Eagle Project Soars High Over GMU's Community Corridor

GREENVILLE, SC – Neill Bickerstaff always loved coming to the Greenville Downtown Airport (GMU) to watch the planes take off and land long before anything was on the South Ramp. When Neill needed a project to complete in 2018 to become an Eagle Scout, he really wanted to have something meaningful for aviation in a place that held fond memories for his family.

?“Greenville Tech donated that propeller to us and we just stored it for the longest time. It came off a PBY5 Catalina. It wasn’t until Neill’s dad, Lindsay, and Neill Bickerstaff came to us asking about a project at the airport that this idea came to fruition,” said Joe Frasher, former GMU Airport Director.

Robert Hoover, the Public Relations Director at GMU, wanted to find something that would unify the South Ramp venues. The area is colloquially called the Community Corridor by airport staff, but the community is largely unaware of this name. The Eagle Scout propellor project was perfect because of its location at the entrance to become the sign for the Community Corridor.

?“It took it about five months to work on this project. I wanted to do something big and something that would last,” said Neill. “We took a lot of time to decide on the perfect place that was not going to interfere with anything. We even got an engineer to help design it.”??

Neill was rather surprised and pleased about using his project to name the area for the community. There are currently four Eagle Scout projects at the airport. Those projects are the propeller, the wing shade structure in the park, the information board, and the missing man table at the museum. Less than 5% of all scouts who join ever reach the Eagle Scout rank. A lot of former scouts donate time, services, and money to help others reach this exceptionally difficult goal.

?The number of local businesses that donated services to making this Eagle Scout project happen truly shows that it was a community effort for the Community Corridor. Local businesses that donated materials or time on this project were: Meridian Brick, Chambers Grading, Leslie Sheet Metal Works, Hardscape Creations, McLeod Landscape Architects, Triangle Construction, Southern Painting, and Summey Engineering.

?About the Greenville Downtown Airport

The Greenville Downtown Airport is the busiest general aviation airport in South Carolina. GMU has served our community since 1928 and continues that service today. Our Community Corridor is a window for children and families to take in aviation at Runway Park, eat at Runway Café, learn military history at the MHCC museum, or just play a round at Take Off Mini Golf. More at www.greenvilledowntownairport.com.