Levi Brown’s past jobs included shuttling corporate bigshots and politicians across the country to high-level meetings in sleek turbo jets. The gig was fun but also grueling.
“I got tired of working at 3 a.m. on a Sunday,” Brown said.
Brown also gave out certificates to anyone who flew into Lake County airport in Leadville, the airport with the highest elevation in North America. Brown worked there as airport manager before becoming an airport project specialist at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield.
“A lot of people flew into the Leadville airport, just to get the certificate,” the 39-year-old Brown said. “It was kind of a novelty for pilots and passengers.”
The amiable Brown won’t be handling the same kind of tasks as airport manager for Longmont’s Vance Brand Airport, which some say is ripe for expansion.
He started the airport manager’s job on April 11 after serving as the Chief Pilot for McAir Aviation in Broomfield. The city initially narrowed a field of applicants down to 12 candidates, and then three before deciding on Brown, he said.
Brown takes over for David Slayter, who died in September. The city has since been using staff members to co-manage the facility, which averages about 70,000 operations a year. An operation is a takeoff and landing.
City officials say Brown can put his experience as a pilot and manager to good use at Vance Brand.
“Levi comes to Longmont with both practical and managerial experience in the aviation industry,” Assistant City Manager Joni Marsh said in a new release. “Levi is fully prepared to embrace the managerial responsibilities at one of the busiest general aviation airports in Colorado.”
Mayor Joan Peck said with Brown on board, the city can continue plans to put utilities in the southern part of the airport and work with developers to expand services. She noted there remains long-standing conflicts between nearby residents and the airport’s overhead traffic.
“There have always been problems flying out of there,” Peck said. “But we are moving forward. And I think we can do some creative things out there.”
The airport currently has one fixed-based operator — Elite Aviation — and is home to 300 airplanes, Brown said.
One of his first tasks, he said, is to give the aging structures at the airport makeovers. Some are 50-to-60 years old.
“They certainly can use a face lift,” Brown said.
Bigger projects include issuing requests for proposals for the utility work. Others include expanding the airport’s main runway and carving out additional hangar space for aircraft, Brown said.
Tracking operations at smaller airports like Vance Brand is an inexact science, Brown said, but he and other pilots have noticed increased activity at the facility. “It has really picked up over the past two years … and April was one of the biggest months ever,” he said.
Brown said he still has to meet more pilots and to reach out to nearby residents. He says noise complaints about airport traffic is a perennial problem and can usually be mitigated through good communication between officials and nearby residents.
The problem can also be avoided by discouraging high-density housing near Vance Brand, he said. Still, “noise is an endless struggle,” Brown said. “It always has been and probably always will be.”
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