Fwd: Small Town Airports in South Dakota Entering Jet Age

--- Colleen Turner <colleenturner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2004 23:54:04 -0800 (PST)
> From: Colleen Turner <colleenturner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Small Town Airports in South Dakota
> Entering Jet Age
> To: airport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> Posted on Sun, Jan. 11, 2004   
>  
> Small Town Airports Entering Jet Age
> Aberdeen American News, SD
> 
> City officials have said that Aberdeen Regional
> Airport being temporarily without commercial service
> if the Mesaba pilots strike will have a disastrous
> effect on not only the airport but also the
> community
> it serves.
> 
> However, many airports in South Dakota have been
> operating without the support of a major airline for
> years.
> 
> In Gettysburg, plans are being worked out to make
> the
> airport jet-ready. In Britton, jet accessibility has
> already been accomplished. Folks at both airports
> say
> the future looks steady if not bright.
> 
> Terry Haven, the unofficial airport manager for the
> Britton Municipal Airport, said the airport is
> basically used for crop-dusting planes and company
> jets of Horton Inc., which has a plant in Britton.
> 
> "We are probably lucky if we get half a dozen
> (aircraft) in a week in wintertime," Haven said.
> 
> Haven has lived in Britton since 1974 and owns the
> Dakota Ag Service, a crop dusting and agriculture
> service company that operates out of the airport.
> 
> "I just kind of oversee things here," Haven said of
> his unpaid duty. "If there's a problem, it's my job
> to
> inform the city."
> 
> The city is in charge of snow removal at the airport
> while Haven mows the grass in summertime. Since
> 9-11,
> he said he also gets calls from Homeland Security
> officials to check on three planes that he keeps in
> the locked hangar.
> 
> "They just want to make sure we are keeping an eye
> on
> things," he said.
> 
> Years ago Haven also rebuilt small airplanes to sell
> them, but high liability insurance rates have made
> such a business cost-prohibitive because of people
> filing lawsuits against aircraft manufacturers, he
> said.
> 
> "Ten or 15 years ago we had about 10 or 15 airplanes
> around here," Haven said.
> 
> Now the only permanent birds on the tarmac are his
> three.
> 
> In order to accommodate the Horton corporate jets
> that
> bring foreign buyers and company employees in and
> out
> of Britton, the airport has been "pretty much
> rebuilt
> (during) the past five years," he said.
> 
> "Two or three years ago they resurfaced the runway,
> and a couple of years before that they lengthened
> it,"
> he said.
> 
> The longer runway of the two at the airport is
> around
> 4,100 feet and the airport now also has an
> instrumental approaching system that enables pilots
> to
> land there during poor visibility, Haven said.
> 
> Bill Eliason, airport manager for the Gettysburg
> airport, said the town's airport is mostly used for
> medical helicopters and private planes.
> 
> About 14 private planes are housed in the airport's
> hangars, he said.
> 
> "I started flying here in 1946 and it was just a
> grass
> strip then," Eliason said.
> 
> The single-runway airport has been expanded a couple
> of times since and now has a 12,500-pound airplane
> weight limit.
> 
> A survey is currently under way for a plan to
> lengthen, widen and strengthen the runway to make it
> jet-ready, Eliason said.
> 
> Many out-of-state hunters, including Vice President
> Dick Cheney, visit the Gettysburg area during
> hunting
> season. Some locals hope that making the runway
> accessible to jets would make the area more
> attractive
> as a hunting destination.
> 
> Eliason and Haven both said they don't foresee big
> problems keeping their airports going.
> 
> "I don't see any problem as long as there's a need
> for
> the corporate jets for the manufacturing plant,"
> Haven
> said. "They pretty much dictate how available and
> what
> we need to keep the airport up."
> 
>  
> 
> 

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