Sale of aviation fuels is the prime source of cash flow and profit for FBOs. Rental of hangar and tie-down space is another source of regular revenue. Planes require constant maintenance to be safe and reliable, so aircraft maintenance services are stock-in-trade for FBOs.

Today, the FBO at Webster City Municipal Airport is Storm Flying Service, as it has been since Jan. 1, 1972, when 27-year-old Ralph Storm, then manager of the Iowa Falls Municipal Airport, was hired by Webster City’s Airport Commission.

Storm retired in 2012, after being the face of Webster City Municipal Airport for 40 years. He sold his FBO business to Steve and Mike Luedtke, who continue running it today.

The Luedtkes grew up near Janesville, Wisconsin, but often visited relatives in north central Iowa.

-Messenger photo by Robert E. Oliver
Two new aviation fuel tanks were completed in 2016. One holds Aviation Gas, the main fuel used by piston-engine (ie. 'propeller' airplanes), the other dispenses jet fuel, essentially refined kerosene. Both are essential. Small, privately-owned propeller craft use AVGAS, but corporate jets, life flight aircraft and most other modern aircraft require jet fuel.

“We were aviation nerds from childhood days,” Mike Luedtke said. “Stormy taught both of us to fly, right here at this airport, in the early 2000s.”

Both men are licensed pilots, holding airline transport licenses, the highest-level certificates offered by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Both are qualified to provide instruction on single- or multiple-engine aircraft and avionics — which is the use of aircraft instruments.

As an FBO, their contract with the city of Webster City requires them to be on duty Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but they’re on call and answer phones 24 hours a day. They plow runways in winter, and mow grass in summer. They broker air charter services, providing services to aircraft visiting the airport and, as Steve Luedtke puts it: “work as a concierge for local transportation and services.”

The work done by FBOs has changed over time.

“Twenty years ago, every pilot flew canceled checks,” Mike Luedtke said. The big customers for this service were Federal Reserve Banks, which provide a clearinghouse service for checks, and Wells Fargo. “When that system went electronic, there was no need to haul paper checks. It happened almost overnight.”

Some readers may remember the tragic story of Masahiro “Masa” Funabashi, a Japanese pilot who flew checks for Storm Flying Service. The popular young pilot died when his plane crashed in clear weather near Hays, Kansas, while transporting cancelled checks to the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank on Valentine’s Day, 2008.

Ralph Storm ran air charters from Webster City Municipal for decades. His regular customers included WCI Laundry Division, later Frigidaire Company and, still later, Electrolux. Local plant executives regularly hired Storm to fly them to meetings in Columbus or Cleveland, Ohio.

Steve Luedtke commented, “The charter business is long gone. We can still plan a custom trip anywhere in the world, but we had to sell our charter plane, an 8-place Piper Navajo, years ago. There was no business for that kind of plane; after 2008, people wanted to fly in jet aircraft.”

In late 1997, an all-new Webster City Airport Commission consisting of Bob McCollough, Hank Witte, Dean Bowden and Doug Bailey were appointed by the City Council of Webster City. Cindy Van Whye served as chair. The newly-seated commissioners were charged with defining the future role of the airport in the everyday life of Webster City.

Storm wanted “bigger hangars and longer runways” to “get more corporate jets coming through here.” This was a proven formula, he argued, to “get more funding from the state and federal levels.”

Local airports have relied on government funding to make improvements for a hundred years.

Storm saw potential in giving flying lessons to students at Iowa Central Community College. This idea was implemented and, for a few years, provided activity at the airport and business for the FBO. But, ultimately, it became too expensive for most students.

An advantage enjoyed by Webster City Municipal Airport is the presence of aircraft mechanic Neil Hinman. A fully-licensed Airframe and Powerplant mechanic, Hinman is certified by the Federal Aviation Administration to repair both airframes and aircraft engines.

“He attracts a lot of activity to the airport and has customers in a 150-mile radius,” Steve Luedtke said.

With the end of charter service and pilot training, that left crop spraying as a major business at Webster City Municipal. Aerial spraying of pesticides and insecticides began in the early 1920s. Still called “crop dusters,” there are an estimated 50 commercial crop-spraying concerns operating in Iowa today. Most use light, fixed-wing aircraft, but helicopters are used in some applications. Drones have made inroads in spraying, but aren’t likely to replace planes anytime soon.

The Daily Freeman Journal of July 26, 2006, featured an article about Matt Welter, of Rolfe, “whose Webster City-based plane sprays 120 Iowa towns for mosquitos.” The article went on to note that, as Welter used GPS instrumentation, the spraying could occur at night. Nighttime aerial mosquito spraying was actually done in Webster City for a few years, but no longer.

Several times each week an air ambulance, usually a small plane, visits Webster City Municipal on what is literally a life-or-death mission.

Mike Luedtke points out: “There’s a small helipad at Van Diest Medical Center, but pilots prefer landing and taking off here, especially in bad weather.” A key advantage is the airport’s new beacon, which can be seen as far away as 30 miles. “The hospital has a small light, but it can be hard to see at night or in cloudy or rainy weather.”

The Luedtkes credit the long-running support of the city of Webster City and Airport Commission with keeping the airport viable.

“With the facilities we have today or planned, we can do a lot more here in the future,” Mike Luedtke said. “We want that business to come here, not to competing airports, which are all around us.”