A new hangar is under construction at the Grant Municipal Airport.
But thanks to FAA funding, more space is only the beginning of new things to come in Perkins County.
Expansion is underway at the Grant Municipal Airport. An additional three-bay box hangar is being constructed south of the two existing hangars that will allow for storage of larger planes and give planes currently stored outside the county by local pilots a new home.
"The hangar project was approved by the council last year and it's going through, we're receiving FAA money for that, so we get a 90 percent match on that, so it's really good for the city of Grant. We're hoping it'll be finished early this fall,” said Grant City Administrator and Airport Manager Dana Harris.
She says the rentals from the expansion will create enough compensation to pay the city's portion of the estimated $471,000 project.
"Pilots are really excited about it, the city's excited about it. It's a good project. Anytime we can get local pilots to store their planes here instead of someplace else, we keep the money in Grant and that's a good thing,” said Harris.
In addition new taxiways are being built under FAA guidance adjacent to the hangar and a new fuel farm will expand services for all planes landing at the airport.
"Hill Enterprises is putting that in for us, again we hope it'll be in the next few weeks and we'll be able to sell jet fuel then as well as regular aviation fuel. Currently we don't jet fuel here and we aren't able to provide fuel to the hospital planes the way we would like to and to anybody else just flying through who might need that, so this is a good addition to the airport," said Harris.
With recent concerns over flight safety, adding the Automated Weather Observing System within the next year will be an advantage to pilots, but the community as well.
"AWOS is basically a weather reporting system. It allows the pilots to understand the conditions on the runway, but it also has a bigger advantage. We're able to take that weather information then and distribute it through the media outlets and people in town can get the actual weather conditions then in Grant, Nebraska," said Harris.
And with so much excitement surrounding everything at the airport, Harris is looking forward to the future.
"We're probably even going to have a fly-in, so put that on your calendars and you can come down and visit us at the Grant Airport,” she said.
Story and Photo: http://www.knopnews2.com
