00:00:01 Jeff Williams:
This is Community Voices.
Today, we are featuring an event you may have missed, the Citizens Club of Springfield's policy forum on advanced air mobility and energy resiliency, preparing the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport for the future. We will first hear from Joyce Nardulli from the Citizens Club of Springfield.
00:00:22 Joyce Nardulli
Welcome to the Citizens Club of Springfield.
I am Joyce Nardulli. I am the president and we are very happy that you have joined us to learn some very exciting things regarding the advanced air mobility and energy resiliency, preparing the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport for the future.
I want to introduce you to our three presenters this morning. Mark Hannah is a fellow Citizens Club board member. He's been the executive director of Capital Airport for 19 years, and he is accredited airport executive, and an FAA licensed private pilot.
He has chaired the Public Airport Association several times and is a decorated combat veteran.
Susan Zellers is the assistant vice president and senior project manager and aviation planning lead at Hansen Professional Services. During her 33 year career. She's provided aviation planning and design services to more than 60 airports, and she holds a master's degree in civil engineering and is a licensed professional engineer in three states and also the Virgin Islands. Susan is accredited airport executive and an active pilot herself.
Clayton Stambaugh is the deputy director of aeronautics for the Illinois Department of Transportation. He is the chair of the National Association of State Aviation Officials, which oversees the development and promotion of national aviation systems that safely and effectively serves the needs of citizens, commerce, and communities throughout the whole United States.
And with that, I will turn the program over to Mark.
00:01:52 Mark Hanna
Thank you, Joyce.
Thanks, Mike, and Custom Cup.
Welcome to each and every one of you.
I think there's some very exciting things that are happening at the airport. It's so timely with what's happening and what we're doing and embarking on right now as it is woven in very tightly with what's happening at the national level. But before we dive into the presentation, kind of just give a quick overview of what's been happening at the airport the last few years. Kind of, it'll dovetail into what the topic is today a little bit. In recent years, we've invested nearly $10 million in our corporate and general aviation facilities at the airport. Some of those facilities date back to the 1950s. Some of the first buildings on the airport are still there.
They've been renovated, repurposed, and modernized. It means that our businesses of the general aviation people that come into Springfield through the airport, not on an airliner, but through a private aircraft, are being welcomed into the community with a first-class facility, something that you would see or expect in a major metropolitan area.
We help support the investment at Lincoln Land Community College with what Levi and LRS has done to support that facility and that program with workforce development and training for the next generation of AV techs and airplane mechanics, airframe and power plant technicians.
And it's also been a catalyst to help other pilots and other groups come together. The Flying 20s has been a president at the airport for many years.
There's a new group that's purchased an aircraft, looking to buy a second aircraft, start another flying club based on all the energy that's going on at the FBO facility with support of Stellar Aviation, or FBO.
And of course, our friends of the Air Combat Museum certainly continue to be a friend of ours and work with all these entities to kind of keep the energy moving to support general and corporate aviation.
Moving over the airfield, the Airport Authority has invested 10s of millions of dollars in airfield preservation and major safety enhancements
on the airfield itself, and we're typically entitled, hate to use the word entitlement, but through a formula-based program with the FAA, we are entitled to receive an a formula-based program up to about $1,000,000 a year, and we never settle on $1,000,000. We're always trying to take that to a higher level.
This last year, we were finished up nearly a $25 million project. And next year, we're looking to advance and start a $30 million project on the renovation and rehabilitation of our crosswind runway. We do maintain a very productive relationship with the 183rd that so many of and have come to love and recognize as part of the fabric of our community.
We've also welcomed a directorate level office of the Illinois Army National Guard at the airport. Full-time state aviation officer and the state safety office is now located at the airport.
00:04:35 Mark Hanna
And the airport authorities have been instrumental in supporting them to permanently base one of their aircraft at the airport.
Now we're supporting their plans for increased air
missions at the airport with based aircraft, helicopters, and such, as they look to reconstitute, reconsolidate what they're doing with those air assets around the state.
With all those relationships kind of sliding over to the north side of the airport, Standard Arrow, many in the room may have known that business as Garrett Aviation.
Garrett Aviation has had its beginnings on the airport back to the 1950s into some of those original buildings that the FBO now resides in. The airport authority owns those buildings, and we are in the midst of nearly a 10 to $12 million reinvestment remodel, rehabilitation of those facilities.
What that's going to do is set the table for a very large expansion of that facility, meaning capital investment, buildings, and job growth with what they do with these private aircraft that they bring in.
There's a whole new generation of large general and corporate aircraft that are coming off what they call OEM, original equipment manufacturers that you may hear about today, looking for aftermarket service and support. It's a huge employer in our town that I... I think many times gets overlooked.
What we've done recently to help support them, to help embed them and get them to recommit to Springfield is we recently just finished a 2.88 megawatt solar array that pretty much energizes their current facility. They're able to tout that this plant in Springfield is their first and still may be the only facility in their worldwide portfolio.
It's an international company that they can say it's nearly powered by 100% renewable energy. Totally purchased, built, designed, owned by the Airport Authority, and now we're within days of actually energizing another $1.4 million, 1.4 megawatt, nearly $4 million project that'll be owned and operated by the airport that will help offset Airport Authority electric costs.
This cannot be possible without the very close and thoughtful relationship between the Springfield Airport Authority and the city of Springfield and also CWLP. There are some awesome professionals and engineers, people at CWLP that really made this thing happen for us and understand the importance; and that's how we do economic development at the airport. That's how we do our little part to help with the market and help grow Springfield.
I know many of you want to talk about air service, okay, but this is how this dovetails into air service.
After we did that solar array, we learned about an opportunity through IDOT for a statewide plan and a research grant. We applied for it, we got it.
The plan was completed just after Thanksgiving and it's ready to be distributed to our MPO, the Regional Planning Commission, and others. That's a roadmap for us as we go into the future to be able to accept and help develop. Some of these new technologies that are coming on board. There are one of these manufacturers, these aircraft manufacturers that are moving into the electric, kind of the electric engines for these aircraft that has struck a deal with Mesa Airlines and United Airlines to order some of these aircraft that are 30-seat aircraft that are targeted to be used for commercial air transport for people. And that's the perfect size aircraft for a market like Springfield to reinstate more frequency and more accessibility to places like Chicago, some of these aircraft upwards of 250 miles. So we'll get into that a little bit later, but that's my selfish motivation to have pursued this planning grant so we can be on the cutting edge and we can be ready to participate in programs.
One program we just filed yesterday through, I believe it's USDOT and the FAA, it's the electric vertical takeoff and landing or short takeoff and landing integration pilot program. (Also) just this week, we celebrated 122 years of the first powered flight from Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers.
On the anniversary of that, the FAA and the USDOT stated their strategic and their national strategic plan on how they are going to support the integration and support the development and the private investment of some of these OEM manufacturers for these vehicles, because this is a worldwide race. Now, to put it in perspective, this administration has kind of taken what the past a bit
administration has done at the federal level with the electrification of vehicles and charging stations, and they're taking it to the next level, and they want to support American investment, American companies, and job growth into these new vehicles that you're going to hear about today.
00:09:07 (more from) Mark Hanna
One story, how America has really taken off and invested, put it in perspective, I just shared it with the gentleman earlier, is when they were going through this presentation in Washington talking about the strategic plan for AAM, the advanced air mobility products that are hopefully coming to market, is that this gentleman had his great-grandmother cross the plains of the United States, settled out west, and was able to witness and be alive, the landing on the moon.
It's amazing what we have done in one lifespan.
So with that, there's a lot of interest, there's a lot of motivation to do a lot of this here in the United States. We took on this plan that we studied smart cities, how the airport can support logistics, and also how can we support AAM, the advanced air mobility, with all that is coming with that. We're going to need a lot of electricity, and some of these OEMs are looking at how they can curb the thirst for some of this electricity with trying to incorporate hybrid engines into some of their systems. So with that, we commission the study with Hanson Professional Services, and Susan Zellers is here, and she's going to take us through a slide presentation and talk about some of the highlights of that and also some of the of the things that are happening right now nationwide as we look and we wait for now the FAA and the US dot to make an announcement on where they're going to select these pilot cities to start some of these experimental flights and deploying some of these assets that they're creating, and they're talking within the next decade, 280,000 jobs and over $115 billion in investment starting now for the next 10 years.
00:10:46 Mark Hanna
So with that, I'd like to welcome Susan.
00:10:49 Jeff Williams:
And that was Mark Hanna,
Executive Director at the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport.
As we return, we'll be hearing more on preparing the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport for the future.
00:11:05 Jeff Williams:
And we are returning with an event that you might have missed. Hearing more about the Citizens Club of Springfield's preparing the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport for the future.
We'll be hearing from Susan Zellers.
She's Hansen's Assistant Vice President, Senior Project Manager.
00:11:22 Susan Zellers:
All right, thanks, Mark.
Just to kind of (an) overview where I'm going to try to go to. This was about 2 1/2 year study, so this will be the highlights and we want to be sure to leave time for questions.
But overview what the study is. Mark has covered much of that. How we looked at preparing for electric vehicles in the air and on the ground.
Also looking at obviously how do you charge these.
As Mark indicated, enhancing that regional connection. How can the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport better connect with the community?
How can you develop additional facilities there?
And then I'm going to turn it over to Clayton to give the perspective from a state and national level on advanced air mobility. But the first thing was the airport was very fortunate, worked with IDOT to get the state planning research grant because it allowed them to be strategic in looking at what could the future be and research it with the goal of preparing the airport to take advantage of opportunities that may come. These are emerging technologies, so we don't know what it will be yet, but we want to give the airport the tools to be flexible and be able to say, we're ready for you, here's where you can go, here's how we're going to serve you.
As Mark mentioned, there's been a lot of success with their solar farms. We're looking at how the airport can accommodate electric aircraft, ground vehicles of all sizes. As Mark (also) said, this is an opportunity to get potentially more regional service, more commercial service to the airport. But when you're talking electricity, you also need to look at how can we be more efficient today so our demand does not increase as much. So we looked at that, and then as well as the connectivity, both from transportation and economic development. That they've got the two phases of the solar farm.
The first phase that directly served buildings on the north side, including Standard Arrow, and then the second phase where they've worked with Citizens Water and Light and Power to do a net metering, allowing the development on the north side of the airport, but serving the balance of the airport authority buildings by putting that power into the grid and then taking credit for it. Recently, the third runway at the airport was decommissioned.
The other two runways, Primary and Crosswind, do a great job of serving the community. And this opened up additional area for development with access to the airfield, positioning the airport well to be able to take advantage of these upcoming opportunities.
So how do we prepare for electric vehicles? We've reached out through this study to the manufacturers to understand what are the vehicles, what power requirements. As Mark indicated, not only have we started with electric, but to extend the range, many of these aircraft manufacturers are starting to look at hybrid. Using sustainable aviation fuel, or in some cases looking at hydrogen.
A lot of the focus is on electric vertical takeoff and landing, and let me say EVTOL, and using it to take not only people but goods. So what is the wide range of market opportunities? And the interest in these vehicles is that they're more sustainable as they're operating with electric engine. You don't have emissions, they're quieter, and electric engines are more cost effective and easier to maintain.
Within advanced air mobility, we have two other terms, urban air mobility, which is within an urban area, particularly in some of our coastal cities with dense population, and then regional air mobility, connecting communities, particularly that short haul... as Mark indicated, the airport just put in their application to be part of the pilot program. So, when we talk electric vehicles or AAM, they cover a range. So the first one up here, the Pipisto, is in the market now flying. It's typically used for training. It's A two-seat electric aircraft. This is something that could be at the airport today. It's not yet part of the infrastructure that's needed is charging infrastructure. It looks kind of like a helicopter, but on steroids with multiple propellers.
The Joby aircraft, which is a four-seater.
This is kind of typical of your electric vertical and takeoff aircraft, eVTOLs. Different manufacturers have different configurations as to how they put it together. And then the one, the lower part, this Hart Aerospace, which is a 30-seat aircraft is the hybrid one.
That's the regional potential where the airlines have taken some advanced orders on these and the airport wants to be ready to serve them. So as they come into the market, Springfield can be at the front of the line. As we look at these aircraft, I mentioned the eVTOL, the ECTVOL is electric conventional takeoff and landing, so they're still using runways versus the vertical.
Electric GSE or ground service equipment, these are the tugs that serve aircraft. Then electric ground vehicles, those are owned by the airport, rental cars, public using the airport. And then underlying all of this is the buildings, which at Springfield, they're fortunate that the buildings that Airport Authority operates will be primarily fed from the solar system.
So that's kind of a baseline use that we don't have to look into as far as adding needs to that... we wanted to prepare, and this is kind of a summary of the vehicles I just showed you as far as on the aircraft side... and the ground side, the aircraft clearly have a lot more demand as far as need for electricity, where the ground vehicles have a little bit smaller batteries, lesser need, can be on the ground longer. But our big question was, what do we need to serve these vehicles, both in total electrical demand and then more importantly in that peak demand? When you fly an airline, you'll see the plane come in, the people get off, they clean it up a bit, they load put it with people and off it goes again, typically in 30 to 45 minutes.
So we need to be prepared for serving electric commercial aircraft for a 3 megawatt, 30 minute turnaround, which is a lot of power in a short period of time. The other general aviation aircraft, we're looking at more at 1 megawatt, so not as extreme.
And that's initial.
Initial means as these aircraft enter the market.
So it's not today yet, the airport has time to plan, but that's why this study was so timely. 20 years from now, what's being projected is that you could have potentially three of these regional aircraft in at any one time or close in time where you need to be prepared, have the power on site ready to go to charge them up, and then on the other aircraft, your general aviation, your 4 megawatt. As Mark indicated, they've been enhancing those facilities, making it a better door, and this is another way to open that door for all types of aircraft.
We've also looked at what the hydrogen demand could be and the potential for the airport to be a site not only to store it, but potentially produce it for airport use or other entities in the community.
And then the other is the ground vehicle. They could put in chargers in the near future that would serve the public and rental cars, airport three vehicles as they transition... then that grows not quite as significant in the future. And then we're looking at up to 13,000 megawatt hours in a year.
So total that needs to be coming to the airport.
And peak charging could get up to 16 megawatts.
That's needed in immediate quick time.
So how do you plan to serve that? We work closely with CWLP to figure out how do we serve that.
Now the airport's very fortunate that they've got a great partner with CWLP. The airport is considered a critical utility in the community, and as such, they're served from a double feeder system. Meaning if there's an issue in one of the systems, power can be redirected to come from the other system. And this is when we looked at the outage history, the reliability of the system is demonstrated in the last 10 years, there hasn't been an outage at the airport for more than 1.5 hours. And the airport authority maintains generator capability for the critical assets.
So this means the airport's been able to operate off the grid, or with their backup system with minimal disruption. As we got into this, our focus was more on how do you meet the power demands, because fortunately we weren't needing to do a strong look at how do you provide the resiliency needed.
Although through meeting the future demands, you'll also enhance the resiliency.
Looking at what CWLP has to offer, not only do they offer reliable service, they've got expansion capacity for the airport. So they've got 9 megavolt amperes available, and that's the difference between megawatts and MVA, is there some background kind of energy that you have to push through the system in order to get your megawatts.
So that essentially it's close, but not quite.
It's a little bit of that, I'll say, background noise on that. And they can go up to 12 MVA 9 that can meet, which is upgrade transformers and feeders.
When you get beyond that, you may need an additional substation.
So this means that over the next 10 years as these aircraft are coming into the market, the airport and CWLP will be sitting down at least annually to look at what's evolving on the aircraft. What's the timeline? Because there's a long lead on electrical improvements to get the equipment in place, put it in place.
The first step the airport's looking at is to install the ground vehicle chargers. This allows them to start the charging, put some of the initial infrastructure in place, and then be ready to install the aircraft chargers as they're needed. As part of this, what they're looking to do is to install battery energy storage systems, also known as BEST.... BEST way to describe it right now. They're the size of kind of back of a semi that is a huge battery that sits at the airport.
As technology evolves, they'll shrink a bit, but what it allows the airport, would allow the airport to do is to charge it up during off-peak periods, so you're not trying to grab energy when everyone else is trying to do it from the grid, which would reduce costs and then also reduce the peak demand, as well as better level the system of CWLP ability to serve the community. It adds resiliency, because now when those aircraft come in, the electricity they need to charge up is already sitting there on the airport.
And with this, you put in a charge management system. So, if you're needing to charge an aircraft, you can turn off charging your ground service equipment while that aircraft is in, or other charging to balance. Again, trying to balance that demand over time. And when you'd go to put it in, you'd actually initially install two systems, so you'd have one to operate, one as backup... then when you expand in the future, you only need to add one, so you always have that backup in place for the resiliency.
Along with this, right now we said CWLP has the capacity, but as there's growth in the community, this is something that will continue to be revisited to see, (for example,) do you need to add some additional generational capacity through the solar?
As we go out, kind of that 10 to 20 year is where you continue to meet, but there start to need to be more upgrades to CWLP system to meet the airport needs.
And this is something that depending what's needed and how CWLP can get their return on their investment will be who funds which parts of those systems.
Again, continue to keep the idea of solar in the background. The airport authority has the land.
Through the study, we looked at where you could build it, but it needs to be the right time to put it in so that you're not trying to push more electricity in the system than the system needs. So now we looked at, okay, how can you bring these aircraft in?
How can we charge them up? And the next was, where do we serve them on the airport?
Right now, there are multiple manufacturers going for certification. If they wanted to fly into Springfield today, they'll come in on the runway system, hover over, park on the apron. Once the chargers are in place, they'll be able to charge it. But it's envisioned that over time, there may be a demand where they need their own standalone facility. So they're not impacting runway capacity, or they're able to have more efficient operations. So we looked at multiple locations with different needs for this. Just to the north side of the terminal is where you put this best system set up for the airline charging so they could use those terminal facilities.
On the apron now between the terminal and to the south, the fixed-based operator is where we're envisioning the initial charging. Kind of out from that in the parking lots would be the ground vehicle charging. But then we looked at where the sites, depending on what the needs are, of where you could do a vertiport.
So you're reserving space, providing that
flexibility to be able to accommodate whatever interest comes. So terminal area, looking at the regional connectivity, passengers could fly in on that, transfer to a larger aircraft. The south vertiport, the area where the air commerce park is located, they'll be developed. Could you have a manufacturer that needs access to vertiport?
The west side is envisioned more if you attracted some student training or pilot training that doesn't need ready access to the other airport facilities, kind of similar with the north side from the north, you could run a shuttle to the terminal again, figuring out how do you have the most flexibility to take advantage of the opportunities as the market evolves. So how do you connect within Springfield, or where else may there be an interest in this vertical takeoff and landing, or vertipads?
We didn't try to get down to specific lot levels, but we looked at the downtown and capital area.
We already have a transportation hub out by the mall where you've got kind of retail center and residential development. And then we look larger at regional. How could you connect people from some of these other regional areas, maybe even at their own airport into the capital airport?
Part of the reason for doing this is, again, to ready the community to be able to accommodate these, that with this study, one of the next steps is working with the Metropolitan Planning Organization to add into the comprehensive plan the opportunity for vertiport development, set the stage for it.
Some of the regional areas we're looking at in the community, obviously you've got the airport as well, but when you look beyond the airport, your logistics area up along the interstate in Dirksen Parkway, the downtown area for connectivity, and then out by the
them all, and over time, as these aircraft evolve, there may be additional areas, but this was kind of our starting point.
Mark mentioned the pilot program that they've just put the proposals in for. Very competitive program as it's evolved, more and more interest. The FAA is intending to select at least five proposals nationwide. Purpose for doing this is they need to get some experience. How do you get these safe operations? How do you generate data so they can set the guidance documents to allow this to occur?
Through the application put together, the Airport Authority has reached out to private entities with these aircraft that are being developed to have that public-private partnership, because the end goal is this is commercial use. You know, these are being developed by these companies to be put into use and then have an economic tool not only to make companies money, but assist communities. They're looking at all types of operations. You have the air taxi, kind of that short range regional, the longer range fixed wing, like the regional aircraft that we mentioned, doing cargo, whether it's longer range or just also people to kind of that last mile, could one of these someday deliver it to your door or deliver it to the center and then smaller ones take it out to your homes? How do you do logistics and supply of moving materials? And the long-term vision for these is that they'll be fairly automated.
Initially, it's anticipated there'll be a pilot on board.
There's one manufacturer that's developing an automated system from the get-go where it would then be supervised by a person. So there'll always be some human managing or monitoring the system, but how do we get these so they talk to each other for some of the avoidance? That's some of what I think Clayton will discuss. At Springfield, these were some of the uses that were considered as part of it.
Obviously, passenger transport. You've got a wonderful medical system here, healthcare, emergency response, assisting law enforcement, responding to natural disasters. The airport, again, has development areas where you could accommodate pilot maintenance training, or be automated. You could base that control system at the airport as well.
So in looking at this application, this was sort of the vision of what could be routes, the blue up towards the Chicago area, what's considered probably the phase one where you're connecting regionally, the green where you're starting to reach out to some of the other smaller airports in the state, and then the red moving beyond, including areas such as St. Louis. Now I've talked a lot about the air and air traffic, but we also looked at with that connectivity, how do we improve accessibility of the airport?
The graphic up here, look at the red lines.
These are the routes currently to the airport that are
to assist visitors.
I know many of us use our phone with that wayfinding, but it's still always great to have that confirmation that it's really telling you the right direction because once in a while it does get really confused.
So we looked at and mapped out the existing signs and then looked at what are the preferred routes to the airport and how can we improve that science.
And the focus was on on using state routes to the airport. They tend to be larger roads, and it also opens the opportunity for the airport authority to be working with IDOT to start implementing these improvements. So as to the types of improvements we're looking at, it's enhancements to existing signs, interstate signage, where we add the symbol for the airport, again, confirming this is an appropriate exit to take. You'll also have one where it's listing out the exit. So in advance of this, looking at what exit to you take, depending which way you're coming into the community. Once you're on the route heading towards the airport, and this would be such as coming up Veterans Parkway, giving you distance.
And then it turns both signs where you've got the new full name of the airport to replace some of them that just say Capital Airport, as well as just graphics to reinforce again that you're on the right route. Not only does this help for the wayfinding, but it reminds people in the community you've got a great aviation asset out there and to use it.
The last year we looked at kind of complement this advanced air mobility the development opportunities, particularly the Air Commerce Park that's to the south side of the airport. It's a larger area now, the closer of a third runway.
In our study, we looked at how could you do a mix of aeronautical and non-aeronautical. The airports continue to build on that with some schematic layouts. Currently, the area is zoned for industrial, but it's recognized that it will likely be a mix of industrial, commercial, and retail. It's easier to go from industrial to one of the other zonings.
So again, maximum flexibility for the opportunities.
There are tools available through the Enterprise Zone, potentially partnering up with Decatur Forum Trade Zone, or an inland port, again, making that area as attractive as possible. The great airfield system, an industrial area, and kind of the flatter central portion. And the airport not only has been doing this, but taking steps to array for development and removing trees, doing the studies necessary to put in a traffic light for good connection to the community. And then we looked at where would be most likely for some of your retail commercial to support not only this development, but also your National Guard facility.
00:29:51 Susan Zellers:
So with that, I'm going to go from the specific airport to a larger picture and turn it over to Clayton.
00:29:57 Jeff Williams:
And that was Hanson Susan Zellers speaking at the Citizens Club of Springfield's event, preparing the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport for the future.
Community Voices, NPR, Illinois.
00:30:14 Jeff Williams:
We are returning with an event that you might have missed, preparing the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport for the future. We'll be hearing from Clayton Stambaugh, Deputy Director of Aeronautics for the Illinois Department of Transportation.
00:30:29 Clayton Stambaugh:
Thank you, Susan.
Yeah, I've got a little bit bigger perspective here and I'll go quickly because the focus here is really Springfield and the work that's been done to prepare for what we're talking about on a national and state level.
We started in this similar to the Springfield where we saw that the activity was beginning in this space.
There was a lot of energy with original equipment manufacturers.
Some states have been doing some preliminary planning. So we took a very academic approach, funded a study through our IDOT statewide planning and research through the Illinois Center of Transportation. It was conducted by Northwestern.
Again, it's sort of a 30,000 foot view of the industry at the time of what we thought and knew.
Kicked off in 2022, finalized in 23. It's an interesting report. Again, high level, academic. Not a lot was known at the time (before the report). But what it did was start the conversation statewide, got us involved in some national discussions. It (gained) interest with some local communities.
We decided to move on into an official statewide system plan specific to advanced air mobility that was incoming. Several pieces of this plan.
We can provide all these reports to you.
They're all online or we've got hard copies as well.
Take a card and we can provide them.
This provided us the opportunity to look at it from a strategic planning analysis, you know, your typical SWAT type look at things.
We build in some use cases that we thought were highly specific to Illinois. We did a little bit of AAM corridor modeling, which provided sample vertiport reports, which helps airports or maybe new facilities kind of understand the checklist of what this site should look like based on current guidance and design standards and readiness availability, such as electricity, is huge in that analysis. It provides some recommendations to the state, to IDOT and our leadership downtown within the General Assembly as well of some things that the state might need to do in terms of funding or prioritization.
Phase 2 is in current negotiation.
We're scoping... We're going to get way more specific in phase two, really assessing each and every airport and the readiness and evaluating also more evaluation into our existing heliport system in a critical care network. And with that, now envision, it's not quite the scenario here, but envision an aircraft coming up from Springfield and trying to
interact with the complexity of the Chicago airspace system in trying to get downtown or to O'Hare.
And these are the things that we're thinking about, extra communication systems, extra weather systems.
That's all infrastructure that is yet to be implemented. So one thing we've done with corridor planning is look at the lowest impacts. (W)e've tried to use the waterway system as a corridor or the interstate system or a rail system. (W)e've minimized the risk to folks on the ground and there's noise considerations and typical environmental considerations.
The Chicago airspace system, they're navigating below what we know now a typical airspace system where legacy aircraft operate and are controlled in.
I've mentioned the communication piece. We are also going to kick off a system-wide study for our existing NavAID system, which is dated and needed of replacement for legacy aircraft. In addition, that analysis is going to look at what kind of low-level radar systems, data, transfer systems, weather systems will be necessary to allow for this activity in such congested airspace. But you have similarities, or will, just trying to get in and out of a Springfield airspace. So those networks have to be statewide and strategically planned. When you get into these highly dense corridor systems, there might be more nodes or replication along the route. And then for more of a national perspectives, we've been in discussions with multiple states since before 2020.
00:34:44 Clayton Stambaugh:
Mark mentioned that USDOT announced this week the Advanced Air Mobility National Strategy.
So the National Association of State Officials has been in that coordinating group since the prior administration.
The work is just now being released.
It's another interesting report.
I wish we could dive into the details.
It's made available as of this week.
So that's in addition to the EIPP. that Mark mentioned that the airport has submitted on.
We joined a multi-state submission that's led by the Pennsylvania dot that mirrors a lot of the package that Springfield submitted, focusing on passenger transport, some cargo, and also emergency medical use.
And then also smaller drones or UAS can be included in these conversations.
Imagine a drone that's about the size this podium that can take medical supplies, blood, organs,
from one end of the state to another end of the state.
Those are some kind of market that are going to be evaluated through this EIPP process.
So this multi-state collaborative that we've joined, got about 30 states in the nation right now.
We're also doing strategic planning amongst states, and it's really reminiscent of the 30s when aviation was first being developed across states where there wasn't necessarily the national dialogue yet that had really taken hold.
So the states were working independently amongst themselves, to make sure that an airport looks the same from Illinois to Michigan.
We're having those same conversations with AAM right now.
And that's really interesting.
And we're going to continue those.
So we've got a series of white papers that we're developing amongst states that are being fed into this national air mobility strategy as well.
00:36:28 Clayton Stambaugh:
So again, quick, but I wanted to provide enough time to do an open dialogue and forum here.
00:36:34 Mark Hanna
Okay.
Thank you, Clayton. Thank you, Susan.
There's a lot of interesting things going on in this space. We use an analogy to the Jetsons, I believe, in some of the marketing and some of the materials that went out to promote this event today.
It's the same analogy that a congressman used earlier this month to describe this during a recent congressional hearing. So the reason I'm so excited about this is because our application of this pilot program is the only one from the state of Illinois.
It has been endorsed and the Vertiport Chicago, which is just south of the loop, has endorsed and are participating in our plan. And we bring forth nearly a dozen OEM technology partners that are trying to innovate in this space. And what does that mean for Springfield? It means that if we're able to participate in this, it means jobs, high-tech investment here at the airport. It really means that we can collaborate with our local general aviation community, Lincoln Land Community College.
Standard Arrow is very interested in the new power plant and electric and hybrid generation. So we have a cluster of aviation interest and businesses that have been longstanding in the community, and we're really poised to right now be able to move into this next generation of these new technologies. So it's just an exciting time to know that we're the only one in the entire state of Illinois to include Chicago. And we put this package together, which I think really can bring a lot of investment in jobs and tension to our community. So it's one of our motivations behind this and this study that we did with the SRP in the state of Illinois has really led us to be able to have this opportunity to make this application yesterday.
00:38:17 Mark Hanna
So with that, Joyce, let's go right into Q&A.
00:38:21 Joyce Nardulli
Please just state your name, stand up, and don't give us a lecture.
00:38:25 Karen Witter:
Karen Witter, just following up on that, we're the only one doing this.
I'm curious to know how much you're looking at in this planning, what's happening in Bloomington or Peoria and this other central Illinois airports and whether there are any opportunities for collaborations amongst these communities that would give a competitive advantage to Central Illinois(?).
00:38:48 Mark Hanna
Yes, absolutely.
We're wanting, just because of the OEMs, the actual vehicles that are available, there are not many of them readily available. So we're going to be concentrating on the routes that they really want to develop. For example, here to Chicago, going from urban to a rural, rural to urban. However, we've also included Champaign with the work that's going on over at EU of I. Carbondale, SIU has been instrumental in participating in this as well too, to connect that Carbondale to Springfield, which I think would be a huge asset for the School of Medicine here in Springfield, and also looking at Western, maybe a city like Quincy, and also St. Louis. Getting into the second and the third phase of that pilot program that we'd want to connect to St. Louis.
I know air service, people want to go to St. Louis.
There's not an airline down there that wants to serve Springfield to St. Louis, for connecting, that has regional aircraft.
This is the exact type of vehicle, once it's commissioned and certified through the FAA for commercial service, could fill that need for us in addition to going to Chicago. So absolutely there is space and we have planned for collaborating with those communities and reaching out.
00:40:00 Adrian Dater:
Hi, my name is Adrian Dater.
I'm with the Illinois Times.
So pardon me for the pun here, but some of what you said went right over my head. So, I'm trying to boil this down for the general reader here, though.
And if I'm hearing what I heard correctly, is it boiled down to the fact that this is a new venture program to have electrical-powered aircraft charged by electricity, newly formed in this area with power plants charging facilities that can be regional aircraft going to places like Chicago or St. Louis instead of 'fuel aircraft' as we know it today. Am I in the right ballpark here?
00:40:39 Mark Hanna
Absolutely, absolutely.
We have rail. You want to fly to Chicago, you've got to go to a 'EL' and battle the 'blue line' (an often very busy Chicago Transit Authority elevated train).
So absolutely, it's just another mode of transportation that's being developed. Then I've heard someone say, well, it's just a helicopter.
Well, yes, it is, but those in aviation understand it.
It's thousands of dollars an hour to operate a helicopter. What they're trying to do is develop this technology so they can use it to deliver packages and organ transport... transplants, to get to doctors that maybe we need to get to a surgery or some type of just-in-time type of situation and to make it very affordable. And yes, one of the major challenges is going to be the power to support that.
With our study, we've demonstrated that we are head and shoulders above many other airports and there are airports 10 times the size of Springfield that are not prepared as we are and even scratching the surface about what our accessibility to power is.
CWLP and the airport have been working together.
00:41:34 Mark Hanna
We've identified that we're ready for the future for the next at least 10 years.
00:41:39 Clayton Stambaugh:
I would echo that. Really nothing new in terms of aircraft and potential markets. These have existed since powered flights started. I think there's greater efficiencies.
The margins in aviation are so tight to be able to make money and afford to operate. The saying in aviation is, how do you become a millionaire?
You start with $2 million and you buy a few airplanes (laughter) and you try to move people or things. These early evolution of aircraft is the hybrid type model, which is, it's still going to burn diesel or jet fuel, but it's going to burn it to power a generator, turbine generator, that then powers electric motors to propel the aircraft, and those are 30-seat type aircraft, that there's existing market and demand.
There's not enough efficiency to make money.
And I think that's going to be very important to the industry, and I think that's where we're going to see this kind of snowball effect.
00:42:32 Bernie Schoenberg:
I've been given the microphone.
It's Bernie Schoenberg. I'm just wondering, this started a few years ago before the current administration in Washington. The current administration in Washington certainly has been down talking advances in electric vehicles for cars.
So is there still... is there any change in enthusiasm on the national level for all of this electrification, which I didn't even know about until you guys talked about it today, in the aviation field, because it seems like they've been pulling back, talking bad about windmills and things.
Is there any change in federal backing for this, or is it full force ahead?
00:43:07 Mark Hanna
I'm not going to comment on prior or current administration's platforms or what they want or don't want to do, but I think the crux of that is
How are they going to find the fuel for the electric power plants?
I think both administrations are wholeheartedly embracing the electrification of vehicles, equipment.
There's all kinds of applications. It's how do we get the power? Is it going to come from coal, natural gas, hydro, wind, solar, what have you? So I think that's going to be the challenge for a lot of us on how to do that. And how do we make those power plants more efficient so we don't need to generate as much electricity to charge a battery to get the batteries and the power plants more efficient on a global scale is that China is mopping the floor.
What the last administration really pushed the envelope on electrification, this administration wants to continue to push that, but also develop the ancillary systems that go with this.
Now, for those that are Cold War buffs going back into the 1970s and 80s, we knew that the Soviets had issues with low-level radar, and that's how a lot of our defense systems have been developed.
There are still issues with civilian low-level radar.
and a lot of these aircraft are going to be flying at low levels.
So as Clayton was talking about, there's a massive investment and there are smart people out there that are talking about data security, how we can transport weather, terrestrial based navigation systems along the canal or railways where we're going to use these aircraft. So as far as the national level, absolutely, the current administration is behind this 100%. They just had a major announcement and a program at the dot headquarters this last week about the strategic plan for AAM. Another part of that is ... is trying to make it sustainable, efficient, and environmentally friendly. You have, if we're talking about the hybrid piece of it, there's the electric input to it, but also there's going to be the fuel burn, the diesel or the jet A component at a local level here at the state.
Our current administration has been very proactive in trying to put Illinois on the map as far as biofuels with the feedstocks that we have available here locally. If we want to purchase what we call sustainable aviation fuel, SAF, it comes from the coast or three-day trucking transit into Springfield.
So right now, the airport, we're ready to construct another 25,000 gallon fuel facility. And we're totally supportive of helping the current administration and the state get into the sustainable aviation fuel business as well, too, because that's good for all kinds of different economic reasons here in Illinois.
00:45:36 Mark Hanna
So hopefully it helps, Bernie.
00:45:37 Gail Simpson:
Thank you.
I'm Gail Simpson, ... a couple of questions.
With regard to job creation, is this going to create
create jobs that's going to bring young people back into this community? And the second question is, it takes 3 hours to drive to Chicago, 3 hours to drive to Indianapolis. Is Indianapolis on the radar for this?
Maybe phase three or four.
00:46:00 Mark Hanna
Yeah, absolutely. I think we've had conversations about keeping our young people in town, helping grow the community. For as long as I've been in Springfield, the population sign hasn't changed.
And it's not funny. It hasn't changed, and I think we all need to do what we can to keep our young people here. We have a group of people that at the airport of the general aviation community, I've talked a little bit about, they've invested and purchased a small aircraft that's very affordable and trying to get young people... people out to the airport and they're booking it so quickly that they're going to buy a second aircraft. We have been working very hard, well before COVID, to work with SIU to actually set up a flight training program here in Springfield to help with training young people or anyone that would want to take on piloting as a profession. We have embraced all of these things at the airport with Lincoln Land Community College with their training for airframe and power plant.
Standard Aero just had a meeting with them
last week, and they're looking to grow their employment base by over 50 employees.
And these are high-tech head of household wage earners. There are opportunities here. And now when we talk about this AAM and the proliferation of these vehicles, there are a lot of these high-tech companies that are looking for places to set up shop to develop where there's a cluster of education and workforce development. Standard Aero is very interested in getting into this line of work as well for the electric and hybrid power plants. The military, some of these aircraft developers and manufacturers are certainly motivated by the prospects of Department of Defense contracts.
We do have the Army and Air National Guard units right here in town.
So, for us, at the airport, it's all about economic development and almost everything we do to support workforce development. And we all need to do what we can to support keeping our young people at home.
00:47:55 Mark Hanna
What was the other question, Gail?
00:47:57 Gail Simpson:
The other question was with regard to Indianapolis.
Not only travel to Indianapolis, but Indianapolis has the biggest pharmaceutical company, I believe, in the world, Eli Lilly. We have to, I think, form a relationship with them in terms of our medical facility here.
00:48:14 Mark Hanna
Oh, absolutely.
So in the later phases of this pilot program, yes, we do have plans to reach out to Indianapolis, Kansas City, obviously St. Louis, Carbondale, going south... Chicagoland (going north) And as far as the economic development piece, I'm with you. I'll hop in the car with you today, Gail, and I will go downtown and we'll go to Eli Lilly and let's bang on their door to get them into Springfield. I mean, that's not an airport job, if you will, (but) we will get involved. We will do whatever we can to help you or anyone in this community. Go knock on a door if it's the Silicon Valley, Eli Lilly.
We're all in.
The airport authority, the board, its staff, it's an award-winning team in many different regards and sectors. We have a canvas. It is, we have preserved infrastructure. We're on the cutting edge of many things that are totally outside the sphere of other regional airports our size. We're ready. We're ready for this town to boom. We're not sitting idle, but we can't do it all. I cannot create a marketplace in Springfield that is going to support the robust service that you all want and think we deserve. So we're ready to go.
We invest time, money, and resources in the facilities, and whenever the community is ready and we get ELI Lilly, Campus 2, or Illinois, that's the type of development, that's the type of big thinking that is going to move the needle for us. Absolutely.
00:49:34 Joyce Nardulli
Thank you.
It's 9 o'clock and I want to thank everyone who came today, and with that, let's thank our presenters.
00:49:46 Jeff Williams:
Thank you to Citizens Club of Springfield for the audio.
Community Voices, NPR Illinois.
