PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Cleanup has officially started at Albert Whitted Airport in St. Pete.
It sustained significant damage during hurricanes Helene and Milton, and now, four months later, repairs are finally happening.
"I learned to fly on this airport in 1966…I've just been around here all my life," said Walt Driggers, who is a member of Friends of Albert Whitted Airport.
For Walt Driggers, flying out of the Albert Whitted Airport is a family tradition.
"I learned to fly here, my father learned to fly here, my son got his commercial license at this airport.
It's a place he holds close to his heart but after Hurricanes Helene and Milton, he said the airport was hard to look at.
"My initial reaction when we drove through and saw all the rubble was nauseous. It was disgusting," said Driggers.
Many pilots, like David Thompson, had similar reactions.
"I was appalled…I had evacuated, fortunately, and when I came back, my hangar was one of the very few that was undamaged," said Thompson.
Jeffery Munford's hangar was destroyed in Hurricane Milton and he's been waiting months to see progress.
"It's been a long time, and I'd venture to say if the race wasn't coming up, it would have taken a lot longer. But at least they are here, and they are working," said Munford.
The City of St. Petersburg is setting aside $1.1 million to clean up debris and repair hangars at the airport, just a little over a month before the Firestone Grand Prix, which uses a portion of the airport's runway for the race.
Pilots said while they are happy cleanup is happening, they wish it would have happened sooner.
"But we understand that the entire community had a lot of damage, the Trop and a lot of different places. They had a lot of different places to look…and we are glad they finally got to this one," said Driggers.
Driggers and Munford said the sooner the airport is repaired, the better.
"We get about 100,000 flights here a year…and about half of them are people coming to our town to do business or invest in tourism," said Driggers.
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