Cody Roggatz has "some very big dreams" for Humboldt County's main airport and an equally big to-do list.
From adding staff to upgrading the airfield, Roggatz says he's been playing infrastructural catch-up since assuming his role as Humboldt County's Aviation Director in 2018.
Roggatz spoke with Keith Flamer and Tom Jackson about what he's got in the works for ACV, the airport's historic relationship with fog, and what surprises him most about running Humboldt's six public airports.
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Tom Jackson:
I'm Tom Jackson, Cal Poly Humboldt. And I'm joined today by my dear friend and colleague, Dr. Keith Flamer, from the College of Redwoods. How are you doing, Keith?
Keith Flamer:
Tom, I'm great, and it's always wonderful to be here with you and our guests.
Tom Jackson:
And we're at Humboldt County’s Airport, and it's a long name, and we're going to use up all our time describing it. But I'm going to leave that for our special guest, who's the aviation director for Humboldt County. And that's Cody Roggatz. Good to see you, Cody.
Cody Roggatz:
Great to see you, Tom and Keith. And excited to talk about aviation with you. Well, why.
Tom Jackson:
Why don't we jump right in? Why don't you talk a little bit about some of the things that you do that most people never see?
Cody Roggatz:
Yeah, I get the question quite often. What do you do as an airport manager? Well, here in Humboldt County, I get the pleasure of serving the community and leading our team that oversees our six airports. We're here today at ACV; I'll just use the abbreviated version instead of, as Tom mentioned, the long name that we have for the California Redwood Coast, Humboldt County Airport and Mckinleyville.
Cody Roggatz:
And we also have Murray Field in Eureka, Rohnerville Airport just outside of Fortuna, the Garberville Airport in southern Humboldt, and Kneeland and Dinsmore Airports in eastern Humboldt. We're in charge of safety, security, and construction upgrades for all of those airports. We get to every day work with not only the airlines but the TSA and a multitude of other users like the U.S. Coast Guard here at ACV or Cal-Ore Life Flight… which utilizes actually all of our airports. It leads to a fun adventure each and every day for sure.
Tom Jackson:
Rumor has it that this is one of the foggiest places in the history of aviation. But what's really the answer from the aviation director's point of view?
Cody Roggatz:
So we have a long history here of aviation in Humboldt County. That history dates back to the 1930s and 1940s leading into, and during, World War Two because of the fog that we have prevalent here, which it is one of the foggiest places in the United States, they chose the airport location because of that fog to train those pilots leading into World War Two for conditions similar to what they'd be flying in, in and out of Great Britain and launching over Europe.
So we actually still have some of the systems here on the airfield. They're no longer in use, obviously, but we have a project underway right now with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cleaning up some of those assets that the military left behind 80 plus years ago.
Tom Jackson:
So, Cody, I have to ask this on behalf of every human in Humboldt County who has tried to land at this airport and couldn't and ended up back in San Francisco, Redding or Medford? Is there something technologically that could be done so that we can still land?
Well, how do you get rid of fog? [laughter]
Cody Roggatz:
Yeah. And actually, that system I was talking about with the Army Corps 80 plus years ago, or I should say the military did 80 plus years ago, they were experimenting on how to disperse that fog. At the time in the 30s and 40s, the idea was to essentially create a torch-type system all over the airfield and literally burn the fog off.
Cody Roggatz:
That wasn't all that effective. And research led to different avenues, including the instrument landing systems that are now utilized at airports all across the United States. But you asked about the San Francisco or Medford Redding diversions. I've experienced that myself. It's never fun. But as far as our on-time and cancelation rates, we are right about on par with the national average here at ACV.
But the majority of our delays and cancelations are actually due to traffic issues down at San Francisco.
Keith Flamer:
So, Cody, I'm going to ask you, in your dream world, what would ACV look like?
Cody Roggatz:
I have some very big dreams. I would love at ACV for us to have some new hangars. I would love for the business park in front of ACV to be built out. And from our infrastructure standpoint, we're taking some big steps that the community's going to see. We are completely reconfiguring and rehabilitating our parking lot out front, moving that into the 21st century.
Cody Roggatz:
Our terminal needs some upgrades with the larger aircraft that we now serve. And then on the airfield side, we are doing some major rehab work to our airfield here at ACV. And we're also chasing federal dollars to do the same at our general aviation airports that I mentioned earlier. So we'll have over $30 million in construction. So that'll be a great jumpstart on those big dreams. But there's millions of dollars more in work to do moving forward.
Tom Jackson:
The list, Cody, is just long. It's amazing. Very impressive. Long list.
Keith Flamer:
[Laughter] I love my job. I wouldn't want your job, Cody.
Tom Jackson:
That's quite the list.
Keith Flamer:
Because I see a book on your desk called Turning the Ship Around. Why are you reading that particular book at this particular time?
Cody Roggatz:
One of my team members got that for me. The irony of that book is I feel like I have lived that book every day for the last just over four years. I've been here now. Our airports have always been owned by the County of Humboldt. With that ownership prior to 2018. Our airports were a part of the public works department and there were a lot of things that needed to change with that.
And I have absolutely no angst with anybody, including the director of our public works department. But turning that ship around and trying to dig out of that infrastructure lag that that we had here and add staff and really improve that customer service and experience from every aspect of all of our airports. It has literally been turning the ship around or I guess it probably more appropriately in our industry should be called turning the plane around.
I haven't finished the book because I've been a little too busy trying to turn my own ship around here. But I like to do a little light reading that isn't, you know, the latest FAA regulation being placed upon our airports that can get a little draining when you're on page 250 of a new regulation. But it's nice to have a little refreshing reading that you can apply to your everyday life and try to make yourself better, for sure.
Tom Jackson:
What surprises you most about running an airport?
Cody Roggatz:
You know, the thing that surprises me most is everything that you touch. I could go from talking about emergency procedures in one meeting to finances in the next meeting to a capital improvement plan. The following meeting just the variety every single day. It makes the job so much fun.
Tom Jackson:
Cody, It's been very informative. Thank you very much for your willingness to share some of your thoughts about aviation in Humboldt County.
Cody Roggatz:
I very much appreciate you guys being here; and this is wonderful.
Tom Jackson:
I'm Tom Jackson, Cal Poly Humboldt. And I'm joined today by my dear friend and colleague, Dr. Keith Flamer from the College of Redwoods. How are you doing, Keith?
Keith Flamer:
Tom, I'm great, and it's always wonderful to be here with you and our guests.
Tom Jackson:
And we're at Humboldt County’s Airport, and it's a long name, and we're going to use up all our time describing it. But I'm going to leave that for our special guest, who's the aviation director for Humboldt County. And that's Cody Roggatz. Good to see you, Cody.
Cody Roggatz:
Great to see you, Tom and Keith. And excited to talk about aviation with you. Well, why.
Tom Jackson:
Why don't we jump right in? Why don't you talk a little bit about some of the things that you do that most people never see?
Cody Roggatz:
Yeah, I get the question quite often. What do you do as an airport manager? Well, here in Humboldt County, I get the pleasure of serving the community and leading our team that oversees our six airports. We're here today at ACV; I'll just use the abbreviated version instead of, as Tom mentioned, the long name that we have for the California Redwood Coast, Humboldt County Airport and Mckinleyville.
Cody Roggatz:
And we also have Murray Field in Eureka, Rohnerville Airport just outside of Fortuna, the Garberville Airport in southern Humboldt and Kneeland and Dinsmore airports in eastern Humboldt. We're in charge of safety, security and construction upgrades for all of those airports. We get to every day work with not only the airlines, but the TSA and a multitude of other users like the U.S. Coast Guard here at ACV or Cal-Ore Life Flight… that utilizes actually all of our airports. It leads to a fun adventure each and every day for sure.
Tom Jackson:
Rumor has it that this is one of the foggiest places in the history of aviation. But what's really the answer from the aviation director's point of view?
Cody Roggatz:
So we have a long history here of aviation in Humboldt County. That history dates back to the 1930s and 1940s leading into, and during, World War Two because of the fog that we have prevalent here, which it is one of the foggiest places in the United States, they chose the airport location because of that fog to train those pilots leading into World War Two for conditions similar to what they'd be flying in, in and out of Great Britain and launching over Europe.
So we actually still have some of the systems here on the airfield. They're no longer in use, obviously, but we have a project underway right now with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cleaning up some of those assets that the military left behind 80 plus years ago.
Tom Jackson:
So, Cody, I have to ask this on behalf of every human in Humboldt County who has tried to land at this airport and couldn't and ended up back in San Francisco, Redding or Medford? Is there something technologically that could be done so that we can still land?
Well, how do you get rid of fog? [laughter]
Cody Roggatz:
Yeah. And actually, that system I was talking about with the Army Corps 80 plus years ago, or I should say the military did 80 plus years ago, they were experimenting on how to disperse that fog. At the time in the 30s and 40s, the idea was to essentially create a torch-type system all over the airfield and literally burn the fog off.
Cody Roggatz:
That wasn't all that effective. And research led to different avenues, including the instrument landing systems that are now utilized at airports all across the United States. But you asked about the San Francisco or Medford Redding diversions. I've experienced that myself. It's never fun. But as far as our on-time and cancelation rates, we are right about on par with the national average here at ACV.
But the majority of our delays and cancelations are actually due to traffic issues down at San Francisco.
Keith Flamer:
So, Cody, I'm going to ask you, in your dream world, what would ACV look like?
Cody Roggatz:
I have some very big dreams. I would love at ACV for us to have some new hangars. I would love for the business park in front of ACV to be built out. And from our infrastructure standpoint, we're taking some big steps that the community's going to see. We are completely reconfiguring and rehabilitating our parking lot out front, moving that into the 21st century.
Cody Roggatz:
Our terminal needs some upgrades with the larger aircraft that we now serve. And then on the airfield side, we are doing some major rehab work to our airfield here at ACV. And we're also chasing federal dollars to do the same at our general aviation airports that I mentioned earlier. So we'll have over $30 million in construction. So that'll be a great jumpstart on those big dreams. But there's millions of dollars more in work to do moving forward.
Tom Jackson:
The list, Cody, is just long. It's amazing. Very impressive. Long list.
Keith Flamer:
[Laughter] I love my job. I wouldn't want your job, Cody.
Tom Jackson:
That's quite the list.
Keith Flamer:
Because I see a book on your desk called Turning the Ship Around. Why are you reading that particular book at this particular time?
Cody Roggatz:
One of my team members got that for me. The irony of that book is I feel like I have lived that book every day for the last just over four years. I've been here now. Our airports have always been owned by the County of Humboldt. With that ownership prior to 2018. Our airports were a part of the public works department and there were a lot of things that needed to change with that.
And I have absolutely no angst with anybody, including the director of our public works department. But turning that ship around and trying to dig out of that infrastructure lag that that we had here and add staff and really improve that customer service and experience from every aspect of all of our airports. It has literally been turning the ship around or I guess it probably more appropriately in our industry should be called turning the plane around.
I haven't finished the book because I've been a little too busy trying to turn my own ship around here. But I like to do a little light reading that isn't, you know, the latest FAA regulation being placed upon our airports that can get a little draining when you're on page 250 of a new regulation. But it's nice to have a little refreshing reading that you can apply to your everyday life and try to make yourself better, for sure.
Tom Jackson:
What surprises you most about running an airport?
Cody Roggatz:
You know, the thing that surprises me most is everything that you touch. I could go from talking about emergency procedures in one meeting to finances in the next meeting to a capital improvement plan. The following meeting just the variety every single day. It makes the job so much fun.
Tom Jackson:
Cody, It's been very informative. Thank you very much for your willingness to share some of your thoughts about aviation in Humboldt County.
Cody Roggatz:
I very much appreciate you guys being here; and this is wonderful.