Expansion at Sanderson Field (ANJ)

Meet our Airport Staff - Alecia Stephens

Alecia is a certified Aircraft & Powerplant (A&P) mechanic. She has had a love for aviation since she was a child. She later joined the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) 95th Composite Squadron in Texarkana, Arkansas. “CAP gave me the opportunity to really get involved and find out just how wonderful the aviation community is.”

Alecia graduated from Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2008. After graduation, she moved from Tulsa, and was hired in her first position as an aircraft mechanic at LaSill Aviation within the Lawton/Ft. Sill Regional Airport (LAW).

Working at LAW, she gained general aviation maintenance experience with Pipers, Cessnas, and Beechcraft, as well as assisted in fueling and flight line operations for American Eagle. Because Altus Air Force Base and Ft. Sill Army Base used the regional airport, she was also introduced to C-5s, Chinooks, Black Hawks, and numerous other military and civilian aircraft.

As her family grew, they chose to move back to Tulsa where she worked for NORDAM, an aviation component manufacturing and repair station. There she gained experience working on aircraft radomes which are used to protect radars in the nose of aircraft.

After battling the Oklahoma heat Alecia, her husband Johney, and three children, Coty (15), Carson (10), and Essa (6) relocated to Sault Ste. Marie. “We arrived in February of 2018 on the weekend of the I-500, and we have loved being here ever since.”

After a few months of settling in, Alecia was introduced to Tom Brown, Airport Manager at Sanderson Field (ANJ). Tom then introduced me to Bob Schallip, a local A&P/IA at Sanderson Field. “Mr. Schallip gave me the opportunity of assisting him part-time and shared his aviation experience with me.”

It was later at a 2019 Young Eagles event, that she met David Waite, the fixed base operator at Sanderson and he offered Alecia part-time employment with Great Circle Aviation Services. Fast forward to 2020 and Alecia is now Lead Mechanic and says she cannot describe how overjoyed she is to work on planes every day....again!

For more information on Sanderson Field and to learn more about opportunities at ANJ please visit our website at SandersonField.com and our Facebook pages @SandersonField @SooPilots