Travis Air Force Base introduces new runway, landing zone

Sitting on the edge of their seats, some 200 Travis Air Force Base leaders and airmen, as well as government officials and the public, watched in awe Thursday as a C-17 jet performed a touch-and-go, leaving only skid marks behind on a new runway at the military base.

"It's been many years in the making to get to this point," said Pat Baldi with Baldi Brothers Construction Co., which completed the runway project. "It's a dream come true. We lived this project. This is the finest runway the armed forces has. I'm very proud of this."

A ceremony marked the opening of the reconstructed runway and new assault landing zone at the base.

The three-year construction project recycled 99,000 tons of material from an old runway. It allows  for triple-runway operations on base, as opposed to single operations.

The new landing zone also will enable aircrews to train locally rather than fly to Washington, saving an estimated $7.3 million per year in fuel costs. In just 2 1/2 years, the $68 million project will have paid for itself. Other military installations also will use the landing zone for training. The new runway is 10,995 feet long and the new landing zone is 4,100 feet long.

Standing just feet from the runway and looking at the base, Col. Dwight Sones, commander of the 60th Air Mobility Wing, said the project has truly been a "labor of love."

"A lot of effort has been put into this runway," he said. "It's like a new toy. It's time to start doing some training on it."

Rep. John Garamendi, D-Solano, said the crews working on the project now know the "satisfaction of a job well done and completed."

"This community is heavily dependent on Travis and they, too, can have a sense of pride of what's been accomplished," he said. "This is a special part of America's defense system. For me, I take pride in what you have accomplished."

In the overcast sky, a flight crew gracefully lined up a C-17 Globemaster III with the new runway. Upon approach, the audience left their seats to see the aircraft ever so slightly touch down with its landing gear before lifting back up into the sky.

"I've never seen anything like it. I had to videotape the whole thing," said Vacaville City Councilwoman Dilenna Harris. "As a community, I'm very proud to be a partner with Travis. We do everything we can to support their mission and support the men and women at the base.

"It's a great day. This (runway) will help the base's capabilities."

Solano County Supervisor Linda Seifert has seen the maneuver from inside a jet. She was able to travel with a group from Travis to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, where they did a touch-and-go before returning to Travis, where they did a second touch-and-go with the back of the plane open.

"It was really quite an experience," she said. "I know it firsthand from inside the plane."

She said the new runway is another way Travis is better equipped.

"The better equipped Travis is, the better we are able to demonstrate the importance of the base and its military force," she said. "That establishes that the base can sustain its military presence in light of (Base Realignment and Closure Commission) cuts."

The significance of the day was not lost on Mike Kedis, project superintendent for Baldi Brothers.

"I was a little nervous," Kedis admitted. "I wasn't nervous about the integrity of the runway, but I've never seen something like that before. It's the first time we've built an entire runway. It was cool to see."

Kedis said the group laid the four placements of concrete in four days.

Airfield Engineer 1st Lt. Ryan Hall also was eager to see the runway used.

"I typically oversee the pavement of $50,000 sidewalks and not a $68 million runway," he said. "I had chills down my spine. It's historic. Airfields are an important part of what we do. This is the way I could contribute to what happens here at Travis."

Hall said the runway is used for normal aircraft traffic, from training missions to operational missions and the landing zone will be used by C-17 and C-130 aircraft to practice landing on short runways. "It's a proficiency that must be maintained for our aircrews to ensure they are prepared to land on the smallest of airstrips in combat zones," he said.

The project design was started in 2004. Construction began in February 2010 and was completed last month.

"I had butterflies," Baldi said. "But it's a somber feeling. We've worked on this for three years. It's like sending off a child to start a job after they finish college. I'm very proud."

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