Canyonlands Regional Airport

3 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 8 CANYONLANDS REGIONAL AI RPORT Certainly, Howland is a living example of how true this adage really is. While at the helm of an airport that sees both commercial and general aviation flights land and take off daily, she admittedly says that this job was never ‘planned’. It was, rather, the result of being in the right time at the right place, following a new passion for aviation and “trial by fire”. The ‘fire’ component was quite fitting for Howland and a great starting point to embark on her aviation career having many years of experience under her belt as a firefighter. Firefighting is the career that precisely led to her current position. “I started here at the airport about 12 years ago. I was an implant from Michigan,” she begins. “When I first began at the airport there was only one full-time person on staff-the Airport Manager- and only a handful of local firefighters that would come out and staff the ARFF truck during the flight because that was all that was required under FAA regulations back then.” “My background is firefighting and I was looking for ways to stay involved in firefighting in some form. I joined the local fire department in Moab until this part-time position at Canyonland Regional Airport was posted.” Not afraid of a new challenge, Howland applied and successfully secured the position of part- time ARFF (Aircraft Rescue FireFighter) at the airport. She was convinced that this would be a great career fit, marrying her substantial experience as a firefighter with her newfound love of aviation that she had acquired over the last few years leading up to accepting the offer. “I thought that this might be a neat opportunity and it sounds pretty cool,” she reflects. After four years in this position which exposed her to many elements of the functioning of a modern airport, she applied for a newly created position-Airport Operations Specialist. This doubled the staff from one to two full- time employees running an airport that was only growing in size and aviation activity.