Bluffs Airport Gets Funds to Upgrade Landing System

By Jason Kuiper, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.

Jan. 3–COUNCIL BLUFFS — Work on a new instrument landing system at the Council Bluffs Municipal Airport could begin this year after the airport received $1.6 million in federal funding.

The project is estimated to cost $2.45 million and will probably be done in phases while the airport continues to look for funding for the remainder of the cost, said Dan Smith, executive director of the Council Bluffs Airport Authority.

Smith said a construction date hasn’t been set.

The instrument landing system will include a glide slope, which gives pilots vertical guidance to the end of the runway; a localizer, which gives horizontal guidance; distance-measuring equipment, which tells the distance from the end of the runaway on radio frequency; and runway lighting.

Smith said the first portion of the project would probably be the localizer, with lighting being the last component.

The new instrument landing system will allow pilots to come in 200 feet off the ground with three-quarters of a mile visibility, which is what’s needed when landing in bad weather.

The project is one of several upgrades planned or under way at the growing airport.

This fall, the airport received $4.5 million in federal funding to make improvements to its second runway. The airport’s shorter runway needs new paving and lighting. It also needs to be lowered to match the longer primary runway, which was upgraded early last year. That work should be done in June or July.

Work has also begun on a new $1.2 million terminal that will provide better access. That should be finished in June or July. Smith said money for that project came from airport financing and a $450,000 grant from the Iowa West Foundation, which is supported by casino and investment income.

Long-term plans include expanding the ramp area where larger aircraft can park and expanding taxiways and building additional hangars. Smith said the airport would also like to build wildlife fencing to keep deer out.

Smith said the expanded runway, taxiways and ramp area have all been added to accommodate growth and provide a gateway to Council Bluffs. The airport attracts planes and pilots from all over southwest Iowa and Nebraska.

“When I got here in 1992 we had 28 planes, and now 91 airplanes are permanently docked there,” Smith said. “We are expecting 57 more. We are building more hangars now to store them with plans to build 20 more in the next year.”

The airport, besides housing corporate and private planes, is used for student training by the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s aviation program. The airport also has a partnership with Iowa Western Community College for mechanics.

Don Smithey, executive director of the Omaha Airport Authority, said the Bluffs airport is making the right improvements, and he applauded the growth in the area’s aviation.

Smithey said other small airports in the area are doing the same. In Nebraska, airports in Wahoo, Blair and Nebraska City all had work completed this year.

Smith said he thinks of an airport as “an entrance ramp off an Interstate. (It’s) a gateway to the city and provides better economic development for the city and county.”

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