Aviation View | Volume 2, Issue 3

35 AVIATION VIEW VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3 EASTLAND MUNI C I PAL A I RPORT Municipal Airport. “A lot of veterans settled this area for farming. It was a very small airport for a long time, but in 2009 we started upgrading and improving things.” There seems to have been an “if you build it, they will come” attitude that literally just took off at Eastland Municipal Airport. In 2009, the runway was lengthened and reengineered, making it 5,001 by 60 feet and able to accommodate larger aircraft, a few of which are based on-site. In 2015, they officially opened the Troy Taylor Terminal in honor of one of the area’s well- known pilots. It is a modern two-story building with a conference room and pilots’ lounge. The airport also recently erected a deer fence around the entire property to provide security for and from wildlife along with a full weather station. Zietz reports, “We have about 31 aircraft based here. We also have an Air Evac helicopter base that supports the hospital, which is a little over two miles from here along with periodic landings from a King Air Medivac fixed-wing aircraft. In addition, we have several businesses that use our airport as their base for flight operations, and some of the local folks who work for the highway trucking industry use our conference room for meetings. Mira Enterprises, a very successful local company that does renovation for fast food restaurants across the country has its headquarters in Eastland and uses our airport. They constructed our terminal as well. Then there is EBAA Iron Inc., the county’s largest employer. They operate an iron foundry and manufacture pipe joint restraints and flexible expansion joints for the water and wastewater industry. EBAA bases their aircraft here and bring in customers from all over the country to see their facility.” Of course, growth means the necessity of more hangars, a perpetual problem for regional airports. Eastland has a large community hangar for transient flights, since weather can build up fast in the region it is nice to be able to