Wayman Eddy: Hello and welcome to Insight Aviation brought to you by Wayman Aviation Academy here in South Florida we have the special and distinct pleasure of having the airport manager of our home base here at North Perry airport in Pembroke Pines Florida miss Nina MacPherson hello Nina.
Nina MacPherson: Hello thank you for having me today.
Wayman Eddy: Oh my pleasure thank you for for joining us uh you know what we do here at insight aviation is get aviation professionals from what we hope is the whole spectrum of aviation and i have to admit we’re very heavy on pilots and captains because that’s what we do we train people how to fly here at Wayman Aviation um so it’s always a special treat when we have somebody that’s so intimately linked with aviation that kind of gets to give us more perspective on uh on the industry on the flight environments right and so for those people that may not know uh in broad terms what does an airport manager do?
Nina MacPherson: That’s a good question and again thank you so much for for the opportunity um to giving a little insight into the airport management world uh inside the aviation industry as you said it’s so broad but an airport manager is responsible for the overall management safety and development of the airport first and foremost safety and security an airport manager at a general aviation airport like north perry airport wears a lot of hats so I oversee the day-to-day management as well as the future planning of the airport i’m responsible for identifying the future needs of the airport working with aviation planners identifying projects and infrastructure how to go forward with that how how long is the lifespan of our pavement for example how long is it going to take before we need new markings and i make sure that those projects go in queue working with the planners to make sure that we can get some grants to take care of it and then once those grants are in place then we make sure that we abide by grant assurances so i oversee the maintenance requirements of the airport as well and that entails everything from mowing the airfield to making sure that your markings are clear your lights aren’t obscured the signs can be seen and then we look at runway and taxiway lights that everything around those are good and visible to pilots filling in potholes and landscaping and i oversee the operations of the airport and that entails making sure that we do daily inspections that there isn’t any debris on the airfield that can be ingested in engines and and cause harm making sure that we respond to emergencies uh making sure that we do airfield familiarization for for new agents or firefighters or police for that matter that may need it and that we’re communicating with the air traffic control tower regarding any anomalies that may come our way um I have to prepare the budget and make sure we stay on track of that uh so that everything kind of falls into place so you have maintenance and operations and planning and communication and community outreach efforts um so it’s it’s a vast.
Wayman Eddy: It is yeah there’s that’s a lot of hats that’s a lot of hats uh and a lot of stuff we can come back and touch on there but as we always like to know uh kind of curious you know right right beginning i always like to know how is it that you uh got interested in aviation and then eventually it came to be here so how did you get interested in aviation?
Nina MacPherson: You know a lot of people say that they they fell into aviation um i literally did fall into aviation i was 17 years old and i was skydiving and i had a total of six jumps under my belt and uh not now you know now as you usually do a tandem jump with an instructor but back in the day we went by ourselves with a static line and so um you willingly go and jump out of a Cessna 206 i believe it was that’s at 2500 feet and after about five seconds the line you know inflates the chute and it was so peaceful and it was just breathtaking and below me was the airport the gemstone and i just remember thinking who takes care of that it was just an odd thought you know hanging in the chute um i knew i was going to get there because the drum master made sure that i was going to be in the right place when i landed and the landings weren’t always pretty but but i got down there and and that’s really how i fell into it and i was just asking people you know is there a career for this do people manage airports uh who’s who’s taking care of it um come to find out there wasn’t a lot of opportunity for that and so i was able to find a university here in south Florida in Boca Raton and i was the second woman to enroll and the first woman to graduate with an aviation management degree from that school.
Wayman Eddy: Congratulations wow quite a bit to unpack there i’ve only jumped once i only jumped once and uh i loved it uh i had to tell my wife after the fact that she would not have said yes but um that’s exciting and a pretty young age six jumps that’s great um is that i i have to admit i i didn’t see that coming you didn’t see that one coming huh you were a skydiver did you pursue any further than that or the six jumps were enough for you?
Nina MacPherson: No the six the six jumps were good the sixteens were good and i didn’t actually think i’d get past one but you’ve gotta do two if you do one you know what i mean the first one you’re full of excitement you don’t know what you’re doing the second time you know what you’re doing and you’re still doing it
Wayman Eddy: That’s good yeah so and at 17 so was that just like thrill-seeking 17-year-old Nina or did something push it?
Nina MacPherson: No no no that was definitely a thrill thrill seeking Nina that did that excellent.
Wayman Eddy: Well that’s what 17 is for right it’s to try different things out it’s a great age for discovery flights for things uh just like it certainly is yeah so and you found a program in Boca is that Lynn university up there?
Nina MacPherson: It is now Lynn okay it was the College of Boca Raton when i went ah yeah and um you know the university offers uh courses such as air transportation aviation law airport management operations master planning and um i just found it all very very interesting i was intrigued.
Wayman Eddy: That is interesting because you know as pilots we’re always talking about the environment right the the airspace and the airspace and the airport environment and you’re right there’s so many things we’re literally inside of your bubble right when we’re here uh at the beginning and the end of every flight um so a lot to hit on there a common word that came up through your description there was planning planning budgeting thinking ahead and i like to say that the higher you go up an organization the farther out you have to plan right uh so i often use the example of the grocery store right uh the cashier uh or the bagger just to show up for their shift that day right but you know the the the supervisor of them has to think do i have enough people for the day the supervisor that person says do i need to hire more staff eventually the store or manager is thinking ahead like you know what purchasing and all those kind of things so clearly you’re the airport manager you’ve got to kind of plan it all right.
Nina MacPherson: Yes yep you you you nailed it especially at a general aviation um airport where you you have to have the the you’re underneath the whole umbrella uh whereas a larger airport you might have more of a expertise in one area in either finance or i.t or customer service or operations but at a general aviation airport you get to do it all.
Wayman Eddy: Yeah and i like the ways that you get to do it all right you really do you have to do that now that’s a good point so north perry airport uh one of the busiest general aviation airports in the country is also a a part of the Broward County um aviation let’s give a Broward County Aviation Department sorry escape me for a moment there right um so how much is supported by this large one which controls Fort Lauderdale International very large airport right and uh and how much is you know you and your team?
Nina MacPherson: So the the team that i work with there’s 10 of us here at the airport and we take care of operations and maintenance and planning on the every day-to-day management of the airport and when things are needed like carpentry or electricians or something that we don’t necessarily have on staff then we then we would issue work orders and ask for that help from from the larger department because we’re all under one umbrella under the aviation department.
Wayman Eddy: Okay so that’s nice you have that intimate kind of small team feeling that you have this large resource pool you can pull from yeah for good or bad right yeah yes absolutely well that’s that’s great so um kind of just kind of sticking with the education because that’s a big part of what we do we want aspiring aviators or people that are interested in aviation to think well how can i come into this career so you sought out a program near you at Lynn uh which i guess was it airport management or is it airport operations?
Nina MacPherson: Yes so my program in particular that i that i did you know was a bachelor of science in aviation management um but you know you often ask the question what education is needed to get into into my seat right into my role and different airports have different criteria and that’s because different airports are associated with several different ownerships some airports like this one like North Perry and Fort Lauderdale for example is under the Broward County Aviation Department so it’s a county airport Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport is a city airport the Boca Raton airport is an airport authority and then we have state airports and we have private airports and then we have joint public ventures wow depending on and there are pros and cons to all of those but depending on whether what kind of airport you are with the hiring process is what they’re looking for might differ but you can come to the table with an aviation management degree a bachelor’s in aviation you can do air transportation let’s see what else we have we have aviation law degrees uh aeronautical science degrees and there are many out there that will will complement your path uh business and public relations often complement it um because back in the day airport managers were actually retired military people or or people who had worked uh on air bases and with time that changed it became a profession and professionals and a group of industries and industry leaders so we have for example the American Association of Airport Executives uh that is a national organization with thousands of members we have airport council international representing the global market and we have Florida airport council representing the Florida airports and within all of those are opportunities for internships and scholarships great for students who might want to go this route and opportunities to volunteer and maybe attend conferences to start networking early.
Wayman Eddy: Now if i understand correctly you’ve been pretty prominent in those groups right i think you were the chairwoman uh recently?
Nina MacPherson: Yes i have i had the distinction of being a madam chair of the Florida Airport Council i spent 10 years on the Florida Airport Council and um uh am now an immediate past past chair uh so and so in that role you know we work on legislation for the state on aviation tax use taxes um on things that are good for airports and bringing that up to Tallahassee and fighting on behalf of all the airport standard aviation or commercial cargo and so forth so when you’re when you’re applying for that airport um know that there’s just so many things that are available to you and that to complement any degree that you might have you can get accredited you can go through an accreditation process and a lot of airports look for having a accreditation either as preferred or as mandatory and that takes a process as well.
Wayman Eddy: Sure i’m sure well it’s quite a compliment to be uh the chairwoman amongst your peers you know looking to help the common good and legislation asking for what not just your airport needs but everyone’s coming together saying hey we need this right so it’s good to be that that vocal that that focal point that’s really exciting congratulations.
Nina MacPherson: Well thank you for that um you know the the the committees make the organization right so just like there are many um avenues within aviation the organization you can get and i’m talking about involvement now you can get involved by doing an operation or your i.t or administration or legal or you know legislation so there’s just there’s just a lot of opportunities.
Wayman Eddy: You know i’ve heard that so many times there’s a lot of there’s a lot of organizations in aviation for just about every niche you can think of and what i’ve also been told is just don’t just pay your dues don’t just pay your 10 or 20 dollars sign up for a committee whatever it might be whatever interests you right because actually being active in organization is where you meet those connections that person that might be your next reference or boss or or vendor or whatever it might be so uh that’s that’s excellent to get involved right but i imagine you didn’t just graduate and become an airport manager there’s a professional path you kind of you got to work your way up the rungs right so what is somebody who comes out with or in your case with an aviation management degree what’s that first job?
Nina MacPherson: Well i don’t uh i didn’t know what my role was going to be until i got here quite quite frankly because i started very different right i started with getting a degree in commercial and trade and then i went to Switzerland i got a degree in hotel and restaurant management oh wow and so and then between all this you know was this was the reversal of no i want to see what aviation is i want to know who runs the airport i want to find that right school so um when i did that uh i started as a part-time position at an airport where there was a retired lieutenant colonel who was the manager right and he taught me that whatever you look like when you show up for work that day you are showing up to do the work of the day very important lesson so there were days when i was in high heels and a skirt because i was administration not knowing the vast opportunities that were going to you know become ahead of me here i climbed a 52-foot beacon to grease it heels in a skirt because that’s how i was dressed that day and that’s the work that needed to be done that day and so we picked up debris from the runway um i’ve adjusted vasi lights you know that and then as you do all these things that are not in your little path you know you you’re broadening your your your avenue here um you’re learning that oh my god there are people who can do that that needs to be done why does that need to be done oh i want to do that i can do that.
Wayman Eddy: That’s interesting that’s a good point because like you said there’s so many hats and now that i think about it i think you know north perry is a pretty busy airport staff of 10 is a good size but i’ve been to plenty of airports where there might not even be somebody on staff there’s a phone number when you walk into into the office that says if you need something call this number all right i was at one uh just sort of a few weeks ago in Ohio put in bay it’s little islands and it seems like every island has a strip right and somebody’s in charge of that airport but you gotta wear even more hats then because there might not be that’s you know the second person you are the maintenance.
Nina MacPherson: Yeah no there are you’re absolutely right up in Vermont i think there are airports where the airport manager will go on horseback to do the inspection you know um there are places here in in Florida around Immokalee i believe where the airport manager will jump on the mower to mow the the airfield themselves.
Wayman Eddy: Wow that’s amazing that’s amazing uh you know and i guess we got a little bit spoiled being here in such a metropolitan area Miami South Florida Fort Lauderdale where there’s a large population density but there’s an airport in every county and you know many many most towns i’d say yeah i was told and you probably would know this number better than i would but i was told there’s 93 um 93 airports i don’t know what the determination was in Florida 93 airports i think with instrument approaches right.
Nina MacPherson: There’s 126 airports in Florida actually 126.
Wayman Eddy: Right and i imagine those are public not the little private strips because those seem to be everywhere.
Nina MacPherson: That’s including everything that’s that’s private and public general aviation and commercial.
Wayman Eddy: Okay 126 that’s interesting yeah um and that’s really the way to get in and out of just about everywhere in the country especially when you get uh out into more rural areas right um so you you came in and you you had that what was that airport that you started at?
Nina MacPherson: Boca Raton airport.
Wayman Eddy: Oh that was Boca yeah yeah excellent so you kind of were was that like an assistant role assistant to the airport manager and just kind of learning everything?
Wayman Eddy: You know that would be really nice if if your career starts like that and and with a fancy title and a role nope it didn’t start like that i got my my bachelor’s degree and i walked in because i knew that the this lieutenant colonel needed some help great and uh i sat down and he looked at me and he said i know what you want i said you do this is awesome right because yeah you want an assistant airport manager job i said that would be awesome because i don’t have that job don’t because nope i’ve got a part-time secretarial position but i’m going to teach you everything you need to know and if i were you i’d take it that sounds good to me because i’ll see you Monday morning nice and that’s how i started.
Wayman Eddy: That’s quite the interview process nice yeah how long were you at boca book is a beautiful airport it’s grown up quite a bit yes yes it has it is a beautiful airport and you know if you learn how to fly at boca you can fly anywhere with that cross that’s true run away yeah angular runway right along uh the highway.
Nina MacPherson: Five two three yeah um so uh i was there 12 years actually twelve years and then i yeah and then i came to um uh Fort Lauderdale International airport where i spent one year at that airport in operations and then i and then i’ve been here at north perry airport since.
Wayman Eddy: Excellent so uh at boca being kind of a small operation it sounds like what did you keep that role or did you eventually get to a different role at Boca?
Nina MacPherson: Yeah that didn’t last so long that only lasted a few months and then he had me on full-time and then that became an administrative assistant role and that morphed into a deputy airport manager role and we were hiring ops people and you know that what was fun was i was i was along the right to build the team that needed to be there you know for the success of the airport yeah kind of i mean it’s it’s it’s an older airport but you’re basically on the ground floor of modernizing it is what it sounds like yeah absolutely there was no tower when i was there but we put all the pieces in place to get the tower that’s there now so that was fun to be a part of.
Wayman Eddy: Yeah well that’s amazing educational experience you’re basically there while an airport is being developed right right which is actually one of the things you mentioned that the the airport manager is uh not just playing for the maintenance but for the development of the airport right yeah very important yeah ideally important ideally at an airport and an area that’s growing right there’s a very famous quote i always forget i want to say that it’s a it’s last i heard it was attributed to um blind side of my head right now one of our former presidents maybe uh johnson who said that uh look to your local airport if it’s growing your town is if your town is growing if your local airport is shrinking your town might be shrinking.
Nina MacPherson: That’s very yeah that’s very apropos i mean we we are uh reliever airports um to take the congestion you know out of the larger airports uh this is where it all begins you know this is where all the fun begins uh as as with wayman and the flight school student i too have 72 hours in a 172. i bet you didn’t know that very nice yeah because when i was uh when i was uh in boca raton uh part of my job as the job crew was being a noise officer and these pilots that were flying the gulf streams were coming in and out i would get a noise complaint and have to go down and talk to them and just ask them you know what was the traffic pattern what because i’m trying to find out what caused the complaint right this was back in the day before a noms and all that good stuff so um they didn’t take so kindly to that to me running down there and interrupting their you know their business flow and their passengers and all this kind of stuff and so um i had at the time a really good boss this was my second boss um who said you know we need to make you more credible we need to put you in that in that airplane and so he made sure that i did the written and then i actually did my solos great yep did cross country um you know but at the end of the day i wanted to be on the ground i wanted to be on the ground i wanted to make sure that everything was going to be safe and in order and the way it was supposed to be to develop the airport for the rest of you that want to fly and come in and out.
Wayman Eddy: Well it brings you here that’s great it’s wonderful to have that experience and and i often say you know the more variety of experience you can have the better you know my father calls the tools in your tool belt right like you might you know you can you can afford someone to change your oil but you should try it at least once right so you know what’s going on and i think the same thing with flying like if you have an opportunity to get into a helicopter or a glider or whatnot i think it’s worth taking that experience absolutely yeah i agree so all right so here fort lauderdale international for for a year i imagine it sounds like they’re probably just kind of getting you familiar with what their operations are like meeting meeting the team and everyone.
Nina MacPherson: Well and also you know that’s a part 139 airport which is very different from a general aviation airport so part 139 airport you know has um regulations that they have to call to follow as well and and that that comes with having um uh passengers right and so you’re dealing with a whole different array of things and i had never been at a large airport like that and i didn’t you know it was just a great learning experience for me so and a great stepping stone.
Wayman Eddy: That’s so interesting you know we uh of course there’s regulations about airports it it hadn’t occurred to me right because you know we focus on the chapters that are relevant to us right so i know the part 61 the 91 the 135 i’m familiar with 121 even but i hadn’t thought about all those regulations to go around airports and it’s got to be quite a bit because it’s not just the the flying regulations but it’s probably also like county codes and buildings and and all that kind of stuff that goes along with it.
Nina MacPherson: Yeah it all comes into play you know there are there are certain requirements so the airport has divided by for example you know the index how big is the airport how many airlines does it take uh what is the what does the fire rescue need to look like for that you know how many uh units do we have to have you know how is the tower operating um are you passing everything with with lights and instrument navigations you know every everything is clear your slopes around the airport um it kind of looks like an upside down wedding you can say much as the charts when you’re flying but we have to make sure that the slopes that go off the ends of the the airport the the runways and the approaches are free and clear and uh and even for that matter on on the surface the the runway uh safety areas have to be free and clear just in case we get that student that rolls off and needs to turn back and get back on
Wayman Eddy: So your responsibility really extends beyond the fence because you’ve got to have that vertical clearance kind of around your your airport and so it’s a lot of community involvement which you mentioned early on right it’s working with local towns officials citizens right i’m sure there’s pros and cons to that as well and we don’t have to get into into any specifics but um you know so north perry is located in the middle of three towns right so that must be triple your work instead of just being inside of one airport now you’ve got to be dialoguing with towns of our south the town to the east and the town above us um gosh that’s not that just sounds to me like a lot of commissioner meetings.
Nina MacPherson: Well you know you know sometimes it is but um we’re nestled uh in between three you know cities a county airport like a little island and we’re just doing the best we can to you know if there’s community outreach that’s needed if i’m invited to speak at a town hall meeting or a city meeting then i made myself available for that we have had a couple of airport day events in the past few years you’ve had your own successful event not so long ago and you know i’m bringing people in from those surrounding communities is real important to see what we do your podcasts are are important to see all the different things you can do and and and to bring it all closer you know that that dream that looking at that airplane in the sky and wondering could i do that and what does it take you know just to open our our doors and let people come in.
Wayman Eddy: Absolutely the the community outreach is so important because uh in the end you know you’re you’re working for the county so you’re working you’re serving the community right you’re kind of an employee of all of our neighbors yeah uh so that means and i think that’s an important one we’ve had kind of conversations about this i’m involved with the community organization here for the airport and how important it is that when people look up at those airplanes they see opportunity and an economic engine and not a noise complaint right or a safety issue and yeah that’s a that’s probably a lot of phone calls and a lot of outreach.
Nina MacPherson: Yeah it it is and um you know and i and i do take that opportunity and i do take it seriously uh when once and and all airport managers really do you know when someone has a a complaint or concern uh about an operation or noise or we take that opportunity to then educate or and to find out what what happened and if there was something you know that that we can uh help with so it’s it’s really a balancing act.
Wayman Eddy: It is it is you’ve got to address concerns right uh and you know kind of make them relative like they’re people are not buzzing your particular house here it just so happens that you’re within this area but that’s another conversation let’s let’s talk a little bit about north bay you know for for everyone that’s that’s listening or watching us north perry airport is like you said a reliever airport a general aviation airport here basically between north perry i’m sorry between miami-dade and broward right pretty close to the county line and it’s grown dramatically over the last 10 years right as general aviation clearly got pushed out of the big international airports right and even our regional airports fort lauderdale executive and opa locka executive have become just that more executive they’re more jet ports at this point and so there’s all those cessnas and pipers and moonies and such have been pushed out of those airports and they found a home right here at north perry right we’re kind of an island of ga uh uh here in south florida you kind of have to go to the extremes otherwise you got to go down to to tamiami and kendall you’ve got to go up to boca really right um and i imagine you’ve been in charge of the airport throughout that whole climb right.
Nina MacPherson: Yeah um the operation count has certainly changed since i started but you know the footprint of the airport hasn’t no um the length of the runways haven’t right so um the good thing is that we are an economic engine you know we are as most airports are they have an economic impact in the communities around them absolutely so it’s uh north perry airport um in my particular situation i consider grassroots this is where all begins this is where your dreams come to life you know this is where like it really happens um and so uh yeah operation counts uh um are different they’re higher now than they were when i started for sure but again the footprint hasn’t changed um and the businesses that are accommodated here um have have done so very well you know and and braided into the community and to us and so i’m very proud of this airport.
Wayman Eddy: Oh as we as are we and we’re very happy to be here you know i think back to a conversation i had with my brother who’s also a pilot you’ve known him for a long time and he was telling me that back in um maybe like around 2000 right we were we were looking at possibilities and then north perry was very full of home-built aircraft eaa kind of experimentals and things like that and i’ve seen those decrease right as schools which are required to fly certified aircraft have increased um have you seen that have you seen the the population kind of changed from this home-built hobbyist to more of a school or professional environment?
Nina MacPherson: You know uh yes uh there has been as as the the newer businesses or maybe the the newer development that’s taking place you know has i would say maybe up the level but um you have to have a tail number to operate here you have to have a transponder so you can’t have an ultra light here you never could.
Wayman Eddy: Sure yeah i remember there used to be a gyrocopter that flew in an eye i’m like oh my gosh a gyrocopter i don’t see them anymore i don’t know if he if he i i don’t know yeah um but no i think that that’s kind of an interesting point because as the schools have come in there’s i think i heard you say that there was maybe ten schools now at north perry uh and that’s official schools right not necessarily the independent instructor that’s you know part of a club or something like that uh but that’s uh that’s a lot of schools right that’s a hub for training basically and it makes sense because south florida is such a hub for aviation internationally right it’s a huge hub for aviation with miami international fort lauderdale international i’ve i’ve heard it said many times uh the one in four jobs in miami-dade is tied to aviation right and so if we want our youth here to get good well-paying jobs in south florida right one of those is that flying route um so it’s kind of amazing it’s almost like having um i want to say like a college campus but it’s like a college campus that has many colleges within it right.
Nina MacPherson: Yeah well and and i look at it a little as a little bit bigger than that because i look at it as an aviation industry so even if you don’t get in the in the cockpit and take off you know you can you can do the line service portion you can be an aviation mechanic you can you know you can run an fbo you know there’s there’s the the opportunities are endless.
Wayman Eddy: Absolutely right uh three fbos here at uh at north perry and of course we have our neighbors emily on the north side broward college’s south campus which has a wonderful aviation program the uh the name is kitchen right now they changed the name recently they have a new benefactor but they have a wonderful aviation program which aside from their power degrees offers air traffic control and aviation management and i believe actually um uh one one of our our airport administrators teaches there is that right.
Nina MacPherson: Yeah if not more than one i believe.
Wayman Eddy: So that’s so that’s awesome yeah no that’s great when people that are actually doing the job can sit down with students and impart their knowledge um that that’s huge and having it.
Nina MacPherson: Yeah it’s all about giving back right absolutely.
Wayman Eddy: It is all about giving back and uh so that’s one of those interesting things because here at the school you go from individuals with a t hanger or maybe just a tie down and they have their playing that they take up on sundays to the flying clubs to the small flight schools which are many of to the flight academies like we are with a larger footprint and a fleet all the way through something like the college level which is broward college right so you have the full range of training and opportunities that they have because all these operators right need people that understand aviation management they need maintenance professionals which is a huge industry-wide shortage of maintenance professionals so broward college’s amp program and now avionics program also there’s a huge shortage of uh they generate a lot of people and we hire a lot of those because it’s amazing to have that kind of training happening right down the street literally like right right over there.
Nina MacPherson: No it truly is and when you look at the state of the industry and what we’ve just been through you know there is going there is a shortage of pilots uh just because of um deals that were made you know furloughs early retirements buyout packages of already an industry that was going to be that we knew we’re going to need new pilots coming up the pike but then you take that and and you look at people actually don’t want to necessarily be on an airline with unruly passengers or food passengers or and so the there’s a little bit of a shift whereas for example naples airport or fort lauderdale executive airport that had um a higher per capita individuals owning jets and flying them uh now you’re seeing that people are doing the market share right the biz jets or or or buying into memberships and so they’re they’re gonna do a one-time fee to belong to a club where they can go and rent maybe a king air at a much lower rate and not have to deal with airlines and whatever’s going in going on in that industry.
Wayman Eddy: Yeah there’s a lot of changes happening throughout the industry right and you know not not that far around the corner uh we’re going to be sharing a lot of our airspace with unmanned vehicles you know i have my uas license uh any pilots out there highly recommend you take the quiz and get your uas license um is that something that is part of the conversation at your level or i mean you’re planning ahead i’m sure not just like next year but you know five ten years ahead uh is there any conversation about that?
Nina MacPherson: Not yet not yet we’re we are being we are being educated about it ourselves you know what’s that going to look like where is it going to look how are we going to do that safely how’s because you know the airport i manage happens to be nestled into quite a bit of airspace right overlapping airspace.
Wayman Eddy: Right and changing our space i believe we have a big airspace change coming as soon as next year uh which with the metroplex uh it’s kind of funny because you hear about these things years ahead like oh this is happening like oh that’s interesting and the next thing you know like no it’s happening like now it’s happening yeah it’s happening yeah and uh controller about that recently but hey as we’re coming to the end of our hour i’m just kind of curious to know um what advice you might have for somebody that’s that’s kind of curious about aviation management and airport operations?
Nina MacPherson: Um like i get like i said you know to to volunteer to get involved i think that don’t don’t limit yourself you know that that’s okay to pick up the phone and call somebody you know uh or go visit or tour well something the new generation is not good at is picking up the phone and calling somebody but yes scheduling a visit a tour yeah yeah exactly um and and you know uh reach out look look at these in these aviation industries that are also available to help you educate yourself about the different possibilities so go on the triple ae website go on the fac.org website you know what is it she talked about what is it we could do what’s got there’s a scholarship there’s an internship opportunity you know don’t um you know like i said i fell into it i didn’t have anybody who was in aviation in my family i didn’t have any pilots so it was actually quite unique some people are you know really um just bitten by the bug early on and just love everything to do with airplanes you know and and and i didn’t know that i was going to be so infatuated and so passionate so committed to this industry um i don’t regret a single day no day is like the other there is no cookie cutter day um you just never know what’s going to come your way and that’s the way i like it.
Wayman Eddy: That’s really nice that’s excellent and you know as i think about it there’s a lot of people that kind of get enamored with the idea of being a pilot you know they take a discovery flight and they start flying and for whatever reason they realize it’s not for them you know maybe it’s medical maybe uh it’s other things i’ve got people who are wonderful but they never get over the motion you know they get that motion sickness dizziness and i often say that for every pilot there’s 50 jobs in support right traffic control management operations airline and fbo owners and managers aviation is so much bigger than than a hat and stripes right i’m very well paying you know working for the faa and kind of can often be very rewarding with great benefits so if that is you if you’re interested in aviation then maybe the uh that pilot path is not for you you know don’t despair there is lots of opportunities and lots of careers one in four jobs here in south florida tide to aviation you’re absolutely right and you know and i thank you for having these podcasts and bringing it out to everybody um well done all right well thank you so much nina thank you for joining us today for carving at the time of your busy schedule thank you so much and have a great day thank you my pleasure we’ll see you soon.
