Aviation View | April 2021

112 AVIATION VIEW APRIL 2021 Young Eagles Experimental Aircraft Association who are looking at taking up residence on the airfield in conjunction with Reading Jet Center on the north ramp. They usually do a ‘Christmas in the Air’ program in which they offer free flights for school-age children. This was not possible because of the pandemic in 2020, but it is a wonderful initiative that has been going on for 20 years and will hopefully start up again in December. In the past, they provided free flights for over 350 children during a single event. Geographically, Reading is close to a lot of other areas which offer some sort of air service… Lancaster, Allentown, Harrisburg, Philadelphia. Since 1980, however, they have been working on diversifying both inside and outside of the airport. Since the early ‘90s, there have been two developed industrial parks for non-aeronautical use and those have been quite beneficial in keeping revenues afloat. “Berks County Industrial Development Authority is working on another 155 acres of unused airport property, which they purchased and are creating an industrial park called Berks Park 183,” says Sroka. “The infrastructure is completed and most of the sites are shovel ready. We are working with them and the county and hopefully there will be tie-ins, as well as increased operations at the airport. Reading is a great place to live and a great place to work, so we still see all of this as a great opportunity. There are great things on the horizon.” PREFERRED VENDOR n EHD www.ehd-ins.com