircraft pilots, and they got busy educating the airport authority’s trustees and local elected officials about the value of general aviation. Perry Di Loreto, a Reno real-estate developer, has been a pilot since 1968. “I’ve used airplanes in my business ever since,” he said. “I could never have accomplished what I have in business without aviation—it’s a multiplier for me.” He’s owned a Beech Baron, Duke, and King Air; his current airplane, and fourth Learjet, is a Learjet 40 XR. “I think it all came to a head when some of the leases for the FBOs were getting ready to expire. What bothered me was when some of the small-airplane pilots told me…they believed they were being forced off the airport, either directly or indirectly.” Di Loreto also took offense to a May 2010 newspaper article that said GA pilots at the airport expected to be subsidized. “I went to an airport authority meeting, stood up, and took exception to the quotes in the article,” he said. Both FBOs wanted to renew their leases but couldn’t come to terms, he said, and the piston-aircraft pilots didn’t feel that they were being heard. “Sometimes there’s a good reason to displace people, but there’s also a proper way to go about that.” Di Loreto doesn’t believe there was malicious intent to run GA off of the airport, but some people felt that way; he’s certain communication could have been handled better. “Let’s give everybody the benefit of the doubt. GA wasn’t getting the attention it deserves. People don’t understand the benefits that GA provides.” He cited a busy air ambulance operation based at the airport. “Reno’s a tourist town and a great airport is important to us,” Di Loreto said, adding that GA in Reno has been hurt by the economy—fuel costs are up and usage is down. “I also think we’ll come back.” Economically, the airport has to come up with cheaper ground rents so that hangar construction is feasible. Di Loreto said that while the airport authority cannot subsidize, not everything has to make a profit, either.

The airport has great air carrier infrastructure. “[Krys Bart] has done a great job with it. But the emphasis for years has been on air carriers and air cargo. If the plan is to move general aviation, and that’s a conscious plan, that needs to be put out there.” Di Loreto, who built a hangar at Reno Tahoe earlier, said that if GA is going to move across the field, comparable facilities are needed first. The Civil Air Patrol The Civil Air Patrol had sought a presence on the airport for years. “The Civil Air Patrol represents the single largest new-pilot entry into general aviation today, at least here at Reno/Tahoe,” Larkin said, adding that CAP’s search and rescue function also is important. “To not have a CAP presence here was a huge gap.” Tom Pagnano, a pilot since 1981, got involved in the Civil Air Patrol in 1999. The squadron’s two airplanes are at Reno Tahoe International, but its office remained on the site of the former Vista Airport, lost to development in the 1960s. The location was flooded—under six feet of water—in 1997, in 1999, and again in 2005. “I always wondered why the heck we were out there,” he said. So in 2006, the squadron sought a meeting with the airport authority, seeking space on the field. “In that meeting we were basically told that ‘you belong at Stead—you don’t belong here,’” he recalled. “We did not do well trying to make a case,” Pagnano added; it didn’t help that t h e s q u a d ro n’s commanding officer hadn’t formed any relationships with airport management. To d a y , t h e squadron looks forward to having a home on the airport by the end of this year, assuming all parties can agree on the terms. The CAP is providing hospitality to Marines passing through the airport, on charter and military flights, as part of Operation Javelin Thrust. They’re going to and returning from mountain-warfare training at Hawthorne, Nevada; for some the next stop will be Afghanistan. “The CAP is responsible for all the staffing of

this event,” Pagnano said. At the same time, adult members and cadets were helping attendees to July’s American Council of the Blind convention navigate the Reno airport. Progress Howitt said the airport authority conducted a general aviation workshop on short notice in September 2010, and it was not run well. But both mayors and several county commissioners attended, and it led to change—including, for the first time in the history of the airport, the replacement of all airport authority trustees whose terms were expiring. A second GA workshop in March that was facilitated by Robert Olislagers, director of Centennial Airport in Denver, was more friendly and more productive, Howitt said. The second workshop resulted in the identification of several priorities for GA at the airport. The airport authority’s trustees have adopted a resolution to support and promote general aviation at Reno/Tahoe International, and have been asked to assure that there is no net displacement of GA from the airport. Because the pilots influenced the selection of the four new trustees, that appears likely to happen. In addition, with the new trustees in place, an airport user committee should be named soon; GA hangar tenants and airport FBOs both will be represented on the panel. Bart said the committee

TOM PAGNANO

“The airport serves the community; it’s not the other way around.”
AOPA PILOT • 83 • SEPTEMBER 2011

AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2011

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