Thursday, August 28, 2014

Tyler Pounds Regional Airport (KTYR) authorized for $9.6 million Federal Aviation Administration Grant

TYLER, August 28, 2014— The Tyler City Council authorized Tyler Pounds Regional Airport to accept a new FAA Grant totaling more than $9.6 million. The major portion of this grant will be used to begin reconstruction of the airport’s longest runway, portions of which date back to World War II. Having been in the planning and design phase for the past five years, a proactive plan has been set in motion to enhance the runway.

“Runway 4/22 is one of our main runways for the commercial air carriers and higher performance aircraft in Tyler,” said Davis Dickson, Airport Manager. “This rehabilitation project is crucial for the future growth of the airport. Once the reconstruction is complete, the runway pavement will be rated to handle larger aircraft plus have a precision approach for landings during inclement weather.”

Airport staff submitted the application for the FAA grant and should receive a grant offer in early September. This grant could be the largest ever received by Tyler Pounds Regional Airport.  Once received, the airport will seek to award the construction contracts to initiate Phase 1 of the Runway 4/22 rehabilitation project.

“Tyler Pounds Regional Airport posted a 14.9 percent increase in passenger boardings for 2013 and the growth trend continues in 2014,” said Dickson.  “Not only are we seeing growth in commercial aviation activity, we also see similar growth in the private aviation sector. Having reliable aviation infrastructure is very important for our city and the region.”

Tyler Pounds Regional Airport has the only daily jet service in East Texas provided by United Airlines, 800-523-3273 or www.united.com, and American Eagle Airlines, 800-433-7300 or www.aa.com.


 - Source: http://www.youreasttexas.com

Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport (KCHO), Charlottesville, Virginia: Volunteers Wanted for Safety Exercise

Charlottesville, Albemarle, UVA Office of Emergency Management Press Release

The Office of Emergency Management for Charlottesville, UVA and Albemarle County is looking for volunteers to play the ‘victims' of an airplane accident.

This is a great opportunity for you to be a part of a local disaster exercise and to see how we work together to protect our community. 


The exercise will be Saturday, September 20, 2014 at the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport. 

Volunteers are needed from 7:30 a.m. until approximately 2:00 p.m.

Volunteers should know that they will be outside most of the time for this exercise and can expect typical September weather. 


There will be a safety officer on site and all volunteers will have access to water. 

Lunch will be served after the exercise.

If you are interested in volunteering, please register online using this link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AirportFSE2014

You must register to receive additional information and the required liability release form that must be signed in order to participate. 


Contact Kirby Felts atkfelts@albemarle.org or call (434) 971-1263 with questions or registration problems.

- Source:   http://www.nbc29.com

Airport’s future up in the air at appreciation event: Ocean Shores Municipal Airport (W04), Washington

 Lee Funderberger of Ocean Shores gives a history of the Municipal Airport on Airport Appreciation Day Saturday. 
Angelo Bruscas/North Coast News


The fog cleared just on time to allow several landings and takeoffs for Airport Appreciation Day Saturday at the Ocean Shores Municipal Airport.

What remains unclear is the future of the airport after the Federal Aviation Administration recently declassified the city-run facility because it has fewer than 10 planes based on site.

On Saturday, members of the volunteer citizens committee that oversees the airport and about 25 people listened to longtime resident Lee Funderberger give a history of the airport, with this cautionary conclusion:

“I really hope this airport continues to be an attraction to this city,” Funderberger said. “A city without an airport, to me, is a city that is not alive.”

Funderberger told how in the 1960s he first flew from Oregon to Ocean Shores when the airport used to be located on what is now the 14th fairway to the golf course, behind Shores Bowl and the Bank of the Pacific. Prior to that, the family would fly to Copalis Beach and land on the beach. A few planes still exist that land there to this day.

“We would fly to Copalis Beach, where there is a natural beach runway there, dig clams and then fly back and land at Ocean Shores and walk over to the Ocean Shores Inn for lunch or dinner,” he recalled. “We found out about Ocean Shores that way, and that was the late 1960s or early ’70s.”

While the airport being in downtown Ocean Shores was convenient, it also proved to be hazardous. The move of the airport to the current site on the harbor side of the peninsula was caused in large part by the inevitable accident: a plane clipped some of the power lines behind what is now the pharmacy.

“Luckily, the plane landed safely but it did take the power lines down and thereafter they were buried,” Funderberger said. “We learned something, and that brought up the idea of moving the airport and building a bigger airport, because there was no room for expansion there.”

In late 1980, the search began for funding and design, along with wetlands and shorelines reviews, since the new proposed site off Duck Lake Drive needed to be filled in several areas.

In July 1984, the bids were opened and Quigg Brothers from Aberdeen were the low bidders on the project. Construction took about two years.

“What a change that was, out here in the open and not in downtown,” Funderberger said.

The airport back then was named for Gale Stokes, a former chief of police, who also was an avid pilot.

“According to many reports, he was the very first person to do a touch-and-go before the paving was completed,” Funderberger said of the chief.

Transportation, however, always has been an issue for the airport. Funderberger’s father, Glen, and other pilots who used the airport once created a pilot’s lounge and started a volunteer taxi from the airport using a former city patrol car that had been surplussed. No such facility or service now exists.

“That’s our biggest challenge to this day, getting to and from town,” said Bill Capron, who chairs the city’s airport committee.

Funderberger noted the airport became a political issue within city government after it moved to the new location away from downtown and the pilot’s lounge was deemed to be a non-conforming structure as a trailer in 1992.

“Pilots to this day still have to arrange transportation to and from here,” Funderberger said.

Until its recent move, when it failed to classify the Ocean Shores Airport, the FAA had provided a needed boost in funding some of the maintenance and upkeep, along with improvements at the airport. That money now appears to be in jeopardy.

In recent years, the runway has been extended, there are new lights, and the taxiways are no longer grass. Most of the improvements have been paid for with grants and matching funds from the FAA and the city. But the federal money will no longer be coming in if the airport cannot regain its classification as a general aviation runway. Currently, there are only three airplanes based at the airport, the City Council was told in a report last month.

“The FAA has changed the ruling on things. If you don’t have ten airplanes at home on the field, they are not interested in funding too much any more,” Funderberger explained.

“So what does the future hold here? Where will the general aviation go in the next couple of decades? We’re not sure. But I can tell you this, many good people have given their time and their lives, and some of their personal funds as in hangars being built, to make this field what it is today.”

- Source:  http://northcoastnews.com


Stuart Green directs one of the planes that flew into the Ocean Shores Airport on Saturday. 
 Angelo Bruscas/North Coast News