"Chuck Studer said...
Lois,
If you have questions about the operation of the airport, why don't you make a separate post with some of those and I will try to answer them.
To ANON 1:13, There is nothing to stop planes from coming and going as they please. Just like there's nothing to stop people from driving around all night long. What keeps oversize and overweight trucks from driving on our roads at night after you go to sleep?
26 comments:
What percentage of fuel sales does the city receive, and what percentage does the business receive in fuel sales at the airport?
If a plane is parked at the airport for several days are there fees involved?
Is there security available at the airport 24 hours a day?
What are the procedures for pilots? Do they sign in? Are pilot licenses verified? When cargo planes arrive who knows what is in the cargo? Do planes arrive from out of the Country? When a plane lands for fuel-is that plane documented and plane ownership verified? With runway lengths, lack of monitoring, distance to EXTREMLY security sensitive areas throughout Illinois, distance to major metropolitan areas, etc. these are Homeland Security concerns and in the TSA guide for general aviation airports gives guidance. Let's not forget the close proximity of the airport to the rail, the truckstops, and the barges. I imagine many governmental individuals would be concerned with the safety of the citizens not only of Peru or Illinois but the United States. If I was a terrorist where better place than an unmonitored airport in central Illinois to load/unload and fuel up. Next question is do they go for a Nuclear Facility or Sears Tower? Guess that would be one way to clean up Illinois...
I personally think the comparing street traffice to our local airport traffic is rather ridiculous. There are police patrolling streets 24/day 7days/week. Is the airport security there at all times?
Besides people who fly as a hobby how many Peruvians utilize the Peru airport for transportation? Are you going to host three (3) concerts this summer and if you are how much are you charging the promoter for the use of the airport? ho is going to pay for facilities and security? In regards to safety how do you plan to handle all of the traffic on a single lane road and exiting from and entering onto the Plank Road? What type of records are keep at the airport? Why dose Peru have a airport shouldn't it be a county issue at the least?
How long have you managed the airport Mr. Studor? Why doesn't the City of Peru manage its' own airport? Did they in the past and who did it and what qualifications did they have?
Which runway is utilized most often? With the directional winds in the area why wasn't the 7/25 runway built first?
Whether it was an isolated incident or not that airport needs someone out there 24/7.
Lois,
Thanks for the opportunity to address the questions and concerns people might have regarding the airport. I'll try first to discuss the questions about security, then I'll do a separate post to discuss the operation of the airport.
I had a long response completed on security, but it wouldn't let me post because it was too many characters. I tried to edit it down, but it was still too long. So I'll try multiple posts.
First let me say that I can't comment on last weeks incident, because that's a law enforcement issue, not an airport issue. Anything I say would just be speculation like anyone else that doesn't have all the facts.
Any discussion about security should start with a brief description of our airport. The Illinois Valley Regional Airport is one of approximately 5000 public use, general aviation (GA) airports in the country. There are at least that many more private airports, most of which are small grass strips in rural areas. GA includes everything from ultralights to business jets, helicopters, ag aircraft, etc.
The TSA does not have any regulations requiring any special security procedures at small GA airports. They, along with aviation advocacy groups, have published recommendations about things we should be aware of, and if we see things that might be suspicious, they expect us to contact TSA, so that they can investigate as they deem appropriate. It is most easily comparable to a neighborhood watch program.
To provide security 24/7 at this or any other small GA airport is cost prohibitive. Especially when the risk is considered. Small aircraft are not considered a significant threat by the TSA. The potential damage that might be done by a small aircraft is minimal when compared to other means by which a terrorist might act. If a small aircraft flies into the reactor at a nuclear power plant, the only damage will be the destruction of the aircraft. And there have been incidents where small aircraft have flown into buildings, (never any terrorist acts), and there is little damage or loss of life, except for the aircraft and its occupants.
And what if we provided 24/7 security at the Peru Airport? There are probably over 100 other small airports within a 200 mile radius that could be substituted. And keep in mind, just because we don't man the airport 24/7, doesn't mean that we don't check the airport at random times throughout the night. And now, with the Life Flight helicopter coming and going at night, that just provides one more layer of monitoring.
The Illinois Valley doesn't have a monopoly on "extremely sensitive security areas". There are literally millions of potential targets for terrorists around the country. And if a terrorist decided that he was going to use a GA aircraft to commit an act of terror, why would he stop at Peru on the way? Why not just continue from his point of departure to his target?
I'll discuss cargo and TSA regulations that apply to aircraft operators in the next post.
To continue answering the questions on security at the Peru Airport:
We don't screen cargo coming in or out of the Peru Airport. It's just not practical. On any passenger carrying airline, there is always a significant amount of freight in addition to the passenger's baggage. This freight is mostly unscreened. There are also hundreds of dedicated freight haulers using aircraft as large as a 747 that fly into and out of major cities with unscreened cargo. If large airports, with large dedicated freight facilities, can't screen cargo, how could a small airport with occasional cargo traffic be expected to do so? We also don't get aircraft directly into Peru from foreign destinations. Any aircraft entering the country must make it's first stop at a U.S. Customs Port of Entry airport. There, customs will decide what level of scrutiny any passengers or cargo will be subject to.
There are some TSA regulations that apply to aircraft operators. The main requirement is that an on-demand (Part 135) charter operator, using an aircraft with a maximum gross weight of over 12,500 lbs, must verify the identity of his passengers and check them against a TSA watch list. This is a requirement for the operator, not the airport. This activity is overseen by the TSA and the FAA.
There is also a requirement that any person giving flight instruction, must verify the citizenship of the student, and if the student is not a US citizen, they must submit to a TSA background check.
In closing, I hope I've answered all of the questions. I also hope no one thinks that I am trivializing security here at our airport. Nothing could be further from the truth. But we also know that so far, there has never been a terrorist act committed with a general aviation aircraft. Vigilance will help keep it that way. Spending vast amounts of money and/or harassing law abiding users of the airport will do little to support the effort.
OK. Now I'll try to address the questions regarding the operation of the airport. I suppose I'll just go down the list as they were posted.
Anon 11:20 - It's difficult to put a percentage on it because there are a lot of things that go into it. Are you talking about percentage of gross revenue? Gross profit? Or Net profit? I suppose I could say that they are receiving somewhere between 15 and 25% of their gross profit when they had the fuel concession. It depends what expenses you consider in the calculation. I can tell you that they make more net income now than they did when they had the fuel concession. I'll discuss that in depth in another post if you're interested. If I start here, I'll surely go over my allotted characters for a post.
Anon 11:28 - We charge $5 per night for overnight parking. We waive the fee if the customer buys fuel. This is pretty typical for a small GA airport and about the way the city did it. I doubt it generates more than a hundred bucks a year.
Anon 1:27 - I'll address your last question first, because it's a great question. First, if you don't believe that the airport serves any benefit to help attract business, it doesn't matter what my answer is. So I'm going to assume you think there is some benefit. The jobs created by the industries and businesses who have located here since the airport was built go to people from all over the Illinois Valley. Some of these businesses simply wouldn't be here if not for the airport. And that doesn't include the construction jobs for building and expanding the airport. Those projects receive over 97% of their funding from the FAA. And many of those construction jobs also go to people from all over the Illinois Valley. So it would be nice if all of the communities that have citizens that benefit from the airport would contribute to its operation and upkeep. But it's a pretty safe bet that that is not going to happen. Many, if not most, small airports are built and operated by a county or some type of airport authority. These entities usually have some tax base that has been approved by the voters to use for operation and maintenance of the airport. Marshall County, Whiteside County and Joliet are examples of this type of operation. Morris and Pontiac are municipal owned airports like Peru. I wasn't here when the airport was built, but it is my understanding that after many years of trying to put together a group to build the airport, Peru decided to just do it. Certainly all the surrounding communities have seen benefits from the airport, but getting others to contribute at this point in time and in this economy is not likely.
As for the concerts, the city has authorized 3 concerts. The Peru Police Dept, along with the promoter's security team will provide security at no cost to the city. As long as the concerts raise money for charity, there is no charge for use of the facility. But that would be between the city and the promoter. The city will certainly benefit from the influx of people from out of town and the money they spend while they are here.
I think I'm running out of space, so I'll do one more post to answer the last few questions.
Anon 1:27 - To continue with your questions:
I can't tell you how many citizens of Peru use the airport. Even the people who use the airport for recreational flying are not all from Peru. They're from all over the Illinois Valley. I once gave Lois a list of some of the companies that use the Peru Airport. Lois, do you still have that paper, and is there a way to post that here?
Anon 3:28 - My company has managed the day to day operations of the airport since August of 2009. For about 20 years previous to that, Midwest Avtech operated from the Peru Airport providing aircraft maintenance, charter, pipeline patrol and we also provided the manpower for fueling operations on a commission basis for the city.
From the late 80s until we took over the duties, the city did manage the airport. The Director of Public Works was the airport manager and Donna handled the day to day operations in addition to her duties with the public works department. (In the earliest years, the city even had 2 full time workers to pump gas at the airport.) When Mayor Harl was elected, he wanted the Director of Public works to work from city hall and that included moving Donna downtown. At that time the city had the option of hiring a full time person to replace Donna or contract with someone to perform those duties. They decided that it was better to contract with us to manage the airport.
The city still owns the airport and oversees our performance here.
Anon 5:47 - I think we're still using 18/36 the most. When the winds are light or calm, most pilots like the extra length. But 7/25 is getting quite a bit of use.
Again, I wasn't here when the airport was built, but I would think that 18/36 was built first because that was the one that could be expanded to 6000 feet. Runway 7/25 can't be lengthened, and 4000 feet is marginal length for most jets.
Chuck being naive in any form of managing a airport I am in question of the rates of flying in and out of the Peru Airport and if the rates are set to make money for the airport? Sounds like a foolish question in today's business world but so dose a 25 cent private city bus ride from door to door, and until recently this was taking place. The city now has raised the rates and hired a out of town employee to drive the bus from door to door. People of Peru stuck up for the funding of the library,got their taxes increased and than had a library employee, who is retired from the largest corporation in the state move out of town because the taxes became too high when the city had to raise its taxes to support the library. The person is still employed at the library and living in a small nearby village which I believe is supported by Hartney Oil. It must be hard to satisfy people as a politician when so many want to wear a multi colored hat with a beak in the front and a beak in the back and a beak on each side. Makes it difficult telling which direction your coming from and trying to get to.
Gee Chuck explain the cost with the Flying Club at the airport the cost to rent wet.
Anon 8:29
That is because some do not know where they are going because they are blinded with ignorance, spite, and misdirection from "tailors" telling them to where a knew hat. After all in politics Margaret Thatcher said it best "if you want anything said ask a man if you want anything done ask a woman"
Lois,
I spent several hours yesterday answering all the questions that were posted. Is there a reason why the rest of my answers didn't get posted.
Sorry Chuck, Google had moved them to a Spam folder that I had not checked yet today. All have been posted now.
Do the other 100 "probable" GA airports also supply fuel to aircraft? Please Mr. Slider do not make light of the use of the airport as a small recreational facility when you can accommodate a Global Express fully loaded. Not to mention the emergency landing of the 44 passenger jet last year.
Lois,
Many people will probably consider my answers SPAM. But thanks for posting them.
Anon 12:51 - Yes, most public use airports supply fuel to aircraft. Many even have self serve fuel because they're only attended sporadically. An aircraft could go into one of those airports and get fuel virtually unnoticed.
I'm not sure what you mean about me making light of the airport as a small recreational airport. The only time I mentioned "recreational" was in response to a question about the recreational users. I believe the questioner used the term hobby fliers.
So I understand this correctly, the federal government has disburseded $1,8,152,498.00 in 2010 and nobody can determine the exact amount of money the airport is making in profit, the number of local users, or when and/if it is utilized?
If I am not mistaken, a congressional representative may make a request to the federal department of transporation for an investigation. I believe I read this was the situation with a GA airport in Florida.
hey anon 2.52...where did you get the number of $1.8 billion and please explain that goes to ALL airports...and no one said they can determine profit....
No that does not go to all airports. That is the number that was on the audit from a very reputable firm. If that number is not accurate, than once again another reason to request an audit of this account that is held at the STATE OF ILLINOIS AERONAUTICS division. Are you saying they made an error on the audit?
Sorry typo not billion it should be million. 1,812,498
$1,566,006 for 7/25 runway
$246,492 t-hanger pavement resurfacing
anon 2:52 - You sure have a way of twisting peoples words. Maybe you think it makes you look smart to make stupid statements based on your misrepresentation of others words. Guess again.
I didn't say nobody knows how much profit the airport makes. I said I don't know. The city gets revenue from the airport that I'm not involved in collecting. I'm sure Gary Hylla could tell you to the dime. My job isn't to determine how much profit or loss the airport generates. My job is to manage the day to day operation of the airport, address issues concerning safety, and try to make sure that when a business flies people into the Peru Airport, we make a great first impression as representatives of the city. These are the same things that the city would do if they were managing the airport themselves. We just do it more efficiently than the city can. And if the city at some time determines that they can operate the airport better than we can, I'm sure they'll ask us to leave.
The Peru Airport is operated the same way that the vast majority of general aviation airports owned by small communities are operated. That is, by a private company called an FBO (Fixed Base Operator).
Can someone tell me why people post comments to a blog, but won't give their name? If you think your opinions are reasonable and intelligent, why would you be afraid to put your name on them?
Hi: An anonymous post on March 13, 2011 referred
to the Peru Public Library custodian. I am that person, Ron Reeland. The post indicated that I left Peru and moved to Mark due to the library tax increase.
That is misinformation. I spent a year hunting for a different home in Peru. The Peru homes I liked, I could not afford. The homes I could afford were undesirable. Peru is "THE" place to live in the Illinois Valley and that fact results in Peru homes being priced high compared to other communities.
I was able to purchase "more home for the money" in Mark. That is the only reason I relocated. It had nothing to do with taxes in Peru.
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