KIYU NEWSROOM
The FAA doesn't want to take control of Galena airport navigational aides, or automated weather system
4 April 2007
Tim Bodony (KIYU)
As the Air Force continues its withdrawal from Galena, the fate of the aviation infrastructure it put there is uncertain.
The Federal Aviation Administration recently announced that it does not want to take over the Galena airport’s navigational aids and automated weather reporting system.
But air carriers and community members alike are attacking the FAA’s proposal, claiming it will jeopardize safety, and disrupt the flow of goods and passengers into a place that is dependent on aviation.
The most elaborate of the navigation aides in the Instrument Landing System, or ILS. This system offers a precision approach to the Galena runway for planes flying under instrument flight rules. The ILS sends out signals that gives a pilot both a heading and an angle of descent – and is accurate enough to allow planes to land at Galena when visibility is as low as half a mile.
The Air Force also put in an elaborate series of runway lights, including a Visual Approach Slope Indicator – which uses a series of colored lights to tell an inbound pilot if he or she is too high or too low.
Beyond those navigation aids, the Air Force leaves behind an automated weather observation system, or AWOS. Present at almost every airport in the state, an AWOS or similar system sends vital weather information to airplane radios. Pilots can’t use the other navaids without this information.
The Federal Aviation Administration maintains an AWOS at 90 other airports across Alaska – but has indicated that it does not have to take over Galena’s when the Air Force leaves – nor does it have to take possession of the I-L-S or the advanced lighting systems.
According to a March 15th public notice, Galena’s airport does not have enough traffic volume to justify federal support of an I-L-S.
The notice also interprets a portion of the BRAC Commission’s 2005 final report on Galena to suggest that local and state agencies should eventually be in charge of airport infrastructure, including the weather and navaids.
There has been strong opposition to the proposal at the local and state level. Comments already directed at the FAA stress that, without road or rail connections, Galena is dependant on air traffic for food, mail, and transportation about 8 months out of the year - and the loss of navaids and the AWOS will decrease air service to Galena and surrounding villages.
Howard Hardee is the Director of Operations for Everts Air Cargo, the only air cargo business with scheduled service to and from Galena. Everts planes operate exclusively by instrument flight rules.
Hardee can understand why the FAA doesn’t want to pay for the more advanced ILS at a low traffic airport like Galena, given that air carriers would just as soon cancel a flight rather than risking a landing in poor conditions. But, he says,
Hardee: "AWOS is another thing. AWOS is a device we need to have in order to conduct an instrument approach. If we don’t have reported weather, we are disallowed utilization of an instrument procedure at a destination. That would severely curtail out ability to service Galena as a mainline destination.”
The National Weather Service also uses information from the AWOS to put out aviation and public forecasts for the area. NWS aviation weather specialist Brad Sipperly:
Sipperly: "The major impact for us would be that we can't produce a terminal forecast from our end in Fairbanks. In turn, the aviation users do not have a specific aviation forecast for their flight planning."
A similar situation is unfolding at Barter Island, site of the Kaktovik airport, where the Air Force plans to close its facilities this summer, and FAA does not intend to take over.
The Alaska representative of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Tom George, says that what the FAA is trying to do is unacceptable, and goes against its mandate as a federal agency charged with overseeing aviation safety across the country.
George: “I think in this case the FAA is trying to shift that responsibility onto either state or local government. And I guess I am concerned that this may be part of a pattern or trend that the FAA is trying to reduce its cost of infrastructure in general. But we can’t let that happen, the impacts are just too great.”
The public comment period on the Galena proposal is open until April 30th – and Tom George stresses that the FAA takes community feedback seriously – perhaps even more so than the aviation users. He recalls a recent situation when the FAA wanted to reduce weather reporting at the Glenallen airport…and a wide variety of community members fired back.
George: “even the library associated and a group of medical doctors commented on the impact to them, and it made a difference. The FAA backed down. Now that was 5 years ago. We are in a different budget climate today.”
To read the FAA's public notice on the proposed actions at Galena, following this link:
http://www.alaska.faa.gov/at/notices/GAL_BRACdecommission.htm