by Ryan Gaug
Director – MnDOT Office of Aeronautics
Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine June/July 2023 Digital Issue
Ryan Gaug
I am pleased to report that after a year as Interim Director of the Office of Aeronautics, following the retirement of our previous director, Cassandra Isackson, I have been appointed “Director.”
One of my top priorities as Director is to complete filling positions vacated by members of our team who have retired, so if interested in joining our team, I encourage you to contact our office for a list of available positions and qualifications.
“With my appointment as Director, I can now work toward filling the office’s assistant director positions with permanent hires. The two Assistant Director positions are currently held through temporary assignments by 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 remind our customers and partners how we are organized and point you toward some easy ways to identify an appropriate contact from our team.
One place you can find general contact information for specific MnDOT programs is on our Programs webpage at dot.state.mn.us/aero.
For example, if you are looking to ask a question about registering your aircraft in Minnesota, you would 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 would like to share with you may come in handy when you know the name of the MnDOT Aeronautics employee you would like to connect with but are not 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 have been making adjustments to our overall organizational structure with a goal of promoting a 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 will 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 Aero Business.
The Aero Business Section is the group that most pilots, aircraft owners, and businesses located on airports are most familiar with. Our staff in this section are responsible for handling all aircraft registrations in the state, so if you own an airplane and have questions, they are there to assist you. When you send a check or are looking for a certificate to be mailed to you, these are the people who handle that.
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 have 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 our 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 you with any coordination as necessary, depending on the topic. Regional coordinators can be identified on the map above as 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 cannot wait to hear from you!
