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instructor himself, but by the
time he graduated high school he
decided on a more practical route
to a career; hence his enrolling at
Augustana majoring in some-
thing other than aviation.
After college he was looking
for work when it was suggested
he try and do something at an
airport. He got close; he went to
work for a St. Louis company as
an airport planner.
He later moved to Indianapolis
in a similar position and became
a consultant for an engineering
firm there. He also worked at the
airport in Terre Haute, Ind.
In Indianapolis he met his wife
Andrea, who was a police officer.
They were married and a couple
of sons later, Olson was offered
the position as assistant director
of Evansville Regional Airport,
a midsized airport in Evansville,
Ind., a city similar in size to Peo-
ria. That was in 2000.
“It was a good job, a good
move for us. My wife became a
law enforcement liaison for an
agency and it was good situa-
tion. That’s why I stayed there for
several years,” he said.
Then came the opportunity to
apply for the Peoria airport job —
twice, in fact. Olson interviewed
for the position three years
earlier when it ultimately went to
Spirito.
While the Peoria airport is
slightly larger than the one in
Evansville, Olson said there are
many similarities because of the
size. “I like this size of airport. It
is a challenge, but it’s not so big
I can’t get in there myself and
run it instead of just managing a
staff,” he said.
A month or two after he started
at Downing Airport, construction
began on the new terminal. But
his airport planning experience
didn’t come into play because
all of that was done before his
arrival.
Olson likes how it was
planned. “It’s a good terminal.
It’s a good fit for Peoria and for
the airlines that fly in and out of
here and their passengers,” he
said.
But Olson missed the inaugural
flight into the new terminal when
it opened last April. He was busy
carrying boxes from the old ter-
minal to the new one when that
flight landed and its passengers
disembarked.
He has, however, seen the faces
of others as they entered the air-
port for the first time, especially
if they were familiar with the old
terminal. “It was enjoyable. It still
is. I remember one guy coming
into the terminal after his flight
landed, looking around and go-
ing up to an airline employee and
saying, ‘this is Peoria, right?’ It is
quite a change,” Olson said.
Olson doesn’t fly much
himself anymore. More than
anything it’s because of a lack of
time.
Another factor could be that it
isn’t necessary any longer if he
wants to see his folks.
“I used to come back to Peoria
every year around Labor Day to
pick my dad up and fly over to
the National Stearman Fly-in at
Galesburg. I think he liked doing
that a lot. We still go over there,
but by car now since I haven’t
flown in a while,” Olson said.
He said he still remembers the
first time he took his father up in
a plane and how enthusiastic his
father was about it. “I still haven’t
flown with my mom though.
She tolerates airplanes as a way
to get somewhere, but I think
she believes that we folks who
fly in small airplanes for fun are
crazy.”
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thePeorian.com
The design above and the globe pictured below are just two of the art elements
in the new terminal at Gen. Wayne R. Downing Peoria International Airport.