David Decoteau will join the leadership team at King County International Airport-Boeing Field (KCIA) on September 20 as the new deputy director. Decoteau comes to the position after serving most recently as director of Renton Municipal Airport, less than five air miles from KCIA.
"I am excited to re-join the King County International Airport team and look forward to leveraging my experience at airports to continue to develop, operate, and maintain a world-class airport," said Decoteau.
Decoteau previously worked at King County Airport in two stints totaling about a decade, serving as a utility worker, operations coordinator, and duty manager. He then left the Pacific Northwest in 2013, working in leadership positions at two different airports in California before returning to Washington State in early 2021 to lead the team at Renton Airport.
"We conducted a nationwide search, but were fortunate to have someone like David with a deep base of knowledge right here in our own backyard," said John Parrott, director of King County International Airport-Boeing Field. "David's extensive qualifications and experience at airports up and down the West Coast, combined with his education and training, make him an excellent fit for the team here at King County Airport."
Decoteau said his dream has always been to work at KCIA.
"My dad used to take me there when I was a little guy to watch airplanes," he said. "My entire career has blossomed from that airport."
His earlier stints at the airport included serving as an intern. He also did some flight training at KCIA.
Decoteau said that Mike Colmant, former deputy director who was killed in a crash while biking last spring, was a good friend.
"Mike was my mentor and gave me my first shot at airport management," he said. "It means a lot to be back at the airport and do what I can to help see it excel."
A graduate of the highly-regarded aviation program at the University of North Dakota, Decoteau earned a master's degree in business administration from Western Governors University. In addition, Decoteau has received an Accredited Airport Executive (AAE) credential from the American Association of Airport Executives, holds a commercial pilot license, and is a certified flight instructor. In 2018, he was named by Airport Business magazine as one of their "Top 40 Under 40."
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  About 100 people turned out for the FOD Walk last month, raising awareness about the importance of watching for and picking up Foreign Object Debris or “FOD.” This was the first official FOD Walk at KCIA in many years, and the first time the event was open to non-airport employees as well, including tenants, Fixed Base Operators, and private pilots. Members of the Airport Roundtable also joined in, along with flight school staff.
Attendees showed up early on Saturday morning, August 7. After a safety briefing, they boarded Metro buses and spent their morning collecting screws, bolts, rocks and other debris.
“All that stuff was found in the grass, hardly anything was found on the runway,” said Sam Priest, Airport Duty Manager, who organized the walk. “That’s how it should be.”
Priest explained that it’s important to keep the grassy areas clean, too.
“As planes are taking off and landing, it blows a lot of wind into the safety area,” he said. “Picking up FOD saves lives.”
The most interesting debris?
“One person found a meter-reading instrument, something an electrician would use,” Priest said.
The runway was closed for the event, so some participants took the opportunity to sit (or even lay down) on the runway for photos.
Galvin Flying and the Civil Air Patrol had aircraft at the event, and Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting had a fire engine.
Participants received free tickets to the Museum of Flight and many enjoyed a visit there afterwards. They also enjoyed food and goody bags.
A big thanks to everyone who helped organize and set up the event, including:
- The entire Operations Team, including organizer Sam Priest
- The ARFF team, including Chief Greg Thomas
- METRO for providing two buses and drivers
- Chase Dolliver, Airport Maintenance, helped with set up and take down
- Ellen Knowlen and Lorenzo Stubbs handled budgeting and bought and set up the food
- Amyn Moore and Mohammed Nimeri helped get the invitations out
 More than 100 kittens, cats and a few dogs flew into King County International Airport on Aug. 29 from Hawaii. The Kauai Humane Society flew them here due to the limited number of adoption options in the islands, especially during COVID. Most of the animals had already been placed for adoption, the rest were headed to no-kill shelters in the Pacific Northwest hoping for a “furever home.”
 The airport Operations Team, for the first time, is providing coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“This schedule puts a duty manager on the airfield at all times to ensure seamless airfield operations and safety in the event of an emergency,” said Davey Pilley.
Operations previously covered about 20 hours of the day.
“Prior to the new schedule, Ops would have to answer the phone after departing from work at midnight to handle emergency calls (sometimes returning to work),” Pilley added. “The KC Airport Rescue and Firefighting team was trained to assist during the overnight hours in the absence of a duty manager.”
Operations is now fully staffed with four new positions, allowing for the change.
“We are able to land some great airport talent including one internal hire,” Pilley said.
New staff include two Airport Duty Manager, for a total of seven.
- Ciara Gamble – Fort Myers FL
- Erick Ariaza – Columbus OH
Two new Operations Specialists:
- George Pierce – Internal from the airfield maintenance section
- Abdullah Aldhahi – Bellingham WA
The additional specialists provide greater airfield presence both morning and night for safety oversight while freeing up the duty managers to complete other projects and required office work. The specialists will be responsible for monitoring the safe driving of tenants on the airfield, fuel farm and active refueling inspections for compliance, wildlife mitigation, FOD inspections on airport gates, escorting contractors on the movement area, perimeter inspections, and many other daily tasks around the airport.
The diverse Operations Team brings more than 152 years of combined experience. They come from all over the country and have worked at more than 30 different airports including one aircraft carrier, the USS Roosevelt.
Courtesy of Keith Bennett, Deputy sheriff, Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting
It was a dark and stormy night…Actually it was during the day and hotter than you know what. Despite the risks of spontaneously combusting, or at least a major sun burn on his fair skin, Sergeant Herman while on patrol in the area of Ruby Chow Park noticed something not quite right and exited his patrol truck to investigate. Ok actually it was pretty obvious what was going on.
You see, lying next to what we would describe as a “likely repeat theft offender” was a very expensive Specialized brand road bike, which if you are unfamiliar, is pretty much one of the top end manufacturers you can get. Anyway, relying on years of trained investigator experience as a police officer, Sergeant Herman deduced there was a high likelihood this bike could be stolen. So, he took the time to conduct a records check and discovered: (insert suspenseful gasp here) It is a stolen bike!!
In short, Sgt. Herman contacted the victim listed on the report who was very surprised to get her bike back. She came to the ARFF station to retrieve her property. She was super happy to see it. She wanted me to extend a heartfelt thanks to Sgt. Herman for finding it. She mentioned she did not think she was going to ever see the bike again and wanted me to take a picture of her holding it for her social media page.
Photo above: Erin Caldwell with her bike.
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