A hangar was blown across the runway at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, Conn. during Hurricane Sandy. It missed a Mooney aircraft by inches.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll / Connecticut Post |
STRATFORD -- Planes are taking off and landing again at the Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Airport, but it will likely be several weeks before all of the lighting and navigation gear that was damaged in Hurricane Sandy is repaired.
"When I came in to the office the day after Sandy, I said to myself, `What's that shimmering?' " said Airport Manager John Ricci on Monday. "Basically, it was a lake that extended from Lordship Boulevard to Stratford Road. Both runways were underwater."
Two of the three navigational aids remain down, Ricci said.
One is the visual approach slope indicator, or VASI, which is a system of lights that glow either red or white from the pilot's perspective, indicating whether the aircraft is too low or too high, respectively.
The other is called the precision approach path indicator, or PAPI. It's also a glide slope indicator for pilots, but it's a newer system that can provide approach guidance until the aircraft is nearly on the runway.
The runway illumination lights are out, too, on 11-29, one of Sikorsky's two runways, owing to salt water damage. However, this is Sikorsky's secondary runway; 6-24 is the principal one.
"We've been working on them, but is a painstaking process," he said. "We have to take apart and inspect every light, every electrical junction, each connection," he said.
The airport's VOR (VHF Omnidirectional Range) navigation system is operating normally, however. This allows pilots, using radio waves, to fix their positions relative to the airport when they're within about 30 miles from the airport.
"The VOR is the only nav air that we have working at the moment," Ricci said.
He said that it's up to the Federal Aviation Administration to repair the PAPI and VASI systems. This may take some time, because parts will have to be found.
Sikorsky Memorial, also known by its designation KBDR, is situated 8 feet above sea level. On Monday, under sunshine and a desiccating wind from the northwest, the thought of a severe flood on its 800 acres seemed distant. And, indeed, it was something that Ricci never thought could happen, either.
There was little in the way of pavement damage, however, in part because the airport wasn't subjected to wave action. The flooding got within about 75 feet of Ricci's first-floor office in the administration building.
Another bright spot was the fact that the flooding, although extensive, drained off quickly, leaving behind only one small pond.
"I thought we'd have water to deal with for some time," Ricci said, "but within a day or two, it was all gone."
As for aircraft, Ricci said that about a dozen of the 202 aircraft that are based there were damaged beyond repair, some by flooding, others by blowing debris.
One plane, he said, was struck by a roof that blew off a hangar; the aircraft protected by that hangar was damaged beyond repair, too, as well as the hangar.
"We might lose some of those tenants for good," he said. "Some of them might not get their aircraft replaced."
Still, Ricci said that Sikorsky fared better that many other airports up and down the Eastern Seaboard.
"Groton-New London had a lot of damage," he said shaking his head. "They have almost a direct waterfront, and they had some serious wave-action damage."
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