Airport decision on runway configuration delayed
The Dubois County Airport Authority met last night to discuss options on runway configurations and other business.
Airport Manager Travis McQueen reported several items.
Fuel sales are trending down for the year. According to McQueen this is normal for the third quarter of the year and is exacerbated by the fuel cost as well.
McQueen notified the board of classes that are available for the airport personnel from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). He invited the board to attend upcoming training and noted that the classes were free.
Josh Houchin with Idea Fusion Media is building the airport’s website and has been working on the content management system. McQueen stated the url the airport would like to obtain, http://www.huntingburgairport.org, is held by an individual or company in Eastern Europe. It may become available after Nov. 16 and he will attempt secure it at that time. If he is unable to do so, options for other names for the website have been discussed.
Phil Schneider reported the state’s board of accounts audit is complete and there were no issues to report.
McQueen reported on an annual conference he attended. The Great Lakes Regional FAA Conference provided training and presentations for airports interested in the current and future trends in aviation.
Insurance Renewal process is ongoing and the airport would receive a brief once the paperwork was completed.
The Shovel Ready project determination is delayed due to a personnel change in the position within the state.
Today at 5:45 the airport will be hosting a Huntingburg Boy Scout group. The event will allow the scouts to interact with pilots and airplanes at the airport. The airport and HNB Terminal Corporation have conducted several meetings over the past few months and will continue to do so in the future. The events are designed to raise community awareness of the airport and aviation.
The Board discussed terms with Dubois County Flight Services’ lease of Hanger Three. Dubois County Flight Services indicated they would like to continue with the existing terms of $100 plus 50% of revenues for the lease of the hanger. McQueen stated they could continue the lease or advertise for a new leaser. The lease is a month to month lease and the board is able to break it with a 30 day notice to Dubois County Flight Services. The board decided to continue the lease.
Airport Board President Bob Duncan introduced Woolpert Engineering Senior Associate Chris Snyder and Alan Gomez with HNTB, an engineering firm representing INDOT for the 231 project, attended via phone conference.
Duncan opened with the fact that the board had previously stated they would like to make a decision tonight on the runway configuration, but due to the FAA forwarding the funding questions to the national office in Washington they would not be able to do so tonight.
According to Snyder the FAA is considering several projects similar to the Huntingburg Airport and has forwarded the questions posed on funding and configuration to FAA Headquarters in Washington D.C. The FAA has not made a decision yet and Snyder is unable to state when a decision will be made. As the FAA funding potentially covers approximately 95% of the cost of the runway expansion project, it is effectively frozen until the FAA reviews the runway alternatives and makes a recommendation.
Duncan inquired about the FAA funding availability for the demolition and rebuilding of any buildings due to the construction of the new runway. Snyder stated the funding availability would be determined by whether the building was privately-owned, airport-owned, or federally funded.
Snyder was unable to report when the FAA would provide their decision.
Alan Gomez stated that the state was on hold with the plans on the completion of the current 231 work until the airport made a decision on the runway configuration. Highway 231 construction of the current phase will end just north of the entrance to the airport and has been put on hold until the decision as been made.
[quote style=”boxed”]Duncan expressed his frustration with the process, “FAA wants us to get clarification on what INDOT is willing to do, INDOT won’t tell us what they are willing to do until they get a plan and we can’t show them a plan until the FAA approves it. I guess that’s why it was kicked up to headquarters.”[/quote]
In regards to the proposed I-67 project, Duncan stated he has attended meetings on the project but it is too early to determine what impact the airport plans could have on the proposal.
Twin sisters Joyce Eastwood and Jan Weyer attended the meeting last night. This was their first introduction to the planned Airport Expansion. They became concerned as the current favored plans all cut through a significant portion of their family homestead farm, the Aufderhar Family Grounds.
Joyce stated she was concerned that they were never notified of the intentions of the airport and only found out from when the farmer that leased the property told them of the airport’s potential plans.
Duncan explained to the sisters that the airport’s plans are preliminary and remediation for the landowners would be planned when a decision was made on the runway configuration.
All that time, energy and money wasted on a runway idea that will never be needed!
Dubois County has what it needs now. No bigger planes will ever land there since it not productive.
Major airlines fly out of Louisville. Evansville's airport is a empty most of the time. What flyings out of there is costly.
Just because the government may give money to the Huntingburg plan it doesn't make it right.
BTW that government money……
That came from we taxpayers. There's no such thing as free money or a money tree!
Plus, look at all that farmland lost and untaxed for nothing more then big shots who lust for bigness.
There's no doubt this is becoming increasingly frustrating, giving way to suspect if not broken processes in our government, et al, to include politics and politicians who become paralyzed from taking ANY actions or making ANY decisions based on knee-jerking from all the naysayers, NIMBYs and special-interest groups. For heaven's sake, if we lived this way not that long ago we'd still be driving buckboards on dirt roads instead of modern cars on a highway system second-to-none. Where/how do think all the cities and highways were built? Thankfully, forward-thinking people unafraid to make the necessary decisions prevailed. Yes, change and progress is often difficult and sacrificial, but like the birth of new life, it soon gives way to new opportunities, achievements and rewards.
The airport expansion isn't near so much for mass passenger travel as for commercial, business and development opportunities. "It's the economy, ——"