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Old November 14th 03, 02:42 PM
James M. Knox
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Larry Dighera wrote in
:

So where will the future SATS municipal airports be built?


Good question. Ask me again in a few years.

When the city of Austin promised the FAA that they would purchase 3R3
and turn it into a reliever airport. They never even made an offer on
it. Both it and the main city airport closed within two weeks of each
other, leaving almost 600 planes looking for homes - the new airport
providing space for 61.

A bill was lobbied over a multi-year period to provide a GA airport "in
Central Texas." [For those who aren't familiar with Texas, that's sort
of like saying "in Central Europe" as far as distances. "Deals" were
struck, and the airport may not be in any county that doesn't want it,
nor near any city where the city council doesn't want it, nor may it use
any existing major abandoned airport facilities in any major central
Texas town whose name is Austin. [Yes, the old airport just sits there,
five years later, rusting away... grass growing up through the ditches
the council had dug across the runway.]

If there *is* a new CenTex airport ever built it most likely will be a
LONG way away from anywhere. The closest current airports are already
an hour or more away if there is traffic, and some of them are already
threatened with closure.

I'd love for my natural pessimism to be wrong, but ...

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James M. Knox
TriSoft ph 512-385-0316
1109-A Shady Lane fax 512-366-4331
Austin, Tx 78721
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