by Ryan Gaug
Interim Director
MnDOT Office of Aeronautics
Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine April/May 2023 Digital Issue
It’s hard to believe it has been almost a full year since I was asked to step in as Interim Director of Aeronautics following the retirement of our previous director of many years, Cassandra Isackson. When I last wrote with an update, shortly after being tapped for a stint as interim director, I noted that one of my top priorities while leading the office through a transition was to do some hiring. And while there is still a lot of work to do in terms of recruiting for and filling positions, I am pleased to report that hiring is something we have certainly done. Over the past nine or so months we have welcomed many new faces to our Aeronautics team. And we continue to hire.
Also, at the time of this writing, the three positions at the top of our Aeronautics organizational chart (office director and two assistant directors) are occupied by people in interim roles. While we hope to have these positions solidified with permanent hires in the coming several months, I should note that I am grateful to the two individuals who agreed to step into temporary Assistant Director roles to help provide leadership on key initiatives – Mike Hartell and Kirby Becker. Mike has been with Aeronautics for many years overseeing our navaids technicians and airport inspectors, while Kirby joined Aeronautics from MnDOT’s Office of Transit and Active Transportation, bringing with him an excellent skill set to help address several near-term challenges and opportunities.
Given all these changes, new faces, retirements, and some internal organizational restructuring, I wanted to take a moment to remind our customers and partners how we are organized and point you toward some easy ways to identify an appropriate contact from our Aeronautics team.
One place you can find general contact information for specific MnDOT programs is on our Programs webpage. For example, if you were looking to ask a question about registering your aircraft in Minnesota, you’d contact our long-time expert on these matters, Jana Falde, as shown on the screenshot below.
You may also want to check out our Services webpage that identifies contacts for the various services we provide. This page focuses on the person responsible for overall oversight and supervision of these services, and the teams responsible for working on them.
One more helpful resource I’d like to share may come in handy when you know the name of the MnDOT Aeronautics employee you’d like to connect with, but aren’t sure how to reach them. In those situations, the best resource is our online employee list which provides up-to-date names, numbers, and emails of all staff.
Finally, I noted earlier that when appropriate, we’ve been making adjustments to our overall organizational structure with a goal of promoting better flow of communications and information. If you love a good “org chart” like I do, then feel free to download and peruse the MnDOT Aeronautics org chart.
By clicking that link, you’ll note our office is organized into five sections: Air Transportation (pilots), Airport Operations (more pilots, inspectors, and navaid technicians), Airport Development (engineers and grant specialists), Aviation Planning (planners, of course), and the Aero Business Section.
The Business Section is the group that most pilots, aircraft owners, and businesses located on airports are most familiar with. The MnDOT Aeronautics Business Section staff are responsible for handling all aircraft registrations in the state, so if you own a plane and have questions, they are there for you. When you send a check or are looking for a certificate to be mailed out to you, these are the people who handle it.
Collectively, the Airport Operations, Planning and Development Sections are here to help your local airport plan for the future, build and fund desired infrastructure, and inspect the airport environment to ensure it is safe and in compliance with state and federal rules. To help expedite the flow of critical information across these sections, we’ve further organized each section into regions so airports can get to know their Aeronautics “team.”
For example, an airport manager or customer with a question about an airport in MnDOT’s south region, will have a consistent set of experts to contact, all with experience and knowledge of the airport in question. Here is a link to download a handy map where you can quickly identify the team assigned to any given airport.
Understanding how these teams are set up is helpful should you have a need to work on issues, concerns, or opportunities with our office and the airport. One of the best ways to get started is to reach out to your airport’s regional coordinator (assigned to the Airport Operations Section) and they will assist with any coordination as necessary, depending on the topic. Regional coordinators can be identified on the map above at the “Airport Operations” contact and can also be identified on the all employees’ contact webpage.
Now that you know how to reach us, let me say that we can’t wait to hear from you!
