H&R Trains - Albert Whitted Airport

Although I was not a pilot at the time it was in the back of my mind that someday I may want to learn to fly or even to earn my living as a pilot. It wasn't long before I earned my private license while working two jobs to support my family and my new found hobby.

Almost immediately I began working on my commercial licence, and within a short time I had acquired that Commercial License along with an Instrument Rating, Multi Engine Rating, Flight Instructor Rating, Ground Instructor Ratings and more. I guess you could say that I was hooked.

I earned my living as a Flight Instructor and Corporate Pilot here in St. Petersburg at the Albert Whitted Airport for more than ten years before going to work for Piper Aircraft Corporation. Although I moved several times during my more than 30 years working as a Commercial Pilot I always considered St. Petersburg my real home.

Unfortunately some of the city officials of St. Petersburg don't seem to have the same fondness for this historic airport that I do. It is under constant attack by developers who could care less about its heritage or the fact that many other business people moved here for some of the same reasons that I did.

Many of our customers at H&R Trains routinely fly into the Albert Whitted Airport when shopping in our store. We fly our own airplane to service our customers all over the South Eastern United States. We build Train Layouts for Restaurants, Hospitals, Theme Parks, Doctors offices, Dental Clinics, and for private individuals. I simply could not service our customers as well without the convenience and utility that our downtown airport offers.

Albert Whitted brings other business to St. Petersburg as well. This airport is extremely valuable for attracting commerce to the heart of downtown St. Petersburg. More than half of the over 100,000 take off and landings each year are by aircraft from somewhere other than St. Petersburg.

The airport provides jobs for over 300 people. Bay Flight operates one of the largest and most successful Air Ambulance Services in the country right here in downtown St. Petersburg. The Florida Highway Patrol, the United States Coast Guard, The Civil Air Patrol, and others all use Albert Whitted Airport. There are so many other organizations that use the airport to provide vital service to our community that it would be hard to recognize them all.

The Albert Whitted airport has a very historic past. On October 11, 2003 the Airport celebrated Its 75th anniversary, although the field has actually been around much longer. Albert Whitted Airport is internationally recognized as the birthplace of scheduled airline flight. On January 1, 1914, a small airboat took off from the water adjacent to this airport, on the first regularly scheduled airline flight in history. That flight took place only eleven years after the Wright Brothers first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In May of 1934 National Airlines was founded at Albert Whitted Airport in hangar #1 on the south west corner of the airport.

Recently over the past few years other smaller but smarter communities have built new General Aviation Terminal Buildings and made other improvements to help attract air commerce and new business to their communities. Orlando Executive, St. Augustine, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Sebring, Charlotte County, Plant City, and Tampa's Vandenberg Airport to name a few. Winter Haven, Bartow and others are also about to break ground on new General Aviation Terminals. Most were built with Florida Department of Transportation funds and other grants without draining their local treasuries.

The Albert Whitted Airport Preservation Society has a plan for an "Air park Concept" that makes more sense than any plan that I have seen for our airport in the past thirty five years. It includes a new Control Tower, A new General Aviation Terminal Building, Restaurants, Shops, An Education Center and Museum Complex, Public Viewing Areas, Green Spaces with Bicycle and Hiking Trails, Picnic areas and much more. It is a well thought out approach that addresses the needs of all the cities residents with a park like atmosphere that keeps the airport "in tact".

This "Air Park Concept" will help to keep St. Petersburg as an attractive destination for both New Businesses and new Residents while allowing St. Petersburg to continue as a Vibrant and Thriving Community for it's current residents well into the next century.

In November of 2003 the citizens of St. Petersburg sent a crystal clear message to the City Government in St. Petersburg. 73% of the voters said they wanted a new amendment to the city charter that would require the city to keep our Albert Whitted Airport "FOREVER"

The mayor and city council appointed a blue ribbon task force to study the airport and make recommendations on how to best make our airport the best general aviation airport in the country if not the world. I was very fortunate to have been appointed as one of the nineteen members of this task force and I am pleased to have been a part of this very important event in our city history.

After nearly a year of countless hours of research and weekly meetings the Task Force delivered "Our Vision of Tomorrow" for the Albert Whitted Airport to the St. Petersburg City Council.

The report contains 36 recommendations including a new Control Tower, a new Terminal Building, Runway Improvements, Public Viewing Areas, a Park with hiking and bike trails, an Aviation themed Playground, a War Memorial, and much more.

If these recommendations are implemented by our city officials in a timely manner it would bring our airport up to current FAA Standards and will help to make the airport more user friendly and also a safer and more self supporting facility. Once these recommendations have been carried out we will all benefit from our airport well into the future.

Things tend to move very slowly however in city government. It is very important for all of us to do our part and keep reminding our city officials about the importance of our airport.

It has become quite clear that the mayor and city staff have ignored some of the most important recommendations made by the task force. These recommendations were all to have been included in the updated "Airport Master Plan" and were formulated in a way that would have made our airport more self supporting and much safer for those who use our airport. These recommendations are not all included in that master plan!

One of the Ideas that came about as a result of our research for our airport was the Av-Stak Systems Hangar concept. The Av-Stak hangar would have allowed up to 360 aircraft in a single multi-story Hangar. This new Hangar could accept most of the existing two hundred planes on the airport as well as the (80) eighty pilots on the current waiting list leaving a few spaces for future growth.

The Idea was rejected by the Blue Ribbon Task Force, and the City Staff. Several other aviation businesses have been turned away as well by our city because of the apparent lack of space to accommodate them.

Because of the growing & renewed frustration with the Mayor and his policies the Yellow Signs have started going up again to show support for the airport. If you would like one for your yard or business to show your support for the airport you can contact me at 727-422-8544, or at H&R Trains 727-526-4682 or send an Email to the Albert Whitted Airport Preservation Society at awaps.org and one will be provided free of charge.