Alva Airport Commission learns regular AWOS inspections not done
March 14, 2021
At Monday’s meeting the Alva Regional Airport Commission learned the AWOS has not been inspected and maintained regularly by the company hired to do so. Commission members present were Dale Logsdon, Paul Kinzie, Calleb Mosburg and Kelly Parker.
City Business Manager Angelica Brady said the city has moved more than $250,000 from pooled cash to savings. The city has been reserving five percent of sales tax collections to repay funds borrowed from the airport budget. The plan is to pay an additional $250,000 back on top of the amount promised in the ten-year plan.
“I’m very excited about that,” said Brady. She said the intent is to use that money to open a separate checking account for the airport as requested by the airport commission.
Manager’s Report
“Since there’s two months, it’s going to take a while,” said Airport Manager Derrick Courson as he began his report. The February commission meeting was canceled.
Fuel sales were down in both January and February because “the weather wasn’t the greatest,” said Courson. In February, the airport sold 1,247.1 gallons of 100 LL for $4,295.53 and 1,670 gallons of Jet-A fuel for $4,294.20. Overnight hangar rental was $105 for total sales of $8,694.73. January sales totaled $10,132.36.
“We’ve already sold this first week (of March) half of what we sold in February,” he said. “It’s picking back up.”
The 100 LL (low lead) price when the airport bought it in January was $3.05 a gallon. The next week it was $3.15 and at the end of the month it was $3.25. This month it is already up to $3.52. Courson said the airport could be paying $4.00 a gallon soon on bulk fuel purchases.
The new card reader and program to accept government cards has arrived. Courson is now working to get government approval. He talked with the Stillwater airport, and it took them a year to get the government program going for fuel sales.
Hangar 3 in the T-hangars was empty but it is now occupied by a Cessna 172 owned by four people. Courson said he had been using it as an overnight hangar rental space. He got a lot of compliments from that since it’s a nice big hangar and a nice open space.
Two bulbs on the water tower have been replaced. Courson said they found out the lights are easy to replace but getting up there is a different story. The first step off the ladder is rotted wood so the climber has to take a bigger step to the metal instead. He suggested sometime welding metal in place to make it more secure.
“I’m still gopher hunting,” Courson said of his work to remove the pests from the airport. He’s slowed his efforts as they are mainly on the outer areas of the property. He thinks they may be moving into the adjacent fields where they are someone else’s problem.
The dozer plow has been repaired. The cost was $1,636, lower than the estimate of $2,000.
Vance AFB Safety Officer Capt. Matt Simpson presented a safety seminar on Feb. 27 at the airport. Courson said 22 chairs were filled. He thanked John Wiebener for setting up the seminar and Todd Holder for the food.
The manager wondered if it might be time to build more new hangars at the airport. He said they are down to just one spot for overnight rental. He believes a group of six to eight hangars would be filled quickly.
AWOS Inspections
An inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was supposed to visit last month but had to reschedule because of the weather. The FAA came last week about the AWOS (airport weather observation station). Logs have not been kept for inspections and maintenance is lacking.
Courson said L&P Enterprises was given a list of things needing repair last year and they have not been fixed. These included the due north marker and a motor blower issue in equipment that reads the ceiling height. Out of the last six maintenance quarters, only two were logged.
He said Larry from L&P said every time he came to Alva for maintenance, it had been bad weather which made the ground soft. He was afraid of getting his vehicle stuck. He thinks an access road should be built so he can get to the AWOS site. Courson expressed skepticism saying it doesn’t rain 365 days a year so L&P should be able to get there.
Addressing another problem, Courson said when the AWOS was installed a rain gauge was not required. A couple of years later the FAA started requiring one. The airport needs to get one. Normally they are around $5,000 to $6,000 but Larry of L&P said he’s come across one for $2800. While Alva doesn’t have to have one, Courson said the airport is rated at a 3 which allows them to put information on the internet to be used for flight plans. If a rain gauge is not installed, Alva will go down to a 2 and won’t be able to put that information on the internet.
No one remembered anything about this requirement being discussed before. Kinzie asked when the rain gauge installation needed to be done. Courson said within the next year. He said he would have a better answer when the FAA visits again. The FAA inspector and L&P Enterprises were expected the following day.
When Kinzie asked if the FAA and L&P travel together, Courson said Alva is not the only airport where there has been a problem with L&P not doing maintenance logs. He said Alva needs to be brought into compliance or the AWOS will be shut down.
December 2019 was the last FAA inspection. Between then and now, the problem developed. Courson said the FAA normally comes once a year, but they normally don’t involve the airport staff. It’s between them and the AWOS maintenance company. In addition to the lack of maintenance logs, the AWOS is not broadcasting current weather.
Courson said he’s tried to check with other airports on maintenance companies. From what he’s hearing, L&P is quite a bit cheaper than others.
“Not if we have to catch up,” said Kinzie. He said at one point, the airport commission was told L&P was the only one around that did the inspections.
Courson said the FAA inspector can’t recommend anyone but he recommended calling around to other airports in the area to see who they use.
“I think it’s a little bit ludicrous that he’s blaming the weather every time he comes in that he can’t do something,” said Kinzie. “He’s in the weather business. He can’t step outside that take a look at what the cat hair’s going on and get up here?”
“Sounds like the FAA’s keeping a close eye on him now,” said Logsdon.
According to Courson, the FAA has to license the company so they can do inspections. A board member expressed surprise that the company’s license hadn’t been pulled. It’s hoped more information can be obtained on the Tuesday visit.
No Sewer Lines at Airport
Courson said that Gary Haltom wants to put in a bathroom at his hangar. Kinzie said there are no sewer lines at the airport. The terminal building bathrooms use a septic tank.
Brady said she would look into the matter. Parker said if Haltom wanted a septic tank, he probably would have to apply for a variance.
ODALS Project
According to Brady, the ODALS (omni-directional approach lighting system) project did not use all the funds allocated by the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission. A change order reducing the total cost to $191,927.50 needed to be approved by the Alva airport and then by the Alva City Council so the final payment could be made and the project closed out. Commission members voted to approve the change order.
Budget Committee
Brady asked that two commission members be designated to work with her on the airport budget for the next fiscal year. Parker and Kinzie volunteered. As chairman of the commission, Logsdon designated the two as the budget committee.
Certificate of Deposit
An airport certificate of deposit (CD) expired on March 1. Brady said this is a stabilization CD and it was recommended it be re-invested. The time period of the investment was discussed. Brady said interest rates are “not fabulous right now” for any time period.
In the hope that rates will improve in the future, Parker made a motion to re-invest the money in a CD for 12 month, and it was approved unanimously.
Comment
During the time for public comment, John Wiebener told about a Saturday incident at the airport involving part-time employee Jason May. “You have a very alert person working when Derrick’s not here. I was taxiing out to go to a business meeting, and he called me on the radio. He said, ‘Hey, (call sign) your aircraft doesn’t look right.’
“I shut down and sure enough, something wasn’t right on my airplane. I fixed it. It could have been a real big problem when I got in the air”
Wiebener told May Sunday, “Thank you for always paying attention when there’s aircraft movements.
“It’s what we call a save. He had a save on Saturday. That was awesome.”
Executive Session
Airport Commission members met in executive session with the airport manager and city business manager to discuss goal planning for the manager which will be involved in his evaluation. No action was taken when the commission decided to return to open session.
Reader Comments(0)