Airport hangar study launches in Claremont

Flight plan: Work would improve safety and increase services to pilots.

CLAREMONT - A yearlong study that is part of a multiyear project to revamp the Claremont Municipal Airport hangar kicks off Friday.

The hangar, built in 1926, will either be renovated or removed and rebuilt, said Fire Chief Rick Bergeron, who also acts as city administrator of the airport.

"This is the beginning of a three-year project to correct the shortcomings of the 1926 hangar and pilots/passengers area of the airport," he said. "It's a wood-framed structure; it's rather dated and also is of questionable structure."

Six or seven planes can be kept in the hangar. It also houses the pilot area, the fixed-base operations area, and a radio equipment and weather information area for use by pilots.

"Because it's a multifunction structure it's been determined that it has an impact on the safety of airplane travel coming in and out of Claremont," Bergeron said.

The cost of the project is to be determined through the study, as well as whether the hangar should be renovated or removed for new construction. The project was identified through the airport capital improvement plan.

The Federal Aviation Administration is to fund 90 percent of the project, with 2.5 percent to be funded by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation Bureau of Aeronautics and 7.5 percent to be funded by the city, he said.

Aside from improving safety, "it will be a more viable facility for business as well," he said.

Though the airport does not offer passenger service, it serves many businesspeople who find flying a better way to travel around New England, Bergeron said.

"There are businesses that have their own small planes. There is also the recreational value of it," he said.

The work could increase the hangar's size allowing more pilots to call Claremont home.

"We have a considerable waiting list (of pilots) that would like to base their aircraft in our airport, but we don't have the capability of doing so right now," Bergeron said. "That would be an improvement that would prove to be an asset to the airport."

On Friday, Bergeron and the city's Airport Advisory Board meet with Stanley Peck Consulting Services of Scarborough, Maine, the engineers contracted to conduct the study.

"The number one concern of the FAA and airport planners is safety," Bergeron said.

The study is expected to be completed by spring of 2013, Bergeron said.

The Bureau of Aeronautics, FAA and city officials will review the study and determine the course of the project.

"Obviously, the FAA, who is funding the majority of the project, has to approve all plans and cost estimates," Bergeron said. "It comes down to the study."

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