A conversation with … Brian Palmer

Brian Palmer, the new airport manager for the Newton City/County Airport, left a career as a regional airline captain to return to his roots in airport management.

Palmer, 44, spent more than 11 years with Republic Airlines flying Embraer 145, 170 and 190 jets. He has more than 10,000 hours of flight time.

But his flying schedule kept him from his children’s activities.

“Now that they’ve started school full time, being off in the middle of the week wasn’t working very well,” he said.

At the same time, the joy had gone out of flying for the commercial airlines.

“I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to fly airplanes,” Palmer said. “It was a lifelong dream to do it. But the industry had changed; it quit being fun.”

The position with the Newton airport is a good fit.

“I get to stay in the aviation community, and I get to stay around cool airplanes,” Palmer said. “And I’m 25 minutes from my house.”

The Newton airport is the state’s third busiest in daily operations, behind Wichita Mid-Continent Airport and the Salina Municipal Airport, according to Palmer.

“If you have a solid aviation community, then the counties and the cities benefit from that,” he said.

Palmer grew up in Denver, joined the Air Force at age 18 and spent four years working in command and control communications.

After the Air Force, Palmer attended Metropolitan State University of Denver and graduated with an aviation management and technology degree.

He worked for Denver International Airport before joining Jeppesen, which provides training materials, aeronautical charts, flight planning, navigational data, and aviation weather, as an airline account manager.

In the meantime, Palmer decided he wanted to learn to fly. So he quit his job, went to Florida and took an immersion course at Comair Aviation Academy, where he earned his pilot certificate and the ratings needed to fly commercially.

He first joined Gulfstream International Airlines, a commuter airline. In 2003, Palmer joined Chautauqua Airlines, then moved to its sister company, Republic Airlines in 2007. In 2009, he and his family moved to Wichita, and he commuted to Kansas City, where he was based.

Palmer and his wife, Petrissa, have twin 8-year-old boys and a 5-year-old daughter.

Outside work, he likes to spend time with his family, play golf and swim.

Your love for aviation began at a young age. What happened?

I wanted to be in aviation from as early as I can remember. I took an airplane ride when I was 4 years old, and it made me sicker than a dog. I thought anything that can do that must be awesome.

You were in the Air Force Reserves until 2008 and worked in air transportation and logistics management. It was a transition switching from a military operation to a commercial one. How so?

We worry about budgets in the military, but we don’t worry a lot about budgets in the military. In a commercial airport, we do worry about budgets. ... (In the military), if I need a new tractor or a new fuel truck, I call somebody who calls somebody and all of a sudden I have a new fuel truck.

You mentioned that the economy has improved, fuel prices have fallen and more people are flying. How is the Newton airport doing?

We’ve seen a huge increase (in traffic). We’ve kind of found our niche where people can come in and do business in Wichita and get out. Everybody talks – and if they have a good experience when they come to Newton, they’ll come back to Newton. We’re known very well for our operations supporting the airplanes that come in here. ... We’ve done a real good job and built up a reputation. We had to make sure that’s consistent.”

You will soon have 20 businesses employing nearly 450 people at the airport. You also have about 150 airplanes housed at the airport. Are your hangars full of airplanes?

When I’ve talked with a lot of other airports around the state, they have a lot of hangar space available. Our hangars are full. When the economy turned in 2008 and 2009, a lot of companies packed up and went away. Our companies didn’t do that. We didn’t lose any. They reorganized and did what they had to do to stay alive. That’s a testament to the companies themselves.

What’s your biggest challenge?

To keep all the tenants happy. It’s a diverse group of people. They’re all aviation people. They all have different businesses, and they all rightfully think their business is the most important. ... So when their snow is not removed in front of their hangar first, they call me. (Second) the airport has gone through some transition. We went through some personnel transition in the last couple of months. That’s hindered my ability to get out and market the airport. We’re working on that.

What’s the most fun thing about your job?

Just being in aviation and being in the community. The people that are in aviation are so passionate about it. ... You don’t find that passion in almost any other community at all. Airplane people are nuts. ... We have this vim and vigor for the airport and the aviation community. That’s the fun part. You meet a lot of interesting people in this industry.

What’s one thing not many people know about you?

I’d love to be a sports commentator – a play-by-play guy. I’m a closet play-by-play announcer in front of the mirror at home. “He’s running for a touchdown.” And I’m a world-class singer in my own mind.

This story was originally published November 21, 2014 at 4:41 PM with the headline "A conversation with … Brian Palmer."