"2 county airports aren’t feasible"

Sunday, August 12, 2001

Editorial
2 county airports aren’t feasible
The Plattsburgh (NY) Press-Republican


Garry Douglas is right — there’s no need for two airports in Clinton County.

Douglas, president of the Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce,
told Rotarians this past week that closing the flightline at the former
Plattsburgh Air Force Base isn’t an option. And to maintain the Clinton
County Airport on Route 3 at the same time doesn’t make economic sense.

Flightline operations at the Plattsburgh Airbase Redevelopment Corp. are
ongoing with the presence of Pratt-Whitney using it to launch engine-test
flights. There’s also other occasional flights, probably none more
noteworthy than the charter-jet flight over the winter that brought the U.S.
Biathlon team to competition in Lake Placid.

There’s been little doubt in our mind that if an aviation arm could be
developed at the former Strategic Air Command base, then it would to the
area’s economic advantage to feed and nurture it. Pratt-Whitney’s
accomplishments so far fuel optimism that there’s room to continue flight
operations at PARC.

Which leaves the present County Airport odd-man-out. Clinton County
legislators are presently weighing a decision to move that airport to the
former airbase. That ruling should come soon.

One of the question marks is the cost factor. Finances will have to be
secured. Here’s why: We already know there will be expenses in moving the
current airport to PARC. Tenants and fixed-base operators will want
compensation to cover their costs for such a move. And a cross-wind runway
will have to be built for smaller aircraft.

Further, although current aviation operations at PARC are in the red, we’re
in agreement with Douglas that the flightline is a generator of other
economic activity at PARC. And as Pratt-Whitney expands its operations,
every plane added to the test fleet and every professional hired bolsters
the area’s confidence that the aviation giant is here to stay.

And the noise of a busier aviation mission? We’re certainly cognizant of
those issues raised by folks in the airstrip’s flight paths — today and in
the past. However, we’re reminded of the words spoken by Clyde Lewis,
arguably the one person responsible for bringing the U.S. Air Force to
Plattsburgh in 1956.

To answer the noise critics, Lewis would say of the jet-aircraft noise:
"That’s the sound of freedom." Soon, hopefully, we’ll be able to put a
different spin on that quotation: "That’s the sound of economic prosperity."

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