On this episode of Coffee with Cool People, Chip Munn sat down with Brad Beadles, the new executive director of the Florence Regional Airport. Beadles is a Marine Corps veteran, a dad of three, and a believer in airports as engines for community growth. His story moves from flight school and a small regional airport in Utah to leadership roles in Naples, Florida, before a family reset and a fresh start in Florence.
At home, life is joyfully chaotic. Beadles and his wife are raising three boys, ages 11, 6, and 3, which means YMCA leagues, McLeod fields, and a trunk overflowing with sports gear. His wife grew up in Denver and welcomed South Carolina’s cooler snap with relief and a smile. The family moved from Naples after Hurricane Ian, a storm that upended their lives and tested their resilience. That experience deepened Beadles’ drive to build something lasting and meaningful for people. When he saw Florence, with its two runways, room to grow, and a community that works together, he saw promise worth believing in.
Beadles’ vision begins with cargo. Across South Carolina, cargo aviation is fueling jobs and investment that ripple through communities. Florence already has the ingredients: two runways, space to extend to 8,000 or even 10,000 feet, and a rail line on the airport’s west side that once stretched to Myrtle Beach. His team is exploring bringing that track back to life, connecting directly to the Dillon Inland Port. Rail plus runway, he argues, can spark the kind of industrial growth and wage opportunities that shift a region’s future.
Education is the second pillar. Again and again, Beadles hears the same surprise in rooms across town: We didn’t know the airport could do that. He wants to rewrite that story, beginning with a plan to bring a thousand middle schoolers through the airport every year to see the full range of careers it holds. Pilots and flight attendants are only the beginning. Operations, maintenance, facilities, firefighting and police, air traffic control, TSA, customs, planning, design, fueling, FBO management, aircraft mechanics, flight schools, and a fast-growing world of drones. Local students can even graduate with a drone certification in hand, stepping into an industry expected to add tens of thousands of jobs in the next few years.
Convenience is the third pillar. Beadles dreams of Florence being the most convenient airport on the East Coast. That means clean facilities, easy parking, short lines, and thoughtful partnerships that travelers can feel. He acknowledges what he cannot control, like airline operations in Charlotte, and focuses on what he can. He is pushing to move the last inbound flight from midnight to closer to 10 p.m. He is also exploring a partnership with PDRTA to shuttle travelers from Charlotte when that final connection is canceled. The message is simple: passengers should always feel the airport has their back.
For skeptics who see airports only as departure points, Beadles points to the multiplier effect. Every ticket purchased at Florence sends a passenger facility charge back to the local airport for improvements. Every arriving traveler sparks demand for taxis, restaurants, hotels, and small businesses. Strong airports lift communities, and thriving communities in turn strengthen their airports. He sees Florence standing right at the edge of that momentum.
When asked about his favorite fictional character, Beadles points to Iron Man. He admires the blend of brains, tools, and flight, the same mix of ingenuity and momentum that inspires his own approach to leadership. Like his favorite hero, Beadles is a builder with a pilot’s mindset, focused on safety and systems but always pushing forward. In Florence, that momentum looks like expanded cargo opportunities, a revived rail link, a second airline, better routes, and a new generation of kids who can see themselves in aviation. That is the vision, and Beadles is already moving the pieces into place.
