In this photo taken by Bruce George in late 2007 pictured is Burns Field Airport in Evanston, looking west toward town, not long after construction was finished. COURTESY PHOTO

Mike LaSalle, Burns Field Airport manager and owner of Evanston Aviation, said Evanston has had an airport since the 1920s. He said the airport is jointly-owned by the City of Evanston and the county and managed through a joint powers board.

“There have been seven different airports over the years. The previous one was in Almy. It was at that site from 1950 to 1985. It’s been in the current location since April 1985,” LaSalle said.

LaSalle said he has been the airport manager for 17 years. He said his dad bought Evanston Aviation when it was down at the old airport in 1983.

“We moved it here in 1985. He sold it in 1987 and moved on. A few years later, he heard it was for sale again, so he decided to come back. He bought the business again in 1994. I helped him for a year when he first bought it and then I came back in 1997 to stay. I live on the airport as part of the lease arrangement with the joint powers board,” LaSalle said.

“Mike lives next door to the airport. He is here 24/7,” Rich Clover with the joint powers board and airport management board said.

Clover said it is amazing how long the runway is and how big the airport is compared to the town.

“The runway is just over 1.3 miles long. It is 7,000 feet. It is a big piece of pavement with a parallel taxiway the same length. It is an impressive amount of snow plowing in the winter. The length of it might stretch from the Pilot Truck stop to the Flying J. You could just about put the runway across the whole town,” Clover said.

The FAA designed the runway with the top end able to accommodate a Boeing 737. However, he said it would handle the largest Gulf Streams or largest business jets.

LaSalle said during the winter Olympics in 2002, there was a flight restriction going into Salt Lake Airport.

“We had quite a bit of traffic through here during that three week period. We figure we had over 500 jets through here at that time,” LaSalle said.

LaSalle said they flew Howie Mandel in and out of Evanston, so they wouldn’t have to go through the restrictions at the Salt Lake airport during the Olympics.

“George Strait has been here a couple of times. He hunts occasionally somewhere in this corner of the Utah and Wyoming border,” LaSalle said.

LaSalle said other celebrities or well-known people who have flown into Evanston airport are Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, and Emilio Estevez.

“Once the vice premiere of Russia held a meeting in our conference room. There were big guys in red jackets walking around with bulges underneath,” LaSalle said.

LaSalle said he is thankful that Uinta County and the City of Evanston have always been willing to provide funding to keep the airport going. He said the airport was mainly built with FAA funding, but it is grant money and match funds from local governments that have kept it going.

“We have one of the nicest airports in the state, especially for a small town. They have always been supportive of it. It is an important piece of infrastructure for the community, for businesses and for the recreational flyer. It is something that Evanston can be proud of that they have helped build,” LaSalle said.



For the complete article see the 06-23-2009 issue.

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