5-17-2012 meeting of the Rotary Club of Chickasha

The May 17, 2012 meeting of the Rotary Club of Chickasha opened with a prayer, pledge and songs.

Guests included Scott Biggs.

Prayer concerns include Bill and Janice McVey and Karen Zeiests' mother.

President Michael Oberlender reminded Rotarians that Friday, May 18 was the last day of school and the final day to greet freshmen students until next year. See Bill McVey if you would to help greet the students at 7:30 a.m. on Friday at CHS.

Cody White and Kory Kirkland gave a final update on the race which has more than 100 pre-registered. Rotarians are asked to wear their t-shirts and their Rotary badges so runners can easily spot us, although that should be pretty easy because we'll be the ones not running. Everyone needs to be there by 7:15. The race begins at 8 a.m. and should take only about an hour to complete.

Sherman Fredrickson was Rotarian of the Day. He introduced Steve Chapman, special projects director for the City of Chickasha who oversees the Chickasha Municipal Airport as part of his duties.

Chapman said the airport was established in 1941 as an economic development project. A bond issue was passed to buy land and the city successly lobbied Washington for a military base. Thousands of piiots trained here from late 1941 until 1945.

Chapman said the airport continues to be an economic development tool for the city from revenue generated by hangar rentals to fuel sales,

The airport has a 5,100 feet concrete runway as well as two turf runways. The longer runway will handle a wide array of aircraft, including corporate jets. The turf landing strips are the preference of pilots flying light air planes.

After the May 1999 tornado destroyed two hangers, the city used the insurance money as well as FEMA grants to make major improvements. Including replacing the two hangers with three and doing a $150,000 upgrade to the terminal building whites allows 24/7 access to pilots.

Chickasha airport is a favorite of many pilots in the OKC area because they don't have to deal with air space traffic in the vicinity of Will Rogers Airport and Tinker Air Field.

Two companies base out of the airport -- MediFlight and Chickasha Wings Flight School. Chapman said the airport serves a large number of corporate clients. 

"We get a tremendous amount of oil-related traffic," he said.

The airport has a 24/7 self-serve fueling station. Chapman revenue from fuel sales has greatly exceeded projections for this year. He said all proceeds from those sales are put back into the airport.

He said the airport is an asset for the city and it hoped that several events will be staged their to make the public aware of its importance.

The first will be a fly-in on Saturday, May 19 which will have several vintage WWII aircraft on display. The fly-in will being a 9 a.m. and will end at 5 p.m. although Chapman said it would be best to come in the early part of the day.

President Michael had to exit early and Cody adjourned the meeting after recitation of the Rotary 4-Way test.