The Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission's mission is to promote aviation, which includes fostering the growth of the aerospace industry and ensuring that the needs of commerce and communities across Oklahoma are met by the state's 114 public airports that comprise the state’s air transportation system.

LATEST OAC & STATE AVIATION NEWS!

Oklahoma's Bird Elected Chairman of National Aviation Association

At their annual convention and trade show, members of the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) recently elected Victor Bird, director of the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission, as chairman of the NASAO Board of Directors. He will serve as chairman until October 2010.

Bird is the first Oklahoman to be elected chairman in the 78-year history of NASAO. He previously served as vice chairman, treasurer and secretary of the board.

NASAO is comprised of the directors of state aviation agencies in the 50 states, Guam and Puerto Rico. Its purpose is to ensure uniformity of safety measures, standardize airport regulations and develop a truly national air transportation system responsive to local, state, and regional needs. Read more.

Stillwater Officials Dedicate New Runway Rebuilt With Stimulus Funds

The Stillwater Regional Airport can now bring in the “big boys,” thanks to a recently completed runway project that was paid for by federal stimulus money.

City and state officials and long-time supporters of the airport as well as kindergartners from Stillwater’s Sangre Ridge Elementary School gathered earlier this week to celebrate the official grand re-opening of Runway 17-35.

Work on rehabilitating the runway began June 1 and was completed almost three months later, just in time for Oklahoma State University’s first home football game of the 2009 season against Georgia. The new concrete overlay was paid for by a $5.9 million Federal Aviation Administration grant as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Read more.

Aerospace and Aviation: Lifting Oklahoma Up

The Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission hosted a briefing on Oct. 14 at Will Rogers World Airport for about 30 representatives of the state’s executive, congressional and legislative leadership. The purpose of the meeting was to provide information about Oklahoma’s aviation and aerospace industry and address current challenges and concerns facing the industry.

Representatives from nearly all of the state’s congressional delegation attended the briefing as well as members of the Oklahoma House, including state Representatives Mike Jackson, Danny Morgan and John Wright, as well as staff from the Governor’s and Lt. Governor’s offices. Also participating in the briefing were representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration, Oklahoma City Airports Division and other local airport boards or economic development offices around the state including the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, which also provided lunch for all attendees.

OAC Director Victor Bird opened the meeting by giving an overview of the state’s aviation and aerospace industry including a brief history lesson on Oklahoma aviation. He also recapped of some of the industry’s recent legislative successes such as the Aerospace Industry Engineer Workforce Bill that lawmakers passed in 2008 which gave state tax credits to new engineers hired by the Oklahoma aerospace companies.

Later on, Bird noted several issues or challenges the state’s aviation and aerospace industry is or would be facing in the coming months, particularly the lack of adequate funding for the state’s air transportation system and the Center for Aerospace and Supplier Quality. CASQ is a program created by lawmakers in 2006 that helps mainly small-to medium-sized Oklahoma aerospace companies to effectively compete for the billions of dollars of contracts annually outsourced by Tinker Air Force Base and its prime contractors.

Oklahoma Aerospace Institute Director Bob Connor provided a summary of the recently released aerospace strategic plan for Oklahoma’s aerospace industry. He noted that industry leaders are working on an implementation plan that will help move Oklahoma’s aerospace industry forward, adding that the state should pay close attention to unmanned aerial systems as a possible job growth area for the state.

The FAA’s Ed Agnew gave an overview of FAA operations and funding processes and OAC Airport Development Manager Dale Williams capped the meeting by providing a brief explanation of the how the OAC selects airport projects to be funded as part of the its Capital Improvement Program.

American Airlines Celebrates Opening of New Wide-Body Hangar in Tulsa

Tulsa's aerospace industry got a big boost recently when American Airlines opened its new wide-body aircraft maintenance hangar at Tulsa International Airport. 

More than 100 city, state and aerospace industry leaders, including Lt. Governor Jari Askins, Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor and Secretary of Commerce and Tourism Natalie Shirley, were on hand, as well as many AA employees, to commemorate the occasion.

"It's a wonderful Day for Oklahoma, a wonderful day for Tulsa and a wonderful day for American Airlines," Shirley exclaimed during opening remarks.

Carmine Romano, senior vice president of maintenance & engineering for AA's Tulsa Maintenance and Engineering Center, said that American Airlines was committed to keeping its maintenance and engineering work in house and committed to keeping those jobs in Tulsa. American Airlines is the only U.S. airline that does not outsource its maintenance work.

Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Taylor surprised everyone in attendance, most notably Carmine Romano, by unveiling a large plaque of Romano's portrait with word's designating the new hangar as the "Carmine J. Romano Center."

The 81,000-square-foot, $10 million hangar was paid for by a combination of $4.3 million from the third-penny sales tax extension Tulsa voters approved in 2006 and $5.7 million from the state's Opportunity Fund.

AA's Tulsa Maintenance and Engineering Center is the largest commercial aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in the world and Tulsa's largest employer, providing nearly 7,000 jobs. 

'Aerospace Needs Smart People Like You,' Bird tells OSSM Students

Getting a chance to encourage some of the state's brightest high school students to consider careers in aerospace was something Victor Bird was not going to pass up. During an assembly at the Oklahoma School for Science and Math on Sept. 23, Bird, the director of the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission, shared with students and faculty how important the aerospace industry is to the state and the crucial role they can play in its future.

Bird told students that aerospace enjoys a $61 billion surplus in the U.S. and is one of the pillars of Oklahoma's economy, employing about one out of every 11 Oklahomans. He said the main reason the U.S. has such a large surplus is because of the number of smart people working in the aerospace industry who keep it in the vanguard and on the cutting edge. That distinction could be in jeopardy, however, unless more students begin thinking about aerospace as a career choice, according to Bird.

"We have good (aerospace) jobs here in Oklahoma. If you are not planning to stay in the state after graduation, please reconsider," Bird pleaded with students. "We desperately need you. You are our future. It's important to our economy and our national security."

Before his speech, Bird ate lunch with some of OSSM's student leaders who also gave him a personal, guided tour of the campus. 

Located near downtown Oklahoma City, OSSM was created through legislative action in 1983 and graduated its first class of 44 seniors from across the state in 1992. It is designed as a two-year residential public high school for the academically gifted students in mathematics and science. Nearly 130 juniors and seniors are currently attending OSSM.