Business View Magazine September 2018

170 171 and conducts economic and public policy studies and technical projects. In September, 2012, the Federal Aviation Administration selected the Cen- ter for Aviation Studies as part of a consortium of universities to lead a new Air Transportation Cen- ter of Excellence (COE) for general aviation. The COE focuses on research and testing efforts on safety, accessibility, and sustainability to enhance the future of general aviation. In addition to its valuable role as an aviation education center, The Ohio State Airport is a premier general aviation airport that serves the needs of Central Ohio businesses and is home to the corporate flight departments of numerous Central Ohio companies. It also includes several on-airport businesses and agencies including MedFlight, a non-profit air and ground critical care transportation company that completes nearly 7,000 transports by helicopter and Mobile Intensive Care Unit each year. Also at the airport is the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Aviation Sec- tion, which enforces traffic safety laws and assists motorists on the state’s highways, and the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation, which conducts various functions for aviation customers throughout Ohio. Other common activ- ities include air cargo operations, environmental patrol, military exercises, and aerial photography. All told, the airport generates around $570 mil- lion a year in economic benefit for the surround- ing community. “The University actually had an airport back in 1917, when it first started teaching cadets for World War I - both pilots flying and building aircraft,” says Airport Director Doug Hammon, commenting upon a century’s worth of flight THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY AIRPORT AT A GLANCE THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY AIRPORT WHAT: A teaching, corporate, and general aviation airport WHERE: 11 miles northwest of Columbus, Ohio WEBSITE: www.osuairport.org training sponsored by Ohio State. “That was shut down in 1920, because the Ohio State Stadium, where the Buckeyes play, was built on that site. In 1942, the University decided to get back to having its own facil- ity, after having used several different smaller airports around the city of Columbus. So, it made the decision to purchase some land, and in late ’42-’43, started constructing the airfield and the first buildings locat- ed here at the airport.” “It started out as a training facility for both Navy pilots and for what the federal government had going for a civilian pilot program,” Hammon continues. “So, it did both military and civilian training. The airport stayed just that, for years, within the university, as an internal, private use facility, mainly for training. It wasn’t until 1959, when the university received its first federal grant for some improvements that the airport became a public facility, open to anybody that wanted to come in and out.” “The airport began expanding at that time, accom- modating the newer aircraft. The first jets were based here in 1962, and there were new runways over the years and new hangars. And today, the airport is the third busiest airport in Ohio, based on the number of DOUG HAMMON AIRPORT DIRECTOR