The tower provides a clear view of the airport and surrounding area. Staff photo by Jeremy Hogan
One mile of runway can take you anywhere in the world. That’s the credo of Bruce Payton, Monroe County Airport’s director.
The Stinesville native has been enthralled with the Monroe County Airport since he was 9 years old, starting with an airport visit he fondly recalls spending with his mother. It was the mid-1960s, a time when you could walk right up to the airplanes, see the gleam of their windows, get a close peek of the rudder.
You could even touch the wing, if you were tall enough to reach it. It was that curiosity and accessibility, Payton says, that made him realize from a young age that airplanes were special.
Payton has since pursued the interest that early visit kindled to earn for the airport the distinction of “Airport of the Year” from the Aviation Association of Indiana. The award was presented last month to Monroe County Airport — or “BMG,” as it’s known by shorthand — for its progress in aviation safety, education, economic development and corporate citizenship.
”I’ve always just had a bit of an engineer’s brain,” said the 59-year-old everyman who started at Monroe County Airport as a maintenance hire in 1978. “I love the technology, the preciseness of flying. ... The twisted fingers of fate put me towards a position, here at this airport, where I could do what I was good at.”
Payton says his experience on the airport’s maintenance crew primed him to be a mindful, thrifty director. He spent years refurbishing parts, then tinkering and learning how to make airplane adjustments in-house rather than hiring an outside contractor. There was even the nightmare minus-10 degree winter day where five miles of runway lighting failed — and his crew had to locate the wiring problem while planes routinely approached to land.
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