Design Released for Community Aviation Destination at Greenville Downtown Airport

 

The runways shown on the rendering are not the real ones; they will be inthe park! The plan is to have a perimeter taxiway around the space for peopleto use for exercising, a natural amphitheatre for viewing the real runway actionand to use for school trip lessons, a picnic pavilion constructed from anantique airplane hangar, a plane fuselage that will serve as the entrance to thepark, airplane wings over benches that will serve as shade structures, and ofcourse some play equipment surrounded by lots of open green space, according toFrasher.

 

“Fewer and fewer kids are growing up to become pilots. As current pilotsretire, new talent will not be available to take their place,” said Frasher.“This is a huge problem for the aviation industry and is one of the reasons whywe want to provide a place, with no admission charge, for our youth to enjoy andlearn about aviation,” stated Frasher.

 

We think this park will be a perfect addition to Greenville’s growingaviation and transportation oriented community, stated Hank Brown, owner ofGreenville Jet Center. Locals and city visitors will enjoy it and find iteducational, mentioned Brown. GMU also wants to be able to have school groupsout to a place where they can see aviation in action and learn from theirexperience, Brown added.

 

At our peak we were seeing 10,000 school aged children annually throughour tour program, according to Rosylin Weston, Vice President of Communicationsfor the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP). That was before9/11 and the security changes that followed. One great thing about Upstate SouthCarolina is that there are several airports, all different but all playimportant roles throughout the region. It’s great that GMU is stepping up tohelp in this important aviation oriented community outreach, Weston added. Weeven purchased a GSP logo brick to help fund the park, I’m told that SCTAC, ourother Greenville area airport, did so as well. This is just another greatexample of how we all support each other. There is no competition here,” Westonnoted.

 

A while back, the Greenville Airport Commission voted to donate the use ofits land for the park, said Brown . It has taken a while to get to this stage.Now that we finally have the land survey, grading plan, permits to start movingdirt, and especially the beautiful rendering, we can begin fundraising inearnest stated Brown. We would like to get the grading, fencing, paving andother items donated or provided at cost. Our goal is to have an estimate for thetotal project cost within a couple of months, Brown mentioned.

 

The airport has used many companies over the years to do work in theseareas. We hope that they will step up and help us with this endeavor that willbe of tremendous benefit to our community, Frasher said.

 

We are looking for companies and individuals that appreciate the conceptand are willing to donate services or help fund the park. Our ultimate goal isto obtain a naming rights sponsor to cover the major capital expendituresassociated with this endeavor. I don’t think it will be a hard sell once theysee the site and hear our vision for this exciting project, statedFrasher.

 

This is exciting! Picnics and play while watching planes! ADEX looksforward to supporting the project and I can’t wait to visit the park with myfamily, stated Jason Premo, CEO of ADEX Machining Technologies, a supplier ofprecision components to Boeing, Delta Airlines and other aviationcompanies.

 

If you or someone you know would like to contribute to this project, checksshould be made payable to the Greenville Airport Commission and mailed to:

100 Tower Drive, Unit 2

Greenville, SC 29607-2631

 

All donations are tax deductible, per our tax accountant, and all donationamounts are welcome,” according to Frasher. If you donate over $100 you can“buy” a brick engraved with your own message. The brick will be used in thepark’s construction so that, in the years to come, you will be able to bringyour children and grandchildren to the park to see your name, their names oryour message as a permanent legacy of Greenville’s airport park. Bricks can beused to commemorate special occasions, as a holiday gift, to honor or remember aspecial loved one or to mark the date of your first solo flight Frasheradded.

 

The park site is located at 21 Airport Road Extension in Greenville, SouthCarolina. To get there from Laurens Road, turn by the post office onto AirportRoad and follow the road until it dead ends . . . the site will be in front ofyou. To get there by airplane, after landing at GMU, request taxi instructionsto the Runway Cafe on the southwest apron.

 

About the Greenville Downtown Airport
The Greenville Downtown Airport (GMU) is the busiest general aviationairport in South Carolina and is a self-sufficient entity with financialstrength that doesn’t rely on local taxpayers for funding. GMU is home toGreenville Jet Center, the largest Fixed Base Operation (FBO) in South Carolina,as well as more than 25 other aviation-related businesses creating 453 jobs thatannually contribute more than $35.2 million to the Upstate economy. For moreinformation about GMU, please visit http://www.greenvilledowntownairport.com or contact JoeFrasher at 864-242-4777 or [email protected]

For more information about ADEX Machining Technologies, LLC, please visit www.adexmt.com or contactJaso
n Premo at 864.416.3112 or [email protected]