The FAA will replace the Galena automated weather system upon the Air Force's departure
9-7-07
Tim Bodony (KIYU) 

The FAA plans to replace the automated weather observation system at the Galena airport – which would allow scheduled air service to continue past the base closure deadline of September 30, 2008.   

Earlier this year, the FAA released a statement indicating that the Air Force-owned automated weather system and navigation aids would be shut down, rather than be turned over to FAA control.    

That decision drew widespread criticism from Galena residents, local organizations, the airlines and the State of Alaska, because it would severely limit the ability of planes to land in Galena, especially during marginal weather conditions. 

But according to FAA Alaska region spokesman Allen Kenitzer in Seattle, the FAA is coordinating with the State of Alaska to have a new automated weather system in place before the existing system is supposed to be taken out next September.   

If the FAA can’t get a new system installed by that time, Kenitzer says the agency will coordinate with the Air Force to keep the old system online until the new unit is ready to replace it. 

The automated weather observation system – or AWOS – that is in place now at the airport is outdated, and is a type of system used by the Air Force but not the FAA.   

Kenitzer says that the details on the type of automated weather reporting system that will replace it, along with methods of funding, ownership and maintenance are still being worked out.   

Galena City Manager Walt Wilcox updated the City Council on the FAA’s plans at the August council meeting, after two FAA engineers visited Galena to scout the project. 

Wilcox: Apparently, our request somehow worked its way up and back down to the managers back east, who directed the people in Alaska to come out and see if they could build the AWOS, the new system, for under 500 thousand dollars.  The City loaned them a truck, they looked at everything, and we did a debriefing as they left.  They basically said 'this will work, we've been directed to make this work.' 

Though it appears to be willing to assume responsibility for the weather system, the FAA does not intend to take over the Instrument Landing System, or ILS.   

FAA Spokesman Kenitzer explains that there are other landing approaches that pilots can use in bad weather, and that according to the BRAC rules, the ILS and related lighting systems will transfer to the State of Alaska. 

No one from the State DOT, or the major airlines serving Galena, were available for comment on this story.