July 14--HARTSELLE -- City officials have plans to improve aircraft hangars at Hartselle-Morgan County Regional Airport with grant money from the Alabama Department of Transportation.
The City Council last week approved a resolution allowing Mayor Don Hall to sign the application for funding assistance.
The city must apply through ALDOT to receive funds from the Federal Aviation Administration and the Alabama Aeronautics Bureau, Hartselle development director Jeff Johnson said. The city should know by mid-September if it is approved for the grant. Construction would begin in late October.
The project is estimated to cost $330,000. If approved, the FAA will contribute $297,000, and the Alabama Aeronautics Bureau and city each will contribute $16,500.
Bids for the project have been accepted and reviewed. Reed Contracting Services Inc. of Huntsville was selected with a bid of $271,730. Garver LLC of Huntsville was hired to carry out design, engineering, inspection, administration and construction oversight, at a cost of $58,270.
The airport is not for commercial use, but for small aircraft used for business and recreational purposes. It has the potential to be useful to businesses in the Morgan Center business park on Thompson Road in Hartselle, Johnson said.
The open carport-like hangars are on a gravel surface, and the city wants the gravel replaced with asphalt. The three hangars would be temporarily relocated until the project is complete.
"When a pilot starts the engine, it pushes up a lot of dust," Hall said. "And if the propellers go fast enough, it pushes up rocks."
Pilots usually turn off their engines and physically push the aircraft over the gravel road and into the hangar, Johnson said.
"This project would help tremendously with a pilot's ability to go into the hangar without concern of gravel and rocks damaging their airplane," Johnson said.
Airport office manager Melinda Haynes said rocks have damaged propellers.
"All of the pilots have nicks in their propellers, but it's nothing major right now," Haynes said. Over time, damage from rocks can cause a propeller to break, she said.
She and some of the pilots clean the runway periodically to keep rocks off of it.
Haynes said the airport needs more T-hangars and a longer runway. Pilots prefer to use these because they are enclosed and better protect aircrafts from the weather, and have space to store tools and other necessities, Haynes said. The airport has five and there is a waiting list.
There are no immediate plans to extend the runway or add more hangars, Johnson said. The FAA won't consider funding for additional hangars until necessary safety measures are complete, such as updated lighting and stripes on the runway. It may be two years before the city submits an application to get more hangars.
Briana Harris can be reached at 256-340-2440 or [email protected]
Copyright 2013 - The Decatur Daily, Ala.
