Saturday afternoon, March 13, a six-seat Beechcraft Bonanza Model 35 landed on its belly, sliding about 700 feet down the runway after its landing gear failed to deploy properly.

Two pilots onboard stated they lowered the landing gear and that their instrument panel indicated that the gear was down. However, when they touched down, the gear was not fully deployed, so the plane slid on its belly. The two pilots were not injured.

“Everyone was able to walk away from the aircraft, which is wonderful,” said Captain Greg Thomas, ARFF.

There was a small fuel leak that ARFF firefighters quickly contained. Runway 14R was closed for about four hours while airport crews cleaned up the spilled fuel, removed debris, and hoisted the plane onto a flatbed truck for removal.

“They evacuated the aircraft and we were prepared in case of fire,” Thomas added. “Thankfully, the airplane fuel evaporated and there was no fire. Our training without a doubt served us very well.”

Thomas explained that ARFF firefighters train at least monthly on how to use equipment that they used in the Saturday incident. Annually, firefighters go to a special facility in Moses Lake to practice using the foam in an environmentally controlled situation.

“Repetition is the key to success,” Thomas said, adding, ”I’ve also got some incredibly smart people who are always working well.”

The NTSB is investigating the incident.

The airport’s community outreach to develop the Master Plan Update during the pandemic will be featured at the American Society for Public Administration’s annual conference this month.

Kevin Nuechterlein and Matt Sykora will present “Community Engagement During a Pandemic: Thinking Outside the Box” to registered conference attendees on Saturday, April 10. The conference, which will be virtual, runs April 9-15. They have already recorded their presentation, moderated by Mohamed Nimeri. They will be participating in the session live that day to engage with participants.

“Presenting at this conference is particularly meaningful to me because public administration is my background and the folks attending and presenting at this conference are the leaders and my peers in the field nationally,” said Nuechterlein. “We were excited to share the many lessons learned in our engagement and to help others as they work to be more transparent and engage with their local communities.”

Presenting the work at the national conference is also significant because the community asked that it be shared with other airports, Sykora explained.

“This is a big step to show what can be done when community and government work together,” Sykora said.

The team has been updating the airport’s master plan, a comprehensive study required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that describes the airport’s short, medium, and long-term sustainable development goals, alternatives, and plans. As the Master Plan update was nearing completion, COVID-19 hit.

Learn more about how the airport’s outreach incorporated equity and social justice.

Photo, top to bottom: Mohamed Nimeri, Kevin Nuechterlein and Matt Sykora present at the American Society for Public Administration annual conference.

Alyssa Dean, at left, is doing her part to help expand aviation careers to women in Washington state and around the country. Dean, Airport Duty Manager at King County International Airport (KCIA), recently (virtually) attended the Women in Aviation conference and presented at the associated Girls in Aviation Day.

A member of the Washington state chapter of Women in Aviation, Dean presented about the importance and value of the organization. She stood in for the chapter president, a Galvin Aviation employee, who was unable to participate.

“I talked about the importance of the camaraderie, how important it is for younger girls to start looking into their future,” Dean said. “We normally have monthly chapter meetings where we discuss what’s going on in the women in aviation realm and what we can do individually, like internships at Boeing Field.”

Myka Truss, a current KCIA intern and high school junior, was able to attend the conference as well. Dean has been working with Truss, who has been getting experience at KCIA with general aviation leasing and business development.

“What interested me the most would probably be the women’s place in space talk because it was cool to hear from women aerospace pioneers and to see how far they’ve come,” Truss said. “Because of the conference, I’m more eager to explore a career in the field of aviation or even aerospace because I now know how many roles there are in aviation besides just flying.”

“The Women in Aviation Conference is for women who are already working in aviation, enlisted or looking to enlist in any branches of the military, all the way to just getting started in college or they’re high school graduates looking to get scholarships,” Dean said. “Their whole MO is to get young individuals into aviation careers that are mainly male dominated.”

Dean said one of the most impactful sessions for her was hearing from the Fab Five, the Coast Guard’s first and only five African American female aviators, shown above with a conference moderator. 

The Fab Five include Lt. Cmdr. La’Shanda Holmes, Lt. Cmdr. Jeanine Menze, Lt. Angel Hughes, Lt. Cmdr. Chanel Lee and Lt. Cmdr. Ronaqua Russell.

“All five of them were rescuers during Hurricane Harvey,” Dean said.

“It was a very empowering hour and a half,” she added. “They spoke about the challenges that they’ve faced and what they’re doing now to make sure that women of color are having opportunity to be aviators and get into the service.”

Dean is already looking forward to attending next year’s conference and said that she’s excited about getting more women involved from KCIA.

Group photo above, starting with top row, left to right: Women in Aviation panelist, Lt. Cmdr. LaShanda Renee Holmes, Lt. Ronaqua Russell, Lt. Angel Hughes, Lt. Cmdr Jeanine Menze, and Lt. Chanel Lee at the Women in Aviation conference.

By late May, a contractor will likely be mobilizing at King County International Airport – Boeing Field to demolish the Arrivals Building, constructed in 1977 and now at the end of its useful life.

“We’ll see them erect a temporary fence around the building,” said Raleigh Salazar, Project Delivery Manager. “They’ll take the building down in two phases. First they’ll remove all the guts of the building.”

“They’ll disconnect the power and other utilities: sewer, water and gas. The last piece of it will be the exterior. We anticipate a large track hoe and several dump trucks.”

The engineer’s estimate is that demolition will take 60 days, from mobilization to clean up. Actual demolition plans will be submitted by the contractor.

With about 50 percent of airport employees teleworking, and many of the on-site employees working on the west side of the airport in Maintenance, the actual demolition isn’t likely to be too disruptive to airport staff or visitors.

“Terminal operations will remain open. People will still be able to park and enter the terminal,” Salazar explained.

There will be some impacts during demolition.

“We will probably reduce the terminal lane and redirect traffic around the first parking lot lane,” Salazar said. Only during the final phase of the north demolition we will be looking to put a safe zone inside the terminal. The south hallway will be reduced traffic only to customs and border patrol.”

Construction is scheduled to take place weekdays only from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Most of the building materials will be diverted instead of clogging landfills.

“We’re going to achieve a minimum of 85 percent diversion from direct landfill disposal,” Salazar said.

The building, in addition to reaching the end of its lifespan, has significant deferred maintenance. The removal of the building provides opportunities for future development.

“The demolition is providing the opportunity for us to look at additional ramp space (for large aircraft),” Salazar said.

Kenmore Air, a longtime tenant of King County International Airport-Boeing Field, recently marked its 75th "birthday."

On March 21, 1946, the company began operations on Lake Washington with a single seaplane. While it had a different name in those early days, the company soon adopted the name of its hometown: Kenmore, Washington.

Over the decades, Kenmore Air has expanded its operations in the region to Lake Union and here at KCIA. 

Congratulations to Kenmore Air, and we look forward to your next 75 years in the air!