Keep watching the skies: Airport keeps Berry busy
Todd Berry, the airport manager for the city of Prairie du Chien Municipal Airport. Berry has been an aviation enthusiast for most of his life. (Steve Van Kooten/Courier Press)
By Steve Van Kooten
Seeing an airplane in mid-flight or landing on a thin strip of cement after descending thousands of feet is an incredible sight — one that can inspire a lifelong passion to watch the skies.
“My whole life I wanted to be an airline pilot,” said Prairie du Chien Municipal Airport Manager Todd Berry. “I remember very specifically in third grade I looked up to see an airplane flying over. It was a 727 jet airliner going into Boston, and I said, ‘That’s what I want to do when I grow up’.”
Berry hit a snag in high school when a (misguided) guidance counselor discouraged him from pursuing his dream.
“So, I thought I couldn’t do that for the longest time, but it was still on my mind. When I graduated high school, I decided to go into aeronautical engineering.”
Berry pursued a degree at the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston and received education at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida in the 1980s. While in college, he obtained multiple pilot licenses and certifications for his private-, commercial- and instructor-level piloting.
“I’ve been in and out of aviation all of my life. Back in the 80s and 90s, there weren’t any jobs in it, so I went into construction for 15 years,” said Berry. “We worked on banks and bus garages and schools. It was a family company.”
After working as a truck driver and other jobs, he decided to get back into the aviation industry on a full-time basis. Berry went to work with a major airline, which employed him as a charter pilot. Working as an airline pilot has a few similarities to long-haul trucking (if the open roads were thousands of feet above our heads), one of which is the voluminous amount of time spent away from home and family.
Berry eventually decided to walk (rather than fly) away from the airlines and went back into non-aviation work. Later, a friend working for the city of Prairie du Chien informed him that the airport needed a manager.
“And then this position came up, and I thought it was the perfect fit,” he said. “I could still be around aviation and come home every night and sleep in my bed.”
“At the time, I liked what I was doing, but the thought of getting back into aviation and around airplanes made me say, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’”
“For many years I’ve been flying in and out of this airport with students or on my own. I’ve been driving past the airport for years,” he said.
Managing a small airport like Prairie du Chien is different than Minneapolis, where the manager has a team of people to help with the daily equipment and property needs.
“A manager at a larger airport can focus on public relations, Federal Aviation Administration issues, and federal and state issues. They talk to politicians to change regulations, so they meet with governors and representatives,” said Berry. “I’ve got to do all of that because I’m kind of a one-man show.”
On any given day, Berry has to mow grass, check that the lights are working and perform wildlife control along with the duties managers at larger airports do. He has to ensure the airport remains in compliance and communicates with other airports to come up with new ideas, such as bringing in events like the Wings Over Prairie each July and the Fly Free events for children.
“A goal of mine is to show that this airport belongs to the people of Prairie du Chien,” he said. “I imagine people drive by here all the time and look at it as an off-limits place. They feel like it’s not a place to be, but it’s owned by the people, and they should get the benefits of using it,” he said.
“It’s the nicest, most underused airport I’ve ever seen. It’s got two beautiful runways and a beautiful building, but it’s definitely underutilized,” he added.
Berry has been working to shed the airport’s underutilized status by attracting more planes to land there, and by extension, bring more people to Prairie du Chien.
“My job is to promote the airport and the rest of the city. There are restaurants and activities. That’s another arm of my job: I’m here to promote the city and the businesses as well.”
