Saturday, October 15, 2011

WASHINGTON: Spokane International Airport (KGEG) Reopens Main Runway

SPOKANE -- Flying in and out of the Spokane International Airport has been a little harder lately since one of the airport's most important navigational systems has been out of service, but that changed this weekend, when the airport opened back up its main runway.

At approximately 10:28 Saturday morning, Southwest flight 1474 arrived at the airport. Todd Woodard from the Spokane International Airport said, "the pilot commented when he landed about the great new pavement."

Flight 1474 was the first aircraft to land on the new improved main runway at the airport. The airport just finished a two year Line of Sight Safety Improvement Project, which closed down the northeast runway for six months in order for them to adjust the slope of the runway, required by the FAA.

Woodard, "it didn't meet their current design standard for line of sight, it essentially is the standard required by a pilot to see the midpoint anywhere on a runway surface." They corrected the issue by raising the slope threshold by about five feet to adjust the slope.

With some special planes flying high above the sky, the airport celebrated the unveiling of the new runway. Woodard said, "today we really wanted to commemorate the completion in a big way and breath a sigh of relief." Captain Larry Tobin added, "this is a wonderful runway now and money well spent."

http://www.kxly.com

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