Rockingham's sleeping giant

Watching an airplane taxi by from a terminal window, Shiloh Airport manager Mike Bragdon thinks back to his first visit to the airport.

“I actually worked here back in the ‘70s when the airport was first built,” Bragdon said.

More than that, he learned to fly at Shiloh, beginning a career that returned him to his Rockingham County roots two years ago.

Service in the Air Force, then as a commercial airline pilot, led him to a position in Charlotte. He heard about the manager’s position at Shiloh while talking to an airport board member at a wedding.

“It sounded like a great opportunity to come back home,” Bragdon said.

The facility he returned to is far different from the one where he took his first solo flight three decades earlier, however. Not only is there a new, modern terminal building, but also longer runways and taxiways and many more hangars.

“We have about 65 aircraft housed here at the airport,” Bragdon said. “But we still get a lot of traffic in and out of here from Greensboro and other airports. We get a lot of planes from flight schools and other general aviation businesses.”

That traffic adds up to as many as 100 takeoffs and landings each day at the once quiet rural strip.

There is also an added sense of value connected to the airport. What was once considered a place for hobbyists to store their planes for weekend flights is now viewed as a key element in the county’s economic-development picture.

Robert Keys, president of Rockingham Community College, has been a pilot with his own airplane for nearly 30 years. For the past 10 years, he has served on the Rockingham County Airport Authority – the governing body and steering committee for the airport.

“I really think of the airport as sleeping giant in terms of economic development for the county,” said Keys, currently chairman of the Airport Authority. “We have a tendency to think of economic development in terms of Reidsville, Eden or the western part of the county. The airport is often overlooked, but I think it has the potential to be a tremendous economic development tool.”

Since the 1998 announcement that FedEx intended to build a cargo hub at Greensboro’s Piedmont Triad International Airport, Shiloh Airport has received more attention from outside the county.

“The coming of FedEx created a lot more visibility for outlying airports,” Keys said. “Support businesses wanting to locate near the hub want to get away from the high traffic area around PTI and we’ve been getting a lot more inquiries as the opening date for FedEx draws closer.”

In an attempt to make Shiloh more attractive to some of these support businesses, Keys said the Airport Authority has applied for grants to make a number of improvements. Shiloh is already in line for funding to extend the taxiway to the full length of the runway, to extend the runway from the current 5,200 feet to 5,500 feet to handle small jets, and add an Instrument Landing Service for landings during adverse weather conditions.

County Manager Tom Robinson views the addition of ILS as a key factor in attracting more commercial business to Shiloh Airport.

“When we get that done, we’ll have the ability for planes to land 24-7, rain or shine, snow or fog or whatever at our airport,” Robinson said. “That’s key. And when that happens, you’ll see corporate planes starting to come in and maybe even be based at our airport.”

Having those corporate aircraft based at Shiloh is another economic development factor that could supply a boost to the county’s tax base. Robinson said some corporate jets are valued at more than $5 million.

“All of the aircraft housed at the airport are subject to county property taxes,” Robinson said. “Having one of those based here would be the equivalent of a small residential subdivision tax wise.”

The aircraft would also bring more revenue to the airport through the purchase of fuel and use of local maintenance facilities.

The airport is preparing for an influx of new aircraft by expanding its storage facilities. County commissioners recently approved the purchase of an existing private hangar at the airport and the construction of another commercial hangar.

The county also owns several large tracts of property around the airport, and Keys mentioned plans to develop some of that land into an Airport Business Park.

Graham Pervier, president of the Rockingham County Partnership for Economic and Tourism Development, said he has talked with Keys about developing a master plan for a business park on the county’s acreage near the airport.

“We’ve done some preliminary studies on providing water and sewer for such a park and the cost seems daunting, especially for the sewer,” Pervier said. “But with the right kind of manufacturing clients lined up, it could be possible to acquire grants to help with that.”

Pervier said the recent additions of new hangar facilities, the relatively new terminal building and improvements to the paved areas only highlight the airport’s potential for prospective customers.

“It’s no secret that success breeds success in any situation,” he said. “All of the recent developments and improvements planned for the near future tells businesses interested in moving to our area that we’re serious about providing for their needs.”

Keys stressed the fact that the county’s annual budget for airport operations has not grown as the facility itself has expanded in recent years. The county still budgets only $80,000 a year for the airport: $70,000 for operating expenses and $10,000 for capital improvements.

“The rest of the airports operating funds comes from sales of fuel and other maintenance items, and hangar rentals,” he said.

According to Bragdon, the airport’s annual operating budget runs about $550,000, with the majority of that generated by the airport.

“The county’s contribution is only a small portion of what it takes to maintain this facility,” he said. “This is really a major business enterprise like any other business and we work hard at making it sustain itself.”

All of the improvements and expansion happening to prepare the airport for future economic development is funded through grants, mostly federal in nature. Those grants require only small matching funds from the county, usually no more than 10 percent of the total grant.

“That allows us to accomplish a lot with very limited investment of local funds,” Bragdon said.

As Bragdon returned to his office Monday to update financial records, a visiting pilot left the terminal’s reception area to prepare his plane for takeoff. Bill Scharrer from Roanoke, Va., flew into Shiloh early Monday morning and Bragdon said Scharrer was typical of many of the pilots coming through the airport on a regular basis. For these pilots, flying was a combination of business and pleasure.

“I’m just here for a few hours while my wife takes one of her clients to pick out granite from a local distributor here in Rockingham County,” Scharrer said. “I jump at any excuse to get in my plane and takeoff for a trip anywhere.”

Scharrer flew into Shiloh from Roanoke in his 1977 Grumman Tiger, a four-passenger, single-engine aircraft. While confessing that flying was not an inexpensive hobby, he said it was far from being a luxury.

“You always hear people talking about the ‘$100 hamburger,’ where you jump in your plane and fly off somewhere for lunch,” Scharrer said. “But I look at my plane as most people do their car. Where I live is right in the middle of my family in Florida and my wife’s family at Cape Cod. We can get in the plane and be at either one in about five hours. That saves a lot of time and fuel from driving in the car, and we feel a lot better when we get there. I love flying.”

News Editor Steve Lawson can be reached at slawson@reidsvillereview.com or at 548-6047.