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Show 2 Sun Advocate, Friday, December Price, Utah 3, 1982 e conversation wofch... Richard Keppler What specifics are included in the plans to expand and upgrade the airports facilities? The expansion may be considered as five separate efforts, as follows: Extension of the main runway 1836 from its current length of 5700 feet to a length of 7300 feet. This will include runway marking (painting) of both the existing pavement and the extension. New lighting shall be installed along the full length. In addition, reflectors will be installed on the new and existing taxi ways. 7300-fo- A ot turnaround high-spee- d and run-u- p area will be placed at the departure end of runway 18. new taxiway will be located so as to provide access from the southwest corner of the A existing apron to the intersection of runways 1836 and 1432. The existing north area shall be increased in size to allow utilization of the south apron by large aircraft. tie-do- When will construction start? The contractor has been given the option as to starting this year or delaying until spring. If an early start is initiated, his effort will be directed toward site preparation, grading and backfill. Temperature sensitive work will not be conducted until after winter and when weather conditions stabilized. is How the financed? The total of which $605,060. the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) is funding $550,242. The balance is being shared equally by the state and the county, each ones portion being $27,409. Of the FAAs portion of the grant that money What makes Why does the airport facility need to be upgraded and expanded? The portion of the project were talking about right now should really have been conducted five or six years ago. The runway lengthening is the biggest concern. We have corporate aircraft utilizing the airport right now which is compromising safety. Large corporate jets usually have had no difficulty in landing here, but take-of- f and departure becomes compromised by not allowing them enough runway distance to and be able to abort a take-ostill come to a safe stop. This is one of the risks that they must assume under our present conditions. One of the other items related to this is size of aircraft usage, quantity of aircraft and trying to get a separation between light and large aircraft. You have a conflict when you get a big mix of classes. What were concerned about is doing damage to the light aircrafts. Weve had times out here where well have enough large aircraft that weve had to hand move them around to prevent damage to others. wor- your job thwhile? We feel like most of the people You involved in aviation come across the greatest cross section of personalities in aviation. We find it enjoyable no matter where we travel across the United States. We often come across people weve met and known throughout the years. The other part of it and very rewarding parts of aviation is taking new faces and seeing them get involved in aviation through the flight training program. Carbon County Airport Operator comes from the ADAP (Airport Development Aid Program) trust fund which is paid into solely by aviation fuel taxes. In other words, no individual taxation is involved. The biggest emphasis wed like to see on this is that most all is being paid for by aviation users. are What the major y frustrations you face on a basis? The one that sticks out the most is the lack of concern for safety on the part of some individual pilots. They stick out like a sore thumb. We have to constantly remind ourselves that they are in a very small y minority. Safety is a frustration. day-to-da- of the United States. You get into a comparable size town, say in the Southeast, and its airport would have an activity level of maybe three or four times what we experience. One of the reasons why were slower in this development is due to our mountainous terrain. The reasons for reluctance are justifiable but were seeing aircraft capability develop at such a pace today that the mountainous consideration is no longer a realistic concern. Thats why I think were going to see, once we get out of this economic slump were in, a dramatic increase throughout this whole geographical area in airport utilization. Historically throughout the rest of the country, those communities that have had a good airport facility has been a deciding factor as to where a corporation will locate. Corporations today are very co- ff project being project cost is it a try. How much air traffic is there in Carbon and Emery counties? Will it be increasing enough to warrant the expansion project? One thing we must remember is that the geographical area in this part of the West and Im not isolating it to Utah. Were at least five to 10 years behind in aviation as compared to the rest ncerned about employee movements or travel considerations. Were seeing that here. The majority of our or companies the parent companies have either already acquired or are energy-relate- d in the acquisition stages of large corporate aircraft. That length that we will have will handle just about any one of the corporate aircraft as far as runway length requires. One of the problems which we have tried to address, but the FAA did not have the funds to go along with it right now, is strengthening of the runway. Were going to be caught in a situation where even though the runway is long enough to handle all of these aircraft its not going to be strong enough. We are going to put in a grant with the FAA but I dont anticipate that grant being accepted for at least two years. 7300-fo- What ot are provided Aviation? by are a We the services Carbon-Emer- y fi$ed In our flight department, we offer flight training, and commercial and air taxi charter service. We do e and provide both full-servi- base operator. single-engin- multi-engin- charter. e We also work with various agencies such as of Land Management and the Forest government the Bureau Service. In such areas as fire recognizance, game counts and transportation of those agencies. In addition to the flight have our department, aviation fuel sales and light aircraft maintenance. we do and your Ardith, managed the airport operation? Why did you get involved in aviation and airport management in the first place? Ardith and I have managed the airport for a little over six years. Prior to that we were residents of the Price area and we were involved quite actively in the aviation at the airport. The previous airport manager was a personal friend of ours. During his last year here he had a heart attack and he had to leave aviation as an occupation. We had the opportunity at that point to consider getting into the aviation business. It did have appeal toward both of us because at the same time our family had grown up and left. Our hobby was aviation so we thought wed go ahead and give How long have you wife, OFF II Craftsman portable power tools day-to-da- How many students do you have enrolled in your flight training program? We an carry normally average of 20 students in our flight training program. That has dropped off with this economical situation. We are seeing gradual recovery. Our program has been very successful. new pilot Our success ratio starts to those who receive pilot is higher than the certificates national average. At small airports, this is not uncommon. Over the past few years, we have licensed some 60 students at various levels or grades. How much does it cost to participate in the program and to acquire a pilots license? Aviation unfortunately is an expensive hobby if you consider it from that standpoint. Six years ago a person would be paying normally around $1,000 for a private pilots license in this area. Today, our average students pay about $1,650. The national average for a student pilot license is around $2,200 to $2,500. We are still averaging about $1,650. We have intentionally kept our rates lower because we have been trying to encourage new people into our aviation program. What are the requirements to become a private pilot? In order to be eligible for a pilots certificate itself one must: be at least 17 years of age. read, speak and understand the English language. a acquire third class medical certificate. pass a written test on the subject and be able to pass an oral and flight test. Those are the basic requirements. One can start in aviation at any age prior to 17. The only restriction is that one must be 16 years of age before he can solo or be the only person in the aircraft. We suggest that young people wanting to get into it should start at or near their 16th birthday. That would allow approximately one year for them to meet the basic requirement until theyre 17 when they can get their pilots certiticate. Interestingly enough, there is no maximum age. To start all one has to do is come out to the airport and meet with the flight instructor. 1982 Sun Progress Inc All rights reserved All property of Sun Progress Inc No part hereof may be reproduced withoutpriorwnttenconsent Sun Advocate USPS 5263 8000 Published Every Wednesday and Friday by the Inc., 74 W. Main St., Price, Utah 84501. Phone (801 ) s FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS-Pho- nt 137 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 29803 40202 50 OFFgai S30 OFF6800BTU chain say, case 2 3 cu in gas engine. bar 16-i- n guide Reg Thru M M59 99 Dec 18 7-0- 0 Capacitor-star- j tor dev. 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