By Jeff Hampton

The Virginian-Pilot

currituck

A new taxiway with nearly half a mile of fresh black asphalt and a bright-yellow centerline is the latest upgrade to Currituck Regional Airport.

Built by the military in World War II, the once rarely used airport has become the star attraction in efforts to draw aviation industries to a nearby business park. The more amenities, the more attractive to corporate jet owners who could locate their companies in Currituck.

Until now, pilots rolled onto the runway itself to get in position for takeoff and to perform preflight inspections. Other aircraft had to wait. The $1.6 million, 2,500-foot taxiway reduces the chance of a plane landing while another aircraft sits on the runway.

"Primarily it makes the airport safer," said Jim Elliott, the airport's manager. "The whole point is to be on the runway as short a time as possible."

There has been only one fatal plane crash at the Currituck airport since 1999. On a nice day that August, the pilot and his passenger were killed when his Cessna nose-dived beyond the end of the runway just after takeoff. At the time, the runway was 4,000 feet long. An investigation determined the pilot had left his wing flaps down while trying to take off and the aircraft stalled.

Plans are to extend the taxiway an additional 2,500 feet to run parallel nearly the entire length of the 5,500 foot runway.

Grants have paid the bulk of the airport improvement. Currituck County has received $5.9 million in state and federal grants since 1996 for airport projects, including a new terminal and a runway extension to make it long enough to accommodate jets.

Currituck contributed $829,000. Taxes on aircraft fuel, tickets and cargo fund 75 percent of the improvement grants, said Chris Dancy, spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, in Frederick, Md. Pilots pay 21.9 cents per gallon on jet fuel and 19.4 cents on aviation fuel.

One of the first aircraft to use Currituck's new taxiway was a jet with a wingspan of nearly 80 feet, Elliott said. Ten years ago, it could not have landed or taken off at Currituck.

Airports with long runways, good taxiways, terminals and an all-weather instrument approach will augment the local economy, Dancy said. Every $1 spent on an airport adds $2.35 to the local economy, he said.

But the bad national economy has slowed general aviation, Dancy said.

"Private aviation, like the rest of the economy, has really taken a hit over the last few years," he said.

Nationally, the number of active general-aviation aircraft grew to 215,300 in 2009, up only 600 from 10 years earlier.

Operations at the Currituck airport have remained at 25,000 a year for at least five years. A takeoff and landing counts as two operations; of the operations, 3,500 are local flights, 14,000 are transient flights, 7,000 are military and 500 are air taxi, according to FAA records kept by GCR & Associates, a New Orleans-based consulting service.

Currituck plans to spend another $30 million in airport upgrades the next several years, according to the long-range plan.

Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159,[email protected]

An airplane rolls up the new 2,500-foot taxiway at Currituck Regional Airport. The taxiway is one of several upgrades in the past 10 years. The goal is to draw more companies to the nearby business park.