A sad day in Iowa City

With little warning (and even less fanfare) Runways 18 and 36 have been
closed
at the Iowa City Municipal Airport -- forever. As of this morning,
for the
first time since the 1930s, KIOW is a 2-runway airport.

The VOR 36 approach is therefore currently unavailable. According to
Airport
Specialist Mike Tharp, this approach will become a VOR Alpha
circle-to-land
approach at some point in the future.

This closure has been in the works for years (ever since the Airport
Commission
decided to carve out the North and South Aviation Commerce Parks, in a
thus-far
failed attempt to make the airport self-sufficient), but the deal has
always
been that the Rwy 7/25 extension would be completed BEFORE Rwy 18/36
was
closed.

The current airport commission decided that this agreement was not an
issue of
importance, and closed Rwy 18/36 with the Rwy 7/25 extension still over
a year
(at least) from completion. For decades, Rwy 36 was the runway of
choice for both
United and Ozark airlines, and it will be strange, indeed, to no longer
see aircraft
departing over downtown.

A long sequence of decisions, made over a period of years, has led us
directly
to today, and the loss of a critical piece of airport infrastructure.
Decisions
like these have hurt each and every Iowa City Airport user, and were
made
virtually behind closed doors by previous airport commissions. If
you've ever
wondered why we formed the "Friends of Iowa City Airport" advocacy
group, and
why FOICA members sacrifice their time each month to attend Commission
meetings, wonder no longer. Today, I'm proud to say, this could not
have
happened without a major uproar in the pilot community. Unfortunately,
FOICA
came too late to help save Rwy 18/36.

Today is truly a sad day in Iowa City airport history, and I can
personally
guarantee that when the winds are howling out of the North, there will
be many,
many days in the future when we will wish we had that runway back.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On 10 Jul 2006 20:40:42 -0700, "Jay Honeck" wrote
in om::

Runways 18 and 36 have been closed at the Iowa City Municipal Airport
-- forever.

What incentive does the city have to close the runway early?

Are they able to reduce costs by closing now instead of a year from
now?

How does the runway closure impact the commercial development plan?

What incentive does the city have to close the runway early?

I have no idea. I just received an email from one of the airport
commissioners, stating that even HE didn't know the runway was closing
today. Something stinks here.

Are they able to reduce costs by closing now instead of a year from
now?

Not that I can discern. Unless you count the time spent snow plowing it
next winter?

How does the runway closure impact the commercial development plan?

A previous airport commission, in an attempt to make the airport
self-sufficient, carved off big hunks of airport property at the north
and south end of the field -- right off the departure ends of Rwy
18/36. The city is currently building a 4-lane road that will run
right off the end of Rwy 18.

This was done purportedly because

(a) The airport could lease the land to businesses, and provide a
steady stream of income to the cash-starved, always begging airport.
This has not come to pass, after five years of trying to lease or sell
the land.

(b) The FAA supposedly does not support three runways at airports like
Iowa City anymore, so they figured "what do we have to lose?". I'm not
sure what direct FAA funding this runway needed to stay open, but it
sure isn't much. (The concrete is original World War II vintage, and
still in fine shape.)

Many of us have suggested just displacing the threshholds, so that at
least the runway is available on those many days when the wind is
howling out of the north at 15 gusts to 28 -- but to no avail. I have
no idea why this is -- and I've attended every airport commission
meeting for the last several years.

As I said, something stinks here.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

("Jay Honeck" wrote)
Many of us have suggested just displacing the threshholds, so that at
least the runway is available on those many days when the wind is howling
out of the north at 15 gusts to 28 -- but to no avail. I have no idea why
this is -- and I've attended every airport commission meeting for the last
several years.

As I said, something stinks here.


1. Follow the money...
2. Who, on the commission, ultimately made the decision?
3. Follow the money...
4. Go have a sit-down with that person.
5. Follow the money...
6. Play nice with your interview subject.

7-24. Oh, and ...follow the money.

25. Good luck!


Montblack

Call the FAA to check on the status of the airport aid money
the airport has gotten and what strings were attached. Does
a scheduled airline use the airport and will the closing of
the runway impact their operation or safety?

Call your Congressman, they put strings on Federal aid money
the FAA spends.

File a law suit for an injunction, the sudden closing
probably violated the public meetings law. File in both
state and federal courts, cite lack of public meetings,
proper notice, etc.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ps.com...
| With little warning (and even less fanfare) Runways 18 and
36 have been
| closed
| at the Iowa City Municipal Airport -- forever. As of
this morning,
| for the
| first time since the 1930s, KIOW is a 2-runway airport.
|
| The VOR 36 approach is therefore currently unavailable.
According to
| Airport
| Specialist Mike Tharp, this approach will become a VOR
Alpha
| circle-to-land
| approach at some point in the future.
|
| This closure has been in the works for years (ever since
the Airport
| Commission
| decided to carve out the North and South Aviation Commerce
Parks, in a
| thus-far
| failed attempt to make the airport self-sufficient), but
the deal has
| always
| been that the Rwy 7/25 extension would be completed BEFORE
Rwy 18/36
| was
| closed.
|
| The current airport commission decided that this agreement
was not an
| issue of
| importance, and closed Rwy 18/36 with the Rwy 7/25
extension still over
| a year
| (at least) from completion. For decades, Rwy 36 was the
runway of
| choice for both
| United and Ozark airlines, and it will be strange, indeed,
to no longer
| see aircraft
| departing over downtown.
|
| A long sequence of decisions, made over a period of years,
has led us
| directly
| to today, and the loss of a critical piece of airport
infrastructure.
| Decisions
| like these have hurt each and every Iowa City Airport
user, and were
| made
| virtually behind closed doors by previous airport
commissions. If
| you've ever
| wondered why we formed the "Friends of Iowa City Airport"
advocacy
| group, and
| why FOICA members sacrifice their time each month to
attend Commission
| meetings, wonder no longer. Today, I'm proud to say, this
could not
| have
| happened without a major uproar in the pilot community.
Unfortunately,
| FOICA
| came too late to help save Rwy 18/36.
|
| Today is truly a sad day in Iowa City airport history, and
I can
| personally
| guarantee that when the winds are howling out of the
North, there will
| be many,
| many days in the future when we will wish we had that
runway back.
| --
| Jay Honeck
| Iowa City, IA
| Pathfinder N56993
| www.AlexisParkInn.com
| "Your Aviation Destination"
|

In a previous article, "Jay Honeck" said:
Are they able to reduce costs by closing now instead of a year from
now?

Not that I can discern. Unless you count the time spent snow plowing it
next winter?

I think the airport powers that be consider this fairly important. KROC
has a plan to make the runway that's only used by piston engined planes,
7-25 narrower by painting cross hatching on both sides, and that's
supposed to save money. The runway is a hold-over from the days when
airlines landed their DC-3s on it. Obviously the painting isn't going to
stop anybody rolling on it in the summer, so they must be thinking it will
take less time to plow in the winter.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Deciding to precipitate the disaster, I have donned my copper armour,
filled a fire bucket, and wired myself to all the important swervers.
-- A fatalistic BOFH

In article OVNsg.67074$ZW3.44952@dukeread04,
"Jim Macklin" wrote:

Call the FAA to check on the status of the airport aid money
the airport has gotten and what strings were attached. Does
a scheduled airline use the airport and will the closing of
the runway impact their operation or safety?

Call your Congressman, they put strings on Federal aid money
the FAA spends.

File a law suit for an injunction, the sudden closing
probably violated the public meetings law. File in both
state and federal courts, cite lack of public meetings,
proper notice, etc.

Too late for all that. The paperwork has been long filed and approved by
the FAA.
One could apply for funds to rebuild the runway and reactivate it, but
that would be years in the future without an immediate justification.
The FAA has been telling airports with light traffic that they will only
pay for two runways as a way of spreading more AIP money around.
The state government aviation organization is the agency that decides
which airports get how much money for what projects. They are the
gatekeepers and moneychangers. The states determine what airports are
needy and how much money it will cost, then go to the AIP for the
funding.
For GA only airports, the local sponsor pays 5%, the state 5% and the
AIP 90%.

"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...
In a previous article, "Jay Honeck" said:
Are they able to reduce costs by closing now instead of a year from
now?

Not that I can discern. Unless you count the time spent snow plowing it
next winter?

I think the airport powers that be consider this fairly important. KROC
has a plan to make the runway that's only used by piston engined planes,
7-25 narrower by painting cross hatching on both sides, and that's
supposed to save money. The runway is a hold-over from the days when
airlines landed their DC-3s on it. Obviously the painting isn't going to
stop anybody rolling on it in the summer, so they must be thinking it will
take less time to plow in the winter.


--

Saving money buy narrowing runways. We just had that happen here (ELD)
before a big repaving job was done. I can understand that and really have no
problem with the change EXCEPT. Instead of marking the area they didn't want
to repave they removed it completely. Cost a fortune and took longer than
the repaving job did. Stupidest thing I ever saw.

Look at the bright side (you've always struck me as a glass is half full
kinda guy) you still have 2 runways which are twice as many as most of
us have. :-)

Maybe you'll feel better if you take some kind of action like seeing
that the VASI which used to be on 36 gets moved over to 12 or 30. That
way it doesn't go to waste...

Jon Kraus
'79 Mooney 201
4443H @ UMP


Jay Honeck wrote:
With little warning (and even less fanfare) Runways 18 and 36 have been
closed
at the Iowa City Municipal Airport -- forever. As of this morning,
for the
first time since the 1930s, KIOW is a 2-runway airport.

The VOR 36 approach is therefore currently unavailable. According to
Airport
Specialist Mike Tharp, this approach will become a VOR Alpha
circle-to-land
approach at some point in the future.

This closure has been in the works for years (ever since the Airport
Commission
decided to carve out the North and South Aviation Commerce Parks, in a
thus-far
failed attempt to make the airport self-sufficient), but the deal has
always
been that the Rwy 7/25 extension would be completed BEFORE Rwy 18/36
was
closed.

The current airport commission decided that this agreement was not an
issue of
importance, and closed Rwy 18/36 with the Rwy 7/25 extension still over
a year
(at least) from completion. For decades, Rwy 36 was the runway of
choice for both
United and Ozark airlines, and it will be strange, indeed, to no longer
see aircraft
departing over downtown.

A long sequence of decisions, made over a period of years, has led us
directly
to today, and the loss of a critical piece of airport infrastructure.
Decisions
like these have hurt each and every Iowa City Airport user, and were
made
virtually behind closed doors by previous airport commissions. If
you've ever
wondered why we formed the "Friends of Iowa City Airport" advocacy
group, and
why FOICA members sacrifice their time each month to attend Commission
meetings, wonder no longer. Today, I'm proud to say, this could not
have
happened without a major uproar in the pilot community. Unfortunately,
FOICA
came too late to help save Rwy 18/36.

Today is truly a sad day in Iowa City airport history, and I can
personally
guarantee that when the winds are howling out of the North, there will
be many,
many days in the future when we will wish we had that runway back.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Best option, tear up the hard surface and make a new turf runway.