Aviation enthusiasm

John Lyons is stepping away from Portland Board of Aviation after nine years.

As he departs, he’s not at all interested in talking about his near-decade of service. But he’s more than happy to discuss flying.

“You’re kind of in your own little spot,” said Lyons, whose last meeting as a member of the aviation board was Dec. 15. “Your cell phone doesn’t ring. Nobody bothers you. You’re just kind of in that little moment. It’s a stress reliever for me.”

Lyons, a lifelong Jay County resident and 1971 Portland High School graduate, took his first flight when he was about 7 years old, tagging along with his father, Rex, who traveled frequently for his job with Sheller-Globe.

“And I bit, hook, line and sinker,” he said of his first flight with then-airport operator Dick Shreeve.

Lyons started taking flying lessons with Shreeve in the mid-1970s, but for a variety of reasons did not finish. He ended up at Randolph County Airport in Winchester decades later and earned his pilot’s license, purchasing his first aircraft at age 59.

It wasn’t long after that then-Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman came calling to gauge his interest in joining the city’s aviation board. He became a member in January 2013 — other members were Bob Sours, Bob Stephens and Jim Runkle — filling the seat previously held by Linda Kennedy. At that first meeting, the aviation board hired Butler, Fairman & Seufert as its engineering firm.

Lyons had pushed for the firm, having seen the work BF&S engineer Jason Clearwaters had been involved with at the Randolph County facility.

“They really know what to do and how to do it,” said Lyons, a Pike Township farmer who has grown corn and beans and raised hogs and a few cattle. “They deal with the (Federal Aviation Administration) on a regular basis. It just seemed like a natural way to go with them. … They were on the move.”

He credits Clearwaters and the firm, along with his fellow board members — he has also served with Mike McKee and Dick Baldauf over the years along with current members Clyde Bray, Faron Parr and Mitch Sutton — and others with the years of work it has taken toward the runway extension project that is currently underway. (It had been discussed since 1999 and finally received FAA approval in January 2015.) It is scheduled for completion next year, and Lyons said he expects it to be an economic development tool as it will allow companies to fly larger aircraft to the city.

The airport improvement Lyons most proud of over the last nine years, though, is the addition of a Lutheran Air base. The medical helicopter has been at the airport since 2015, significantly reducing response times in emergencies. He referred to the proximity of the helicopter as “life-saving,” noting that he experienced it personally when his wife was transported to Fort Wayne about two years after the base was established in Portland.

He’s also been an advocate of making flying lessons readily available. (Tavzel Aviation now has a full-time instructor at the airport.)

“That’s the lifeblood of an airport,” he said, adding that he expects the board will continue to improve the facility in years to come. (Expanding the apron is one of the next big items on the wish list.) “You get somebody interested in flying and they either start a club and buy an airplane and several people own it or they buy their own. And we have come, I think, a significant way with people taking lessons and interest.”

He hopes a longer runway, more accessible flying lessons and other planned improvements at the airport will help others fall in love with flying like he did as a child.

And for those, like him, who prefer to avoid the spotlight, he still encouraged stepping out of their comfort zone.

“I think if it’s your passion, it becomes something you want to be involved with,” Lyons said. “Everybody has an interest, and that was at the top of the list for me. And it had been since I was a kid.”