Part of ramp to be held in reserve
Aircraft traffic jam dangers cited as concern
By PAT MURPHY
Express Staff Writer
Friedman Memorial Airport has decided to save a small patch of the long asphalt parking ramp on the field?s northeast corner that was destined for removal, beginning in November.
Enough of the ramp to park two or three jets will be saved as a safety valve to park aircraft with their engines running to avoid an unsafe traffic jam of aircraft on taxiways.
The decision to spare a small area came literally at the 11th hour, after Dan Gearhart, chief airport tower controller, appealed to the Friedman Airport Authority to spare a small spot in the eastside ramp, recently abandoned by Sun Valley Aviation for new quarters on the westside of the airport.
Gearhart, pointed out that a series of aircraft, especially corporate jets, could become bottled up on a busy day at the north end of the field after landing because the taxiway back to the storage ramp would not yet be clear.
However, Gearhart and airport manager Rick Baird said with the small pad at the northeast corner, tower controllers could direct aircraft from the runway across a small connector taxiway to the parking spot to hold until the taxiway and runway were clear, and then taxi to parking spaces elsewhere on the field.
The airport authority agreed with Baird and Gearhart, and instructed Baird to seek approval for the change in plans from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Removal of the long ramp along the east side is part of a wide-ranging airport improvements and renovations to meet FAA safety standards.
Baird stressed that aircraft would not be allowed to park at the small pad and shut down their engines or to deplane passengers. Noise from idling jet engines and auxiliary power units on parked aircraft has been a source of complaints from residents in nearby Woodside.
Baird said he had promised to end the noise problem, and that retaining a small patch of ramp for brief, emergency use would be rare.
