CAA: GA News, "North Carolina airport runway being extended for safety"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

November 2, 2001

Airport runway being extended for safety
By T. Scott Batchelor
The Greenville (NC) Daily Reflector


Earth-moving crews are working at the end of the Pitt-Greenville Airport
runway to make it safer, airport manager Jim Turcotte said. 

"This is a Federal Aviation Administration runway safety area," Turcotte
said of the zone being created near Memorial Drive. "That is a dimension
at the end of the runway for overshoots, underruns and veer-offs." 

The built-up earthen structure would provide a place for errant planes
to come to rest rather than splashing into the existing swampy terrain,
Turcotte said. That could help prevent injuries and allow rescue
vehicles to access the aircraft, he said. 

"It's like the shoulder of a highway. It's simply for safety," he said. 

A similar zone was established at the runway's opposite end a few years
ago. 

Airport officials spent the last four years working with state and
federal regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
to develop a plan that is environmentally friendly, Turcotte said. 

Crews will fill in 4.9 acres of swamp, but another 12.9 acres of
"high-quality wetlands" will be created on airport property to more than
offset the loss, Turcotte said. 

Another 27.8 acres of airport property adjacent to the Tar River will be
preserved in its natural state in perpetuity, he said. 

In addition, the airport has agreed to plant more than 5,600 bald
cypress, water tupelo and Carolina ash trees. 

"We are making it a hardwood bottomland wetland," Turcotte said. 

The instrument landing platform at the end of the runway will be
relocated and fitted with break-away antennas to minimize damage to an
aircraft if a plane hits them, he said. 

Ninety percent of the $800,000 project comes from the FAA, with 5
percent provided by the state and the remainder coming from the airport,
Turcotte said. 

Creation of the landing safety area is expected to be completed by the
first of the year, he said.

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