Huntingburg Airport must remove trees and towers on west approach

Huntingburg – Runway 09 is no longer approved for instrument approach procedure at night time due obstructions on the west side of the runway.

The Federal Aviation Administration is requiring the airport remove obstruction signal towers and trim or remove trees they have deemed obstructions for the approach.

The FAA required the airport install the three 75 foot obstruction towers in the 90s but under new guidelines the towers are considered an obstruction for approaches. The trees have also grown to such a height they are considered obstructions as well.

Although Huntingburg’s other runway is still approved for landing, in certain conditions, the wind direction could force pilots to land at another airport.

Chris Snyder with Woolpert Engineering told the board that the best thing to do would be to fix the problem by bringing in an arborist (a tree expert) to log the trees and then determine which ones could be cut back to restore the use of the runway at night.

The board is considering options on dealing with the trees. Since trimming the trees down is considered a temporary solution, the board would like to remove them. The property the trees are located on belongs to Mabel Bartelt and the board will either approach her to negotiate an agreement to remove the trees or potentially purchase 8 to 10 acres of the property.