Any Other AOPA Airport Support Network Volunteers Here?

[HighFlyingA380]

So I recently (well, a few months ago) became an AOPA ASN Volunteer for K33 - Salem Memorial in South-Central Missouri. I decided to do it as I remember constantly seeing there was nobody doing it for that airport (and I won't lie, the free hat and nice polo shirt pushed me into it as well ). So Salem is a very small municipal airport, which costs the town very little, so there has never been (well, in the 3 years I've paid attention) citizens calling for it's demise. I think that's because there's only an Air Evac Lifeteam base there, so they think the airport is necessary.

So, let's just use this thread to chat about ASN related stuff. (I searched for ASN and didn't find anything similar, but point me to it if I missed it.) Any input or comments besides my questions would be awesome as well.:

Are there any other AOPA ASN volunteers on here?
What airport are you?
What are some of your achievements?
Any suggestions for me?
Any good resource(s) that would point me to any threatening politics to the airport?
Anything I could do preemptively that could help solidify the airport's standing among citizens?

(While it's still an extremely primary thought of mine, I'm thinking about trying to become the airport manager. Being the ASN and doing something to help the airport could definitely help me out in the long-run, if I actually end up pursuing management.)

 

[SCCutler]

I am not an ASN myself, but work very closely with ours at KADS (Addison, TX). He has been instrumental in working to improve the communication between the airport sponsor (the City of Addison) and the airport user community, and he really worked to stir up interest in the (IMHO) disastrous effect the proposed modifications to DFW's Class Bravo would have on Addison Airport.

Lots of other "behind the scenes" type stuff, but it seems to me that the most important thing an ASN can do, in general, is to educate - educate airport users about how they can both be involved and NOT create bigger problems, educate airport sponsors about how they can maximize the airport's value to the community (hint: it is not about increasing revenue!), and educate the public about the inherent value of airports, in general.

 

[Graueradler]

I was the ASN volunteer at Russellville, AR before becoming a commissioner and later, the manager. As ASN volunteer, I attended commission meetings and did staff work for the commission. Sometime after becoming manager, I passed the ASN role on to someone else - who later became an employee.

My interests seemed to be different than most ASN volunteers. I feel that what is good for the airport is also good for the pilots. From responses to a few questions I posted on the web board, it seemed that most volunteers were primarily into what is good, or perceived as good, for pilots, not airports. The best thing for pilots is for everything to be free and for the airport/FBO to be liable for everything.

It is the AIRPORT Support Network, not the PILOT Support Network

I didn't find ASN to be much use, but then, I don't find AOPA to be much use. Instead of engineering victories, they are better at bragging about minimizing defeats.

I must be in a bad mood tonight.