Public input is important to King County International Airport's (KCIA) future! Join us for Vision 2045.

KCIA's Vision 2045 (FAA Master Plan) is a long-range plan that will help us become a world-class airport. The completed plan will include a noise study and will tell us which construction projects, infrastructure, and other updates to prioritize and fund in the coming decades.

KCIA will start working on Vision 2045 next year and we want you to be involved! We want to know how best to reach you and how to ensure the plan is equitable, sustainable, and data-driven. We also want your thoughts on how we should choose a location to relocate the airport fuel farm.

Get more information and take a brief survey by November 15.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Dr. Jill Biden, First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS), both flew in and out of King County International Airport for visits to Seattle last month. For folks who work at the airport, VIP visits, as they are known, can bring mixed emotions and an intense workload.

“It’s a love/hate thing,” said Sam Priest, who has managed four presidential visits along with a few vice-presidential visits so far in his career at various airports. 

“I like it because it’s so unique,” he added. “A lot of times, you know before anyone else that a VIP is coming in but you can’t say anything. You have this cool secret and you’re making it happen behind the scenes.”

For the most recent visits, Modern Aviation Seattle hosted dignitaries who awaited Harris and Dr. Biden and managed logistics for Air Force Two, Executive One Foxtrot and supporting aircraft. Airport Operations and Maintenance staff and King County Sheriff's Office (KCSO), including Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF), provided additional logistics and security. The Air Force managed security of the plane(s) and the Secret Service provided security as well.

“We handle law enforcement issues on the airport as well as fire response issues,” said Greg Thomas, ARFF Chief.

Sometimes the airport gets two weeks’ notice before a VIP visit, but other times it can be a matter of days or even less. In that time, involved airport leaders need to do a lot of coordination with federal officials and develop logistics and staffing plans, in part to figure out how to staff up significantly to cover the requirements.

“We staffed up to 10 people, we normally have three,” said Thomas. “This was a total team effort that required a lot of coordination by ARFF supervisors for coverage and staffing.”

ARFF must have enough employees to support both the policing and firefighting requirements of VIP visits, Thomas explained.

Operations also added about four employees on shift to support the usual lead airport manager position. They patrol the airfield, sweep the runways and support communications. Maintenance employees provided equipment, including huge snow blowers to block the line of sight to VIP arrivals and departures from potential onlookers.

In addition, ARFF had all their vehicles available, including the one usually in reserve. A C-17, a large cargo plane, flew in ahead of time for logistics support for the vice president's visit.

“It can be quite a show,” Priest said. “Operations works with the Advance Team (Secret Service and government officials) to make sure the airport is secure, there’s ingress and egress, and manages the temporary flight restrictions.”

Before the pandemic, VIP visits were much more common, averaging about 16 visits in an election year, Thomas said.

“The reason they like this airport is we are so close to Seattle, that’s where the political parties meet to do their fundraising and rallies and the like,” Thomas said.

VIPs also can include heads of state, sports teams or other public figures such as members of Congress. The President of Colombia flew into KCIA, for example.

“It’s cool because long after you have bragging rights,” said Priest, who used to provide security detail for President Obama. One of his memories includes enjoying M&Ms from Air Force One.

Vanessa Chin has been selected as the Chair of the Northwest Chapter of the American Association of Airport Executives' (NWAAAE) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE and I) Committee.  Chin is Business Information Management Manager at King County International Airport.

"She has served on the Chapter’s DE and I committee as a committee member for just over a year," said Chris Pomeroy, Airport Director at Friedman Memorial Airport and president of NWAAAE. "Her experience, passion, enthusiasm, ideas, and commitment to the Chapter as it relates to this important 'human' space makes her the ideal fit."

“My whole goal in serving as the chair of the DE and I committee is to establish the human and foundational work of equity and social justice and apply that at the Northwest AAAE,” Chin said.

NWAAAE includes eight states and five provinces in Canada. Chin explained that she’s excited to collaborate with committee leaders on equity issues in NWAAAE.

“Hopefully people will understand that diversity, equity and inclusion isn’t just the side dish,” Chin said. “This is the foundation.”

“It’s another way King County is leading the way. To me that’s exciting,” she added. Chin’s appointment comes on the heels of a presentation that she and Kevin Nuechterlein gave at a recent AAAE conference.

“Stepping up to do the conference (presentation) really helped,” Chin said. “Being able to share what our King County True North values are, specifically that we are racially just.”

Chin is excited about being part of what she calls the “AAAE family.”

“After Kevin and I took the chance to do the session, people came up to me and tried to show me allyship. I’m like hey, want to join our committee?” Chin said with a smile in her voice. “It’s about having those conversations.”

Paula Cracknell, Environmental Scientist II

Paula Cracknell brings experience solving complex environmental issues through research design, field studies, modeling and working closely with a variety of stakeholders.

“I am an aquatic toxin expert which has enabled me to be part of teams who have corrected pollution issues and developed successful restoration plans in a wide variety of environments,” Cracknell said. “I am very excited to join the Engineering team at the King County International Airport.”

Previously Cracknell worked as an Aquatic Ecologist for Thurston County Public Works. She supervised lake management activities, stormwater compliance and riparian restoration projects. She worked closely with stakeholders to ensure that goals were met and developed several monitoring and reporting programs to communicate environmental data to a wide range of audiences.

She graduated with a master's degree from the Evergreen State College's Graduate Program of the Environment in 2017. She studied the impacts of land use and ambient weather patterns fueling harmful algal blooms in the Puget Sound area.

“I look forward to learning from the team at the King County International Airport and providing support for environmental review and analysis to ensure streamlined environmental planning for projects,” Cracknell said.

She lives with her family in Olympia, where they enjoy hiking, swimming and exploring the beautiful forests and rivers of Washington state.

As a reward for being selected the team with the best overall “capstone project” at Raisbeck High School last year, a group of students toured King County International Airport late last month and met virtually with airport employees to learn about aviation careers.

“Raisbeck is heavily invested in project-based learning. Studies have shown that students learn more by doing than by being lectured at,” said Eric Miller, Capital Project Manager, one of several airport staff involved in the year-long project with the students. The students collaborated on a stormwater project, learning about filtration and other environmental issues.

“This event we just held was the culmination of everything,” Miller said. “We wanted to show them all the different jobs at the airport.”

After the career fair, the students took a tour, including the air traffic control tower.

“The real showpiece was a tour of the airport,” Miller said. “We got to go into the FAA control tower and see how it operates.”

Thanks to airport staff who participated in the career panel:

• Brian Bartley, Capital Project Manager 2
• Vanessa Chin, Business Information Management Manager
• Paula Cracknell, Environmental Scientist 2
• David Decoteau, Airport Deputy Director
• Elijah Jones, Graduate Intern
• Donald McClendon, Maintenance Supervisor
• Rares Neagu, Engineering Undergraduate Intern
• Mohamed Nimeri, Managing Engineer
• John Parrott, Airport Director
• Matt Sykora, Airport Business Manager

Photo above, left to right: Michael Gudor, teacher; and current juniors, Allia Nln, Malia Tuli, Madelyn Novick. Not pictured but also on the winning team: Daniel Sung.

The Burien/SeaTac Community Police Academy visited the fire station at King County International Airport recently. The Academy is a nine-week course designed to increase the understanding between residents and their police departments through public education.

Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) provided a fire truck water demonstration, an introduction to breathing apparatus equipment and a K-9 demonstration by King County Sheriff Deputy Samuel Sare and his partner, Chuck.

“We all enjoyed the tour and demo,” wrote Michiko Wilson in an email thanking ARFF after the event. Wilson collaborated with Detective Robell Ghrmai from the City of SeaTac Police Department on the academy.

According to Wilson, most of the participants live and/or work in either Burien or SeaTac. They cited these reasons for participating in the academy:

• learn how they can assist the police/city;
• learn and understand the services provided by the local law enforcement;
• be more knowledgeable about the law enforcement and policing; and
• learn how they can better support law enforcement.