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Blair Airport Plays Down New Projects

Posted on: Thursday, 17 November 2005, 18:00 CST

By Marion Rhodes

BLAIR, Neb. -- The Blair Airport Authority says it has no plans to further expand the Blair Airport, but it left open the possibility of future growth.

"The airport is trying to position itself for the future," said Airport Authority Chairman Geary Combs.

The board this week approved agreements giving the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics permission to act as the board's agent in developing two projects with the Federal Aviation Administration.

The first involves the purchase of 38 acres of land north of the runway, Blair City Administrator Rod Storm said. The second involves building a fuel system at the airport to store 100LL fuel, a low- lead aviation fuel, and Jet A fuel, a kerosene fuel suitable for most turbine engine aircraft.

The agency agreements are required by Nebraska law and don't mean the board plans to pursue either of the projects, Storm said.

"It's the first step in the planning process," he said. "It is not an application that says we are going to do it."

About 40 people, many of them pilots or residents who live near the airport, attended the meeting.

Area resident Jim Haidley and Airport Authority member Jim McWilliams, who recently initiated a recall effort against two fellow board members and himself, said the authority is breaking promises it made in the early stages of the airport expansion.

In 2000, former board Chairman Lloyd Scheve told The World- Herald: "We do not envision this to be a jet aircraft runway. From the beginning, we have told people in the area that jet aircraft is not what we are trying to attract."

Storm said "there was no intent or maliciousness" to mislead anyone.

"A lot of it is determined on how somebody takes the twist on it," he said. "People confuse what you're talking about when you're talking about jet aircraft. To them, that's a Boeing 747. That category aircraft is not going to be out there."

Storm said even airplanes that aren't "jets" take jet fuel. He said offering jet fuel would help the airport become selfsufficient because it would invite a greater array of pilots that wouldn't rent hangars or fly into the airport if they couldn't fuel their planes there.

Source: Omaha World - Herald

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