Dwyer steps down from Fallbrook Airpark Advisory Committee

Doug Dwyer announced his resignation from the Fallbrook Airpark Advisory Committee board during the committee’s February 4 meeting.

“There really wasn’t one big issue. It sort of added up,” Dwyer said.

Dwyer was originally appointed to the board a decade ago. “I had been doing it for a long time,” he said.

Dwyer felt that a board member with a new perspective might enhance the efficiency of the advisory board, and he also noted that a new member will likely have more interaction with those involved at Fallbrook Community Air Park. “I don’t spend as much time at the airport as I used to,” Dwyer said.

Dwyer recently began a new business, which doesn’t have the aviation needs of his previous work but does involve out-of-town travel. “I was afraid I’d probably miss the meetings, anyway,” he said.

Dwyer sold his advertising business in 2005. The buyout provisions included a five-year period in which he couldn’t return to another similar business. “I was going to stay retired,” he said.

In 2012 Dwyer opened a small manufacturing business which does not involve aviation and is headquartered in Corona. “Now the trips are closer, so I won’t be using the airport as much,” he said. “Things change.”

Dwyer’s father and brother were also pilots. “I’ve been flying just about all my life,” he said.

In the mid-1990s he moved from Tempe, Arizona, to Fallbrook, and shortly afterward he hangared a plane at Fallbrook Community Air Park. At the time the airport was leased by the County of San Diego to Fallbrook Community Air Park, Inc., which operated the airport. That lease expired in 1997, and County Airports took over the operation.

The transition to county operation along with the improvements provided through county funding and lease agreements made the county process a highlight of Dwyer’s service on the Fallbrook Airpark Advisory Committee. “I suppose the best thing about it was watching how the inside of county government works,” Dwyer said. “That part was interesting.”

Dwyer believes that the county’s operation of the air park allowed for the improvements to occur. “Development is dependent on stability,” Dwyer said.

“The county brought a stability that allowed people to invest in the infrastructure of the airport,” Dwyer said. “The stability that the county brought made it easier for investments to happen at the airport.”

The Fallbrook Airpark Advisory Committee reviews potential county actions including grant applications and lease agreements. “It was interesting to watch how that manifested itself over the last ten years,” Dwyer said.

“It allowed people to come in and build hangars and put in fuel and facilities,” Dwyer said. “Being a part of that was interesting.”

Dwyer may attend future FAAC meetings as a member of the public. “There are a lot of programs that are sort of in progress that will be interesting to watch and see how they work out,” he said.

Dwyer added that he also knows all of the board members. “I’m sure everybody’s going to do a good job and keep things moving along,” he said.

In response to Dwyer’s resignation, the Fallbrook Airpark Advisory Committee board recommended Tom Wilson for the vacancy. “I thought that was a good idea,” Dwyer said.

“He’s been around the airport for a long time,” Dwyer said of Wilson. “He has the best interest of the airport at heart.”

Wilson and Dwyer served together on the Friends of Fallbrook Community Air Park board. Dwyer is a past president of Friends of Fallbrook Community Airpark and served on that board until stepping down in 2012.

“There’s always mixed feelings about stuff like that,” Dwyer said of his resignation. “There just comes a time in your life when you want to simplify things.”