It might have been a harbinger of what was to follow, but Gary Francis, the owner operator of Tailwheels flight school who is seeking to locate his flight school at Bartow Municipal Airport, did not attend Monday’s July 10 Airport Authority meeting. Had he attended, he might have been able to defend himself and argue his request.

“Gary Francis was given the choice to attend,” said Cynthia Barrow, the airport executive director. She had spoken with him several hours earlier, at approximately 3 p.m. She then had an assistant distribute to airport authority board members printouts of a seven-page fax she received from the Federal Aviation Administration just moments after her phone conversation with Francis.