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Airport getting new instrument landing system |
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Tuesday, 29 July 2008 |
Work is beginning on the grounds of the Saline County Regional Airport to eventually make way for an Instrument Landing System.
And the ILS will be help bring the airport more in line with other commercial airports in the state.
The new runways opened in spring 2007. The old airport was located between Holland Chapel Baptist Church and the Saline County Fairgrounds off Interstate 30.
While the old airport was open only for personal aircraft, the new airport is bringing Saline County up to par on the business scale.
Mark Westbrook, Saline County Airport Commission chairman, said the ILS “puts us in the same class as other business airports in the state like Stuttgart and North Little Rock. It’s more than just an individual-use aircraft.”
The airport received a $512,000 federal grant to install taxiway lighting, which is required to receive the ILS through the Federal Aviation Administration. The grant also is being used to start on the expansion project to make room for more T-hangars, Westbrook said.
The ILS will allow business air traffic to come and go any day, whether it’s cloudy or sunny, Westbook said. He said it takes “the human error” out the landing process. The instruments will get pilots to the ground in bad weather and allow them to rely on technology to bring them down from the air rather than relying on their sight alone.
He added that the airport has a few commercial aircraft flying in now, “but they can only come and go in good weather.”
The taxiway lighting project should be completed by the end of the year, Westbrook said, and he expects the ILS project to be commissioned in December 2009 by the FAA.
The commission originally thought it would only receive $411,240 in grant money, but “we got more than we thought because there was year-end money that other airports didn’t use,” Westbrook said. “The airport wouldn’t be there if weren’t for federal grants, and we plan to apply for more,” he added.
There are 36 T-hangars at the airport now, each one costing around $500,000. “They’re all full and we have a waiting list for more.”
In addition to T-hangar expansion, other future projects include building a terminal and establishing a fixed-base operator on the field to provide operation and maintenance services for the aircraft, Westbrook said.
“Things are going as scheduled,” he said.
Including Westbrook, the Airport Commission comprises seven members. Jim Owens of Hot Springs Village is the newest member, replacing Quorum Court member Doug Curtis. Curtis resigned because he said he wasn’t able to devote as much time to the commission as he would have liked.
Owens is retired from the FAA and “knows a lot about what’s going on and what we’re trying to do,” Westbrook said.
The commission meets at 6:30 p.m. every fourth Tuesday of the month at the courthouse.
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