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Airport Prepares New System to Fight Ice

Posted on: Thursday, 7 July 2005, 21:00 CDT

Jul. 7--BENNER TOWNSHIP -- A $3.6 million construction project for a new University Park Airport de-icing system to cut wintertime delays should be done in September, airport Director Bryan Rodgers said Wednesday.

Work began in April on the six-acre project, which will allow the airport to de-ice four regional jets simultaneously. The current setup, in place for about 12 years, forces crews to de-ice one plane at a time.

That can spark delays on wintry mornings when a half-dozen commuter planes are trying to fly out, Rodgers said.

The new system will comprise a broad asphalt pad, a garage for six de-icing vehicles, and a drainage system to release waste water into the sanitary sewerage. A 900-foot drain pipe and 50,000-gallon underground storage tank will capture any chemical runoff from the de-icing process.

Rodgers said the current de-icing system, centered on a single concrete pad, also keeps runoff from reaching groundwater supplies. But he said the new system, featuring a five-layer liner beneath the tarmac, will improve containment.

"We're sensitive to the environmental resources around the airport," Rodgers said, referring to Spring Creek and Buffalo Run.

Within 50 yards of the underground storage tank, which was installed just last week, the airport has already cleared land for its next improvement project: several new hangars.

The new de-icing system should be sufficient to handle the airport's traffic through 2023, Rodgers said. Design work on it began in 2003, well before the March 26 plane crash that killed six people near the Benner Pike. Other planes had issued icing alerts that day, and investigators are looking into whether icing played a role in the crash, which occurred as the plane was approaching the airport.

A Federal Aviation Administration program is funding 95 percent of the de-icing project. The other 5 percent is financed through a passenger-facility fee of $4.50, tacked onto ticket prices at the airport.

Construction supervisor Pat Rainey said the season's unusually dry weather has helped keep the work on schedule. The only hiccup, he said, was the discovery of a small sinkhole on the construction site -- a pocket that workers plugged with concrete.

Meanwhile, Rodgers said, the airport is using its regular FAA funding to plan an air-traffic control tower. He said the first phase, a site-selection analysis and environmental assessment, began in June. Officials are looking at a dozen possible locations.

University Park Airport is among the most heavily trafficked tower-free airports in the country, Rodgers said. Adding a tower would be a boon to controllers, who also follow traffic at the Bellefonte airport and at a gliderport in Julian, he said.

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Source: Centre Daily Times (State College, Pa.)

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