For nearly 50 years, Andy Woodham has been found at the Stratford Municipal Airport doing one thing or another.
Plowing snow, cutting grass or pumping gas – Woodham’s done a lot of things.
And for the bulk of his time there, Woodham has been the facility’s manager as well as a flight instructor. To some, 46 years in one place is a concept they can’t fathom, but Woodham hasn’t wanted to be anywhere else.
“I came down here to learn how to fly and got my private and commercial licenses and then flight instructor rating, but I was planning on being an auto mechanic,” he laughed. “The flight school went up for sale here, so I dove in not having any idea about anything at all. While I was learning to fly, I’d come down here and do odd jobs and just hang around doing whatever I could. That’s kind of how it all started.”
A private facility when Woodham first came to the Stratford Airport, he got his current role when the city purchased the airport and the former owners suggested he stay on as manager. Since then, he’s seen time change and the amount of traffic rise and fall on the runways but it’s still where he wanted to be. The original building was a hangar with office space and a restaurant added on the front, so Woodham was there when the current building replaced it.
“I was here every day when they started the construction and, even now if we have any work that needs to be done, I have all the plans … but most of that stuff is in my head, too,” he said. “I’ve been here pretty much my whole life.”
It was a different time in 1977, as Woodham says those were booming days for aviation. Carrying on into the early 1980s, there was a lot of flying going on and in some cases people would stick around afterwards for a bite to eat at the restaurant.
As everything does eventually, change touched down and people began to spend less time around the tarmac and more time on other interests. But for as long as he can remember, leaving the ground behind has always captured his imagination … and always will.
“People come in and do their flying, and then they leave and do whatever else it is they’re into,” he said. “Teaching people to fly will always hold my interest because you get so many different types of people walk through that door. They could be 13, 14 years old, or they could be 75. And it’s just dealing with each person that makes it special, especially at a smaller facility like this one – everybody knows everybody, and we want them to go away with a good feeling.”
Even as he closes in on the half-century mark at CYSA, Woodham doesn’t think about retiring. As long as he can hold on to his aviation medical certification (a requirement for all pilots), he plans on showing up to the job he’s never really considered work.
“As long as I’m healthy, I really have no interest in retiring or doing anything else because this is really my life,” he said. “The best part of my day is just being here, meeting people and helping out. I’m a happy guy.”
