A deal to bring an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) manufacturing plant to the Powell Municipal Airport in Powell, WY was recently canceled, but could still be a possibility in the future.
A small but experienced UAV company called “GT Aeronautics” was in talks with the City of Powell to bring a manufacturing plant to their airport. The city and the company were unable to come to an agreement and the plant is currently on hold.
“Powell seemed to fit the bill for it, but we didn’t have the facility he needed, so we were working with the Wyoming Business Council to build a structure that we would then lease back to him,” John Wetzel, Mayor of Powell, said. “In the end, we just really couldn’t come to a lease agreement that was fair for the citizens with the money that they’re putting out and something that he was willing to sign.”
The city started at a seven-year lease that eventually was trimmed to a five-year lease, but CEO of GT Aeronautics Thomas Rullman didn’t agree to the terms of the lease.
“The commercial industry [of unmanned aerial vehicles] is so new, that from his perspective, he just wasn’t ready to accept,” Christine Bekes, Executive Director of the Powell Economic Partnership, said. “The agreements and the language needed by both the city and the state to move it forward just didn’t make sense for GT Aeronautics.”
While the manufacturing plant deal is not happening at the moment, GT Aeronautics will still be using the Powell Airport to test their vehicles. The plant will still be built, but where it will be built is still in question. However, Bekes said that there is a good chance that it can still be built in Park County near either Powell or Cody, WY.
“Certainly he’s committed to Wyoming, but from a practical perspective I would assume that [Rullman] is going to do it in Park County, because any manufacturing that might take place if he needed to test it at the airport, then he’d trailer it to the airport,” Bekes said.
The Powell Municipal airport is a unique and desirable location for UAV testing because it has an aerobatic box surrounding it, which is a two-by-three mile area that stretches around 10,000 feet into the air. Pilots flying into the box must have contact with the FAA and pilots in the area to use the airspace, allowing for testing of the UAVs without worry of disrupting air traffic.
“That restricted airspace, and the fact Powell has managed that restricted airspace, just really makes it make sense to transition, or add, unmanned aircraft to that restricted airspace,” Bekes said. “That’s what GT Aeronautics is working with the FAA on.”
Rullman, who is currently also a pilot for Delta Airlines, will also be teaching classes at Northwest College in Powell on obtaining commercial drone licenses and FAA rules and regulations. The addition of the UAV industry is an exciting one for both Bekes and Wetzel.
“The hope certainly was to take advantage of our unique airfield to develop multiple business based off of this business,” Wetzel said. “A little bit of it is hope that this industry is going to grow and become more prevalent in the future, and that maybe somebody could supply parts, or somebody could be involved in other portions of it but still utilize our airfield.”
Bekes said the addition of the UAV industry would have positive impact on both the City of Powell and potentially the State of Wyoming.
“I would consider this industry is a great project for Powell and the state,” Bekes said. “We have the open lands and some rural airports that these types of industries could be potential revenue sources for other airports.”
There is still a possibility that a deal can be struck in the future and GT Aeronautics could build the plant at the Powell Airport.
“I know both players are still at the table, certainly the relationship is intact,” Bekes said. “If GT Aeronautics said ‘We really do need to be at the airport now’, the city would say, ‘Let’s make that happen.”
