Huntingburg Airport to begin preparation to assume new responsibilities

The Huntingburg Airport Authority was informed on Monday evening that no company or individual had returned a plan to operate as the airport’s fixed-base operator (FBO).

Dubois County Flight Services informed the Authority in June that, unless something changes, they could no longer absorb the costs of providing FBO services and would have to scale back their operations to focus only on the profitable parts of their business; contract flight services for a major corporation, aircraft management, aircraft repair, aircraft sales and brokerage operations. As the FBO, DCFS provided additional services such as fueling and flight instruction.

Since that time the airport has sent out request for proposals to several companies and most recently met with an individual from French Lick that showed some interest. “The deadline was today, October 8, and unfortunately we did not receive any interest from any entities we contacted,” Airport Manager Travis McQueen said. “We have been all around the area talking to airports, Owensboro, Henderson, Evansville and Louisville, and there’s just not interest out there to take over those responsibilities.”

The recently approved 2013 budget for the Huntingburg Airport included money for the airport to assume responsibilities as the FBO. McQueen said he and the Authority will now be looking at equipment purchases and other expenses involved in preparation to assume the responsibilities as the FBO in March of 2013 when the contract with DCFS ends.

During the meeting the Authority also heard that the FAA had shut down the Precision Approach Path Indicator lights located at the west end of the runway. Pilots use the lights to determine the proper angle of their approach when landing.

The FAA determined that, as aircraft approached from the north to land, a large copse of trees blocked the pilots view of the lights. The lights can be seen if the aircraft is at  3.5 degrees, rather than 3 degrees,but this difference in angle of approach could potentially cause a 100 to 200 feet per second increase in landing speed for  aircraft.

The Airport Authority decided to determine what trees are blocking the view of the lights and approach the landowner about removing those trees. Board member Bob Duncan stated he remembers a map marking the taller trees that could potentially block pilots’ sight of the lights and this would be helpful in resolving the problem.