DAILY MAIL BUSINESS EDITOR
The Braxton County Airport has undergone a transformation duringthe past two years, adding a pilot lounge, fuel farm, perimeterfencing, an automated weather observation system and a Web site.
It's still a small airport, but it stands out for its centrallocation and proximity to the popular conference facilities in thearea.
"This is a growing environment," said John Hambrick, president ofthe Braxton County Airport Authority.
"The availability of the airport changes the scope of your daywhen travel is required," Hambrick said. "It makes West Virginia muchsmaller and the eastern United States becomes your backyard when youcan reasonably go to Charlotte, conduct a meeting and eat dinner athome.
"It's good business - a core of economic development - when youcan bring your client in to do business and get them out the sameday."
Hambrick is a resident of Braxton County and a private pilot. Hekeeps his own airplane at the airport and flies for SkidmoreDevelopment Inc., the developer of the Sutton-Flatwoods Days InnHotel and Conference Center, the Flatwoods Factory Outlet Stores andother businesses off the Flatwoods exit of Interstate 79.
Skidmore Development is a frequent user of the airport along withDavid Heater of Go-Mart, which is headquartered at Gassaway;Weyerhaeuser, which has an oriented strand board plant at Heaters;and an auto parts company, airport officials said.
"It's a handy airport. I live right next to it. I can jump downthrough my field and be on the runway and catch an aircraft," saidHeater, corporate secretary, director of real estate and part ownerof the Go-Mart convenience store chain.
The airport, which is behind the Days Inn, was built as anemergency airfield for the military just prior to or during World WarII, Hambrick said. The airport has a 4,000-foot runway.
The pilot lounge, added in 2002, is a one-story building with astone exterior and green metal roof. It is a place for crews to relaxwhile waiting on their passengers. They can get computerized weather.It has wireless Internet.
A self-serve fuel farm was built in 2003 with about $100,000 incounty money, Hambrick said. It offers Texaco-brand jet fuel andaviation gas. It takes Visa and Master Card.
"The fuel farm is a project that we believed was critical to theairport," Hambrick said. "All of our development plans showed that ifyou can't buy fuel at an airport, how do you expect to grow theairport? We saw it as a critical need. We had a lot of local talenthelp out with the development of that."
An automated weather observation system was installed last year ata cost of about $125,000. "Pilots can access it from anywhere theycan get on the Internet and it is available in the cockpit," Hambricksaid.
Before the system was installed, "you had to evaluate the weatherat Elkins, Clarksburg and Charleston because they are the closestweather-reporting stations and we sit in that triangle," he said.With the new system, "you have the data on wind, visibility, theceiling, and whether there is dew or mist or whether it is raining orsnowing."
Perimeter fencing and an electric gate were installed this year ata cost of about $200,000 to help secure the field and keep wildlifeout.
Heater, the Go-Mart executive who is also vice president of theBraxton Airport Authority, said that in 1996 a company aircraftlanded and hit a deer. "The FAA found out and we started gettingfunding for a fence," he said.
The airport added a Web site several months ago at www.bcawv.com.It features information about the airport's amenities plus links tonearby attractions.
Hambrick said the airport improvements have been a collaborativeeffort. "This is no one guy - it's working with industry,government," he said.
One of the backers has been the state Aeronautics Commission. Theairport is important because of its central location, said SusanChernenko, director of the commission.
"The pilot's lounge is something not all general aviation airportshave in this country," she said. "The fuel farm is revenue-generating - that's very forward thinking."
The airport authority has received support from the privatesector, too. "John Skidmore is a big advocate of aviation, and he'shelped us out a lot," Hambrick said.
Chapman Technical Group, a St. Albans-based architectural andengineering firm, does the airport's engineering work. "They'repersonally engaged - it's like they adopted us," Hambrick said."They've been outstanding in terms of providing engineering supportand coordinating with government entities and verifying appropriatework.
"The automated weather system project is a very intricate, highlycomputerized effort," he said. "Your average layman is not going tobe able to say, 'Yes, that's done right.'"
Jeff Bubar, vice president of administration at Chapman TechnicalGroup, said his firm jumped at the chance to be involved in theairport's development.
"I've always remarked on the potential that airport has in lightof Skidmore's improvements, especially the conference center," hesaid. "The airport is just out the conference center's back door."
Hambrick has high hopes for the airport's future.
The airport currently operates under visual flight rules, butHambrick thinks the Federal Aviation Administration will approve aninstrument approach procedure for the airport in December.
The new procedure would rely on a global positioning system. Itwould allow pilots to descend through clouds to a point where theycan see the runway, thus increasing the conditions under which theairport can be open.
Hambrick also hopes more hangars will be built. "We have one bigcorporate hangar on the field and two smaller hangars - one owned bythe county, one privately held," he said. "Within 18 months to twoyears I would like to see more hangars built and the county hangarfreed up. I'd like to see us attract a maintenance facility, a radioshop, an avionics shop."
He hopes the runway will eventually be extended another 1,000 feetand that someday the airport will go from being unattended to hostinga fixed-base operator.
"We've got conversations going with the governor's office and theschool board," he said. "The school board is considering acollaborative effort where they would sponsor a maintenance trainingfacility here. It's not ironed out yet by a long shot but we arethinking outside the box in regards to what our possibilities are.
"The bottom line is, we're engaged - we're in the game and we'reactively pursuing airport safety and economic development," he said.
Contact writer George Hohmann at business@dailymail.com or 348-4836.
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