March 19, 2018 at 4:07 p.m.
Airport director Brauer to retire
28-year run to end in May; RHS grad to replace him
Airport director Brauer to retire
In December, Brauer advised the airport commission of his plan to retire this spring after 28 years of service. The search for a replacement began immediately.
The airport commission hired a search firm to recruit a replacement, with advertising for the position starting in January 2018. The search was concentrated in the Great Lakes region and upper Midwest so that the candidates would know what to expect from a Northwoods winter.
"Not too many people in Florida want to come run an airport in northern Wisconsin," Brauer said late last week in an exclusive sit-down interview with the River News.
"We ended up getting 20 people interested in this position. Of those 20, 11 actually replied, and they came from various walks of life from running general aviation airports to working commercial airports," Brauer explained.
Those 11 applicants were then presented with an essay-style questionnaire from the search firm. The answers resulted in the field being narrowed to six candidates.
After another round of questioning, the field was reduced to two candidates.
At the March 15 airport commission meeting, Leitner, 39, was selected as Brauer's replacement by a unanimous vote.
Bob Heck, chairman of the airport commission, said Leitner is a hometown boy coming home.
A 1997 graduate of Rhinelander High School, Leitner started hanging out at the airport when he was 11 years old after he won an hour of flight training in the air. He grew up in aviation, soloing on his 16th birthday, the absolute youngest he could do so, and was a hanger rat through junior and high school, hanging around the general aviation operation where he was eventually hired.
Leitner went to Georgia State University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 2003. He earned an MPA from George College in 2008. He then worked for a few years in the airline industry before becoming the director of the Jamestown North Dakota Regional Airport from 2010 to 2014 before taking over the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority in Crescent City, California where he still works.
Despite his relatively young age, Heck said Leitner was far and away the best candidate to replace Brauer.
"Of all the interviews that I have done through the years, probably hundreds of them, I don't think I was ever more impressed," Heck said. "He has incredible background, he has incredible knowledge. I mean he's as knowledgeable of the facts and everything else as it gets."
Heck said he is "incredibly excited" for Leitner to return to Rhinelander, especially since he grew up at the local airport. Brauer said Leitner starting washing planes at the age of 15 and would do other chores around the general aviation hanger to earn flying time to pursue his pilot's license.
"It (getting the job as director) was almost like a dream coming true for him," Heck said.
May 7 will be Leitner's first day and Brauer will stay until May 18, the day after his 67th birthday.
After that, the longtime director will become a "friend of the airport."
"They have been good to me," Brauer said. "I have no intention of ever going back to work again, anyway.
"It's been a great ride. I had a great career in the airlines industry."
Brauer started Feb. 1, 1990 and it didn't take long for his first problem to arise. It involved a 9 a.m. flight that started in Appleton and was due to make a stop at Rhinelander before ending up in Minneapolis.
"I was sitting in my office getting acquainted and doing whatever else like that and all of a sudden I get a call from my firefighting crew and you got an aircraft coming in here that only has two green lights," Brauer said. "That means you have the nose wheels and the two mains and you should have been getting three greens. So I said, 'Oh, boy!'"
He requested that the pilot do a flyby so the assembled fire and rescue crews could visually check the landing gear. The report came that all three were down, but there was no way to tell if they were locked.
Fortunately, the plane landed safely.
"Of all the managers I've had here, Joe did the best job," Heck said. "He is the best airport manager this airport ever had."
Brauer's longevity with Heck and the commission has resulted in steady improvements to the airport.
"In my tenure here, we've done over $25 million in projects," Brauer said. "There has been a lot that has happened over time."
For Leitner, his aviation journey from Rhinelander and back that started with that birthday gift certificate at age 11 has taken him a long way from home and back again.
As he is blind in one eye, it took tremendous dedication to flying for Leitner to even become a pilot.
"As a child in Rhinelander, I had to appeal to the FAA to grant me a waiver," Leitner said. "Which I got, so I'm able to fly with me being blind in my right eye."
Leitner said he started riding his bike out to the airport every summer day when he was 12 "and (would) go to Rhinelander Flying Service and beg for a ride."
He eventually got a job at Rhinelander Flying Service.
Now he's coming back to replace a man he knew growing up.
"It's an honor, I think, more than anything," Leitner said. "I feel confident in my ability to carry on his tradition. I think he's done a wonderful job. I think it is an honor to be his successor."
The best part of the new job is renewing relationships with old friends, he added.
"I look forward to reconnecting with all those I might have known growing up," he said.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.