Business View Magazine March 2023

229 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 It is his love of Aviation that drives Brewer, however, and perhaps because of this, Northeast is focused on the pilot, on the experience, and on making people feel they are a part of the community and cared for. During snow storms, for example, Brewer will take pilots out on the runway in his truck during plowing operations and let them make the choice as to whether or not they feel it is safe. This individualized touch goes a long way. “This has been a real rebound year for us,” says Brewer. “We now have four flight schools operating on the field. The two largest are Legacy Aviation and Tailwinds Flight Education. Just yesterday I was talking to the owner-operator of Tailwinds, Howard Cooper, who is a real advocate of the need to do something about the pilot and mechanic shortage – he is advocating at the government level and has worked with the Philadelphia School District and Frankford High School’s aviation magnet program. The hopes are that each year the program will grow in terms of the number of students and that these students upon NORTHEAST PHI LADELPHIA AI RPORT graduating will continue with an aviation career.” “Legacy is a Part 141 school and has 230 students. Legacy’s growth over the past year has allowed them to purchase several new Archer aircraft for the school. This growth has helped the airport recently reach record numbers in terms of operations, finishing last calendar year with 95,991 operations, the busiest years for the airport dating back to 2006. “Over the last year we have had several companies approach us wanting to build hangars. Which is great, and we actually have space for that, so we are in negotiations. And other companies are wanting to build additional T hangars and another gentleman wants to build a hangar for his aircraft because the FBOs here are full. The potential is amazing,” From its origins as a grass strip airport, Northeast Philadelphia traces its airport origins back to World War Two and the United States Army Air Corps who took over and paved three runways so that they could accommodate the wind no