Airport gets flight simulator

Thanks to a donation, Portland Municipal Airport will soon have a flight simulator available for pilots in training. 

At its meeting Wednesday, Portland Aviation Board approved purchasing accessories for the simulator, which was donated by a frequent flyer to the city. 

It also heard a proposal from Jay County Chamber of Commerce. 

Luca Finca, a Gary resident who frequently flies into Portland’s airport, donated a flight simulator he was no longer using. The simulator can be used by students to assist with flight training. 

“It’s really nice, up-to-date,” said airport manager Hal Tavzel. “I fly part-time as well and I could tell it was a really nice.”

Tavzel sought quotes on equipment to set up the simulator. He asked the board to consider purchasing a computer processing unit with a gaming graphics card, a 32 inch computer monitor and a bracket to hang it to go along with the simulator. The computer costs $799, the monitor $289 and the bracket $45 from Progressive Office Products. The board would also need to purchase rudder pedals, which Tavzel said cost less than $200. 

Board members Dick Baldauf and Mitch Sutton voted to buy the equipment. Faron Parr, who owns Progressive Office Products, abstained from the vote, and John Lyons was absent. 

Also on Wednesday, the board heard a presentation from Dean Sanders, executive director of Jay County Chamber of Commerce. 

Sanders proposed that the board become a member of the chamber, touting several benefits such as networking opportunities, access to the organization’s social media and professional contacts with the other members. 

“You’re a very important community amenity that we have here,” Sanders said. “I think there’s a lot of great things we could do to promote that.” 

The cost of joining would be $110 yearly. The board will consider the membership and vote at its April meeting. 

In other business, the board: 

•Were informed that there is still no news on the supplemental funding from the Federal Aviation Administration that the city applied for in October to help pay for the runway extension project. The awards are expected to be announced later this month or at the beginning of April. 

The runway extension — it will increase the length from 4,000 feet to 5,500 feet — is tentatively scheduled to begin construction this year, should the airport receive the funding. If not, the board plans to start construction in 2020 using a combination of FFA grant money and state and local dollars.

“We’ll just have to see, hopefully in the next few weeks we’ll hear something and go from there,” said Jason Clearwaters of Butler, Fairman and Seufert. “It’s kind of limbo, unfortunately.” 

•Approved a payment of $998 to Butler, Fairman and Seufert as a local share for continued work on the second phase of the runway extension design.

•Paid John Mangold of Portland $4,000 for remodeling the bathroom of the house the city rents to Air Methods pilots. Because the remodel took longer than expected and the pilots stayed in a hotel in the interim, the board voted to waive April’s rent.

•Heard the airport sold 4,450 gallons of fuel for $17,066.19 in February. 

•Learned that the generator purchased in February for the fuel farm has been delivered and should be set up soon. 

•Was  informed that a fuel farm inspection will take place in April or May. It is an annual requirement to sell fuel and will cost about $2,800 to replace the fuel filters. 

•Paid claims of $956.38.