By Micah Risher, Current Easton Airport Manager and First Air Traffic Manager at Easton Airport
Every year on July 3, I pause and reflect on how far we’ve come. My first visit to the Easton Airport Air Traffic Control Tower was while it was still under construction on July 3, 2007. The project was approved by the FAA just a few months earlier, and work was well underway. Airport Manager Mike Henry was working hard to get the project completed as quickly as possible, a goal he accomplished despite many challenges, as the tower was ready for operation in the fall of 2007.
I met Mike Henry and Bill Ellis, VP of Operations for Midwest ATC, at the airport on the morning of July 3, 2007, to tour the new facility and discuss taking the position as the first-ever Air Traffic Manager at Easton Airport. The tower walls did not completely cover the building, and the tower cab was concrete and steel with no windows. It was an exciting opportunity for me, a career air traffic controller, to return to my home airport and “stand up” a new operation.
The coming months were spent developing procedures that met FAA standards, coordinating with multiple offices at FAA Headquarters, the Eastern Service Center in Atlanta, Potomac TRACON, and a variety of other agencies that have a hand in the National Airspace System. I also began holding tenant meetings and becoming a part of the Easton Airport community. I met the pilots, business owners, and many operators to gain an understanding of the local airport operations.
From Left to Right: Mike Henry – Easton Airport Manager, Buddy Harrison – President, Talbot County Council, Micah Risher – Air Traffic Manager
By October 2007, we had hired the initial crew of Air Traffic Controllers—a talented group with a lot of experience, several military veterans, and one retired FAA controller. The team was trained and ready to begin operations on November 14, 2007. That morning saw poor weather conditions as the tower opened. The first operation was a Cessna 208, piloted by Bob and Michele Anstatt. Ground Controller John Stevens delivered the first IFR clearance, and as the Local Controller, I delivered the very first “Cleared for Takeoff.” The first operation of Easton Tower had been recorded!
From Left to Right: Hendrix Dickens, James Clark, Lance Baker, Mamie Ambrose, Micah Risher – Air Traffic Manager, Todd Colvin, John Stevens and Gary Kishbaugh.
The coming years would see our traffic count increase slowly but surely. Our Easton Airport Day open house took off in 2008 and has become a perennial favorite. Trooper 6 relocated here full time, hangars were constructed, and our ramps filled up with aircraft.
Now, nearly 17 years later, we are approaching 1 million operations. Things look a little different around here. Many folks who were here in 2007 have retired or moved on in one way or another, and I have since moved from the Control Tower to the Airport Manager’s office. We are now in the first year of our Airfield Modernization Program, the most transformative project we have undertaken since we began operations in 1943.
In the coming weeks, we will be on the lookout for our 1 millionth aircraft operation. As of June 30, we were just 5,582 operations away. I anticipate we will cross this milestone in late July. It’s a good time to reflect on our progress over the past 17 years and think about our future. It’s an exciting time for sure.