Pilots Landing at Dunn County Airport Despite Hole in Runway

June 7, 2013
The airport is expected to be back in full swing again within the next 90 days. It will be fixed with $24,000 in county funds allocated in March.

June 07--MANNING -- Pilots are already landing at the Dunn County Airport, which is expected to be back in full swing again within the next 90 days, despite a hole in the runway.

"There is already way more traffic than I had thought there would be," Mike Schollmeyer told the Dunn County Commission at its regular meeting Wednesday at the Dunn County Courthouse in Manning.

But, he said, pilots had to dodge the gaping hole in the airport's runway in order to land safely. Schollmeyer said he did not think the hole would pose a problem until it can be fixed with $24,000 in county funds allocated in March.

"The pilots are supposed to call air traffic control before they land there, so they should know about the runway," Schollmeyer said. "If they don't know about it, they probably didn't call air traffic control like they're supposed to have done."

Schollmeyer is the son of pilot Clarence Schollmeyer, who was spearheading the initiative to get the airport up and running after it was transferred back to the county last year prior to his death.

Following the passing of his father on Nov. 1 when Clarence Schollmeyer's Cessna 320 Skynight crashed during a test flight in Texas, Mike Schollmeyer has helped see the airport projet through.

He said the county's Airport Authority received an $80,000 grant from the state's aeronautics commission.

The County Commission has lent the airport items, such as gravel, which may help the Airport Authority earn more grant funding. Mike Schollmeyer said grants often stipulate that the project have community support.

"Things, like gravel, will go a long way for our future growth," he said.

Commissioner Glenn Eckelberg complimented the new upgrades.

"The office space does look nice," he said. "They've done a heck of a job in there."

More good news, Mike Schollmeyer said, was the amount of traffic landing at the airport, including an aircraft piloted by the state aeronautics president.

In March, Jerry Kolesnikow, who reported to the plans for the airport to the County Commission, said there is a 300-foot cutout in the runway and the Airport Authority was looking for county support to help seek more funding to make needed repairs.

Clarence Schollmeyer told The Dickinson Press last year that the airport was originally donated to the county by a former banker.

In the deed, it said that if the county ever decided not to operate it, they had to give it to the city of Killdeer. The airport went unused by the city and the county retook ownership of the airport last year.

Copyright 2013 - The Dickinson Press, N.D.