The Commissioners of St. Mary’s County approved a lease agreement giving Ready 9 Aviation Academy space inside the Captain Walter Francis Duke Terminal Building at St. Mary’s County Regional Airport, adding a youth-focused aviation education nonprofit as a new tenant at the county-owned facility.
The vote came during the commissioners’ Aug. 18 business meeting, the same session in which the board presented a proclamation recognizing National Aviation Day — a fitting pairing, given Ready 9’s mission of introducing local students to aviation careers.
Ready 9 Aviation Academy is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose stated mission is to promote aviation as a STEM career field for both youth and adults. The organization offers discovery flights, initial flight training, and specialized instruction in tailwheel aircraft and seaplanes. Its long-term goal is to give every high-school-aged student in St. Mary’s County the chance for hands-on aviation exposure through its ground- and flight-based programs.
The academy grew out of Southern Maryland Seaplanes, a for-profit flight operation that transitioned into the nonprofit Ready 9 structure. The organization has said it will continue offering tailwheel and seaplane training while expanding into additional youth-focused programming.
St. Mary’s County Regional Airport, identified by the FAA as 2W6, is a county-owned public general-aviation airport in Leonardtown. It has one paved runway and sees roughly 40,000 aircraft operations a year, with more than 200 aircraft based there; the airport does not have scheduled commercial airline service. The Captain Walter Francis Duke Terminal Building already houses several aviation-related tenant businesses, and Ready 9’s new lease adds another education-focused operation to that lineup.
The Ready 9 lease was one of several action items commissioners approved during County Administrator Time at the same meeting, alongside grant agreements for emergency management, homeland security, and aging services, along with a Maryland Department of Natural Resources wildlife management agreement for the Myrtle Point Cooperative Wildlife Management Area.
The Aug. 18 meeting’s main agenda item was a briefing on the draft St. Mary’s 2050 Comprehensive Plan, and commissioners separately authorized the county administrator to accept a bid for a bond award — both addressed in previous coverage.
