Airport to get new equipment

Portland Municipal Airport will be getting some new equipment to help pilots fly and land safely.

Portland Board of Aviation on Wednesday approved the purchase of a new ceilometer and a contract for a new “text weather” system for the airport.

It also got updates on maintenance at the airport and the runway extension project.

Airport manager Hal Tavzel told board members John Lyons, Jim Runkle and Dick Baldauf, absent Mitch Sutton, that he had been considering updating the facility’s weather station. As part of that process, he contacted staff at French Lick Municipal Airport about its process of replacing a ceilometer that was no longer working.

He learned the device, which measures and records the height of clouds, requires three to four months for delivery. Given that, and the age of the Portland airport’s current ceilometer, he recommended ordering a replacement now rather than waiting for the current one to fail.

“We have a lot of charter operations here, commercial operations, that require that weather system to work for us to legally come in here,” Tavzel said. “It’s an essential item to run the airport.”

Lyons, the board president, agreed with that assessment.

“It’s vital,” he said. “If not, you’re just a fair-weather airport.”

The board approved the purchase of the ceilometer at a cost of $28,120.

Also on Tavzel’s recommendation, the board approved adding a “text weather” service through RSINet.

The company offers a system that provides updated weather information to pilots via a cellular network. Several pilots who fly into Portland have asked for such a service, Tavzel said. And Jason Clearwaters of Butler, Fairman and Seufert, the airport’s engineering firm, added that he has heard positive reports about the system’s use at other facilities.

The board agreed to begin using the service. There is no start-up cost, and the annual fee will be $600.

Tavzel also told the board that he has scheduled All American Door of Muncie to replace a cable on one of the doors on the Lutheran Air hangar. The company had replaced another cable after it broke and found that the two others had already been replaced.

Clearwaters updated board members on the runway extension project, saying that preliminary drainage and structure plans have been completed. He said he expects to get plans 30 percent complete within the next few months in order to give the board a better idea of the estimated cost of the project.

He is also working on a grant application to fund phase two of the design of the project. Applications to the FFA should be due in July.

Plans then call for the airport to apply in 2019 for a grant to cover the bulk of the construction costs.

In other business, the board:

•Heard from Tavzel that the airport brought in $13,770.72 for the sale of 3,696.33 gallons of fuel in January. Those numbers are down from $17,540.62 and 5,287 gallons during the same time last year.

•Was updated by Clearwaters that he had a teleconference last week with the Federal Aviation Administration about the airport’s layout plan but as of yet there has been no action taken. The plan was first submitted to the FAA in November 2016. Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman said he has talked to members of the staffs of U.S. Rep. Jim Banks and Sen. Joe Donnelly in an effort to move the process along.

•Heard a brief presentation from Air Methods business manager Don Morgan about changes to the Lutheran Air management structure. He said Lutheran Air, which also has locations in Wabash and Knox, has been happy with its partnership with Portland Municipal Airport. The helicopter has been stationed in Jay County since October 2015.

•Learned from Tavzel that flying lessons at the airport have led to interest in careers in aviation. Chance Sprunger, a Berne native who took flying lessons at the airport, recently earned his pilot’s license, and Matt Simmons of Portland is close to earning his. Also, Ethan Myers and Conner Benter, who have been working part-time at the airport, have expressed interest in pursuing careers in aviation in college.

•Approved a grant reimbursement request for phase one of the runway extension design at $30,078 from the FAA, $1,670.99 from the state and $1,670.79 from the city.

•Paid claims totaling $10,058.50.