Hansen makes
airport 24 year career
It was a little after 6:30 in the morning, more than 24
years ago that Gary Hansen waited in the parking lot to interview for a
maintenance position at the Salina Airport Authority.
"I got off night shift at the factory and I drove right over," he
said with a laugh. "I didn't even go home, just waited for them to
open upstairs."
For the past few months he'd been doing fabrication work inside a factory
and was getting restless. He was planning to leave factory work as soon as
he could find another job and when an ad for a maintenance position at the
airport came out in the newspaper he jumped at the opportunity.
"When I came out here in '85 I didn't visualize I'd be here 24
years," he said. "It just worked out for me."
The interview with then operations director, Don Kneubuhl and executive
director, Tim Rogers was on a Wednesday and Hansen began work the following
Monday morning.
For as long as most anyone working in the maintenance shop can remember
there is about a two minute window in the morning, every morning shortly
before 8 a.m., in which Hansen arrives at work with a Pepsi in one hand and
a paper plate containing his lunch in the other. Even though this morning
ritual hasn't changed much over the past years, he'll be the first to tell
you much else has.
"The number of people the airport has on staff has grown quite a
bit," he pointed out. "The amount of equipment that we've got has
more than doubled. The work load has tripled and it's not stopping
either."
After high school Hansen joined the Army reserve 425th truck division where
for the first year and a half he "got the jobs no one else wanted to
do" while he waited to be sent to basic training. He said all the
other maintenance he learned to do and still keep your fingers, he picked
up on the farm.
Wherever he picked up his broad array of skills they seem to be working.
Hansen has worked for the Authority for 24 years and plans to retire in
"51 Mondays" with all ten fingers.
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