Airport expansion a community investment
Oct. 17—SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP — A small airplane took to the skies last Wednesday afternoon as community members gathered to celebrate Grove City Airport's next chapter.
"That was for all of you," Michael Baun said as the crowd of about 50 laughed.
Baun owns Grove City Aviation, which runs the airport. Grove City borough owns the property itself.
The Grove City Area Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new hangar, where attendees got to hear Baun's story about joining the airport family.
Baun stressed that a lot of the credit for the airport's success goes to Doug Thomas and the late Steve Rhule, who passed away in 2014.
Thomas and Rhule headed up Silent Wings Soaring, which managed the airport until Baun and Grove City Aviation took over in 2019.
Baun recalled Rhule calling him in 2009 about a position with Buckair.
After hiring Baun — now chief pilot for Buckair — Baun said Rhule joked that he chose Baun because of the landscaping at the pilot's home.
"Steve had a penchant for landscaping," Baun said, pointing out several spots around the property that Rhule spruced up.
He would have liked for Rhule to see the airport now, Baun said, choking up.
Grove City Aviation has invested about $1.4 million into the airport, where most activity is personal and business flights.
That upgrades include the 10,000-square-foot hangar, additional parking, updates to the older hangar, a fence expansion and new equipment.
The airport houses six jets, STAT MedEvac and Skydive Pennsylvania. The new hangar is being rented to Buckair, and there's more work to be done.
Baun said he would like to extend the runway. It's not long enough for charter flights to land safely when it's raining, so pilots have to find a different airport. He also wants to add offices to the new hangar, which also serves as a maintenance base.
The construction project means an expansion of local commerce, said Beth Black, chamber director.
"Something like this is really unique because not everyone has an airport," she said.
It's exciting to see the airport grow, and Rhule and Thomas played an important in making the improvements happen, said state Sen. Michele Brooks, R-50, Jamestown.
"And it also adds to the quality of life," she said.
Laura Moore — who attended along with Shelli Oakes on behalf of state Rep. Tim Bonner, R-8, Pine Township — said she remembers visiting the airport as a child when it opened and getting to ride in an airplane.
"That left an impression on me," she said.
Other elected officials were on hand, along with community leaders and members of Rhule's family.
His father, Don Rhule, and sister Patty Rhule said that he would be very proud of how the airport has been maintained.
"He had these wonderful plans for what this could be," Patty Rhule said of her brother, a Vietnam War veteran who also worked for Continental Airlines.
W.K. Thomas and Associates out of Butler was the general contractor.
For more information about Grove City Aviation, call 724-748-5530 or check out the company's Facebook page.
