BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— David Dagenais was sworn in as the newest board member of the Keystone Heights Airport before the board’s Oct. 5 meeting. He holds the Bradford County seat on the board.
When introducing himself to his new colleagues, Dagenais said he has been involved in aviation since high school, and attended an aviation maintenance school after graduation. After earning his FAA airframe and powerplant certifications, he then learned to fly.
Dagenais later joined the Navy, which assigned him to Cecil Field in Jacksonville. There, he worked on A-7 jets for four years.
“After my active duty period, I worked as a civilian on the base for a few years while staying in the reserves,” he said.
He retired in 2001 as a flight engineer on a Lockheed P-3 Orion, which is the same aircraft pilots train on at the Keystone Heights Airport.
Dagenais said he spent five years managing a small airport in northern Louisiana.
He said the facility was smaller than Keystone, consisting of one runway.
“It was pretty much a closed airport when I got there,” he said, “and so there were quite a few improvements that were made during that time, and even after I left.”
Since 2001, Dagenais has worked at Florida State College at Jacksonville’s Cecil Center, where he helped establish the college’s airframe and powerplant program.
“We’ve had a good time there,” he said, “and have seen a lot of students graduate and get jobs all over the country in aviation maintenance over the years.”
Dagenais said that although he will retire from the college in December, he plans to remain on campus as a designated mechanic examiner for the FAA.
He said he has owned a Cessna 152 since 1988, and almost totally rebuilt the airplane after an arson fire at Naval Air Station Jacksonville.
