Airport improvement projects in the near future

Building, runway and operational improvements are on the way for Fort Scott Municipal Airport, Manager Kenny Howard recently told members of the Fort Scott Rotary Club.

Rotarian Ken Lyon, who is a member of the Airport Advisory Board, introduced Howard by saying the airport was an important piece of the economic fabric of the community.

"It's a gateway to Fort Scott," Lyon said. "We've had some improvements to the airport and have plans for more."

Howard, in his opening remarks, noted he had been with the city for 15 years. He said he enjoys the people and the work with his position. In addition to serving as the airport manager, he is also responsible for the city's upkeep of its two lakes, Fort Scott Lake and Rock Creek Lake.

The airport is situated on approximately 245 acres and located four miles southwest of Fort Scott.

It was initially developed during the 1940s. The airport is a public use facility that is owned and operated by the City of Fort Scott.

Services offered include fuel, tie-down, lease agreements, pilot supplies, airfield maintenance and courtesy transportation.

Howard said the airport is a busy place.

"It's used a lot by different companies. We tend to have more flights with cooler temperatures," he said.

In addition to the traffic from area businesses, the airport also gets a high degree of use from medical transports using fixed-wing air ambulances and the Medflight helicopter, all taking patients to Kansas City.

"We also sell a good amount of fuel. We've utilized fuel from Conoco Phillips since 1947," Howard said.

He said that the city had received grant money through the Federal Aviation Administration to rehab the runway.

"It was one of the first projects that we were awarded," Howard said.

Current plans call for extending it. In 1980, the airport's main runway was widened to 75 feet and extended to 4,400 feet. "We would like to have it about 5,000. We're looking to expand south but we have to buy the land first."

Work on the fence at the airport is a continual maintenance task, due to "an issue with coyotes digging under the fence," he said.

Work at the airport has also included replacing the concrete and a ramp in front of a hangar.

"Just replacing the concrete is about half a million dollars," he said.

Howard said the airport is also in the process of repairing and/or replacing and upgrading the windsocks, a conical textile tube designed to indicate the wind direction and relative wind speed.

"We replace the lights in the wind socks on a regular basis," Howard said.

In response to question from the audience, Howard said the airport typically has around 22 planes housed in the hangars at the airport.

"We're pretty much full most of the time," he said. "We would like to have more hangars."

Funding for the airport includes various grants, both from the FAA and the Kansas Department of Transportation.

"There is a lot of paper work to do," Howard said in describing what it takes to run an airport.

He noted the airport's operation undergoes an annual audit, which has produced high marks each year, including three perfect scores in the last six years.