Minutes of the Ad Hoc Airport Advisory Committee 3/9/97 The Little River Airport Ad Hoc Airport Advisory Committee met on Sunday 3/9/97 from 4-6pm. Seven committee members were present: Tim, Trey, Susan, Fran, Joel, Ray and Jack. Dick Ahrens, Lauren Jones, Grant Wheeler and Neil Boyle were also present. We agreed that the next Ad Hoc meeting will take place Sunday, March 23 from 4-6pm at Coast Flyers. The minutes of the last 2 meetings were approved. Reports ------- Tim passed out copies of a letter from DPW to the LRAPA. DPW agress that stocking a few critical spare parts for the constant current power supply is a good idea and suggested contacting Skip Jones to develop a list. DPW has obtained a surplus stand-by generator (we believe it is a 5kw unit). And DPW asked a few questions about the donated radio: is it on loan to the County, what's the County liability and what's the expected lifetime of the radio? Tim related the LRAPA proposed response regarding the radio. The radio was donated to LRAPA by Andy Becker. It is of a type known for poor reliability in aircraft, but may do better in the less harsh enviroment of the airport office. LRAPA would like to retain ownership, but loans it to the County with no County liability in the event of theft or damage. LRAPA recommends that the County plan to purchase a conventional base station Unicom radio as a long term solution, stating that the current radio is a stopgap. Grant Wheeler provided a written report on the constant current generator, including some recommendations for inspections to be made at 6 month intervals. Grant agreed to get Skip Jones a copy of its technical manual so Skip and Grant can work out a list of spare parts to stock. Grant gave Dick Ahrens (LRAPA treasurer) a list of the parts purchased to install the radio - LRAPA will remiburse him. Tim passed out copies of a letter from Hollister airport answering our recent request for statistical data on their airport. He also passed around a letter of appreciation that he'd sent to Budge on behalf of the committee. GPS --- Trey handed out a draft revision of the first two sections of the GPS report. The committee members skimmed through it and complimented Trey on his work. Tim said that Trey had caught an inadvertent ommission from Section 1 of the report - he'd had a discussion of community concerns in earlier drafts that got dropped in the 2/23 draft. We agreed to merge Tim and Trey's versions of the first two sections of the report. Susan said that a pilot neighbor, Sam Levine, told her that he favors keeping the airport "good and small". Susan asked how many pilots at Little River currently have approved GPS receivers. We know at least two, there may be others. Tim said that he has been delaying buying an approved receiver until Little River has a GPS approach, but that he will buy one then. Jack passed aroung a small pamphlet on GPS published by Trimble. He offered to get several copies, one to include with each copy of our report. He said he believed it would help laypeople understand GPS. Joel said that he had a few suggestions for changes in the IFR procedures section which he'll email to Tim. Fran said that she would like to see Section 3.8 of the report (on expansion of the airport) fleshed out more. She thinks a simple statement that the GPS approach is not an expansion of the airport won't be enough to reassure people. Several people have expressed fear to her that the GPS approach is the cornerstone of a plan for significant airport expansion. Can we summarize the County's plans for the airport? Tim said that the Airport Master Plan and Airport Layout Plan are a summary of the official County plans for the airport. He said that although Charles Peterson has discussed the possibility of a light industrial non-avaiation development at the airport, we have never been able to get any details on what he has in mind. Tim said that Charles did not "push" the GPS approach and that he has never hinted at any connection between it and any development at the airport. The committee agreed that Tim should write to Charles Peterson and ask him to state that the GPS approach is not connected to any proposed development at the airport. Trey reminded us that Mike Scannel brought up the need for an economic development study 2 years ago. He had called the airport an underperforming County asset. Charles Peterson has repeatedly said that he would like to organize funding for an economic development study of the airport as a precursor to non-aviation development. Pamela Swan was working in the economic development office but recently left - Trey thinks due to budget cuts. Jack said that the pilots are promoting the GPS approach, not the County. Tim agreed, saying that there is no connection between the various plans that have been discussed for non-aviation development and the GPS approach. Fran said that we need to get clear information in the report to separate these issues. She feels that the improvement in safety that would result from the GPS approach is critical. Jack introduced Lauren Jones, a pilot. Lauren said that she believes a GPS approach would be safer than looking for a hole in the clouds to come down through. Airport Equipment ================= Grant Wheeler gave Tim a copy of a report he had written on the constant current power supply for the runway lights and on a standby generator. He pointed out that Sola's maintenance manual calls for 6 month periodic inspections of the power supply and frequent checks for burned out runway light bulbs - if many bulbs are burned out, the power supply can be damaged. He offered to bring his clamp-on ammeter to measure power drains for properly sizing a standby generator. Grant also said that the proper fuse sizes for the AC and DC fuses on the power supply for the radio need to be determined and installed, and that a protective cover still needs to be fabricated for the radio and power supply. Fran expressed appreciation to Grant for his work to date and the remaining committee members concurred. Noise Abatement =============== Susan asked about the noise policy. Joel gave her a copy of the DPW noise flyer. Susan said that some people a still flying directly over her house. Joel said that they probably are transient pilots - the signs haven't been posted yet. Trey said that he is in favor of adding the details on supersonic prop tip speeds to the LRAPA version of the noise abatement handout. Non-Pilot member ================ Susan announced that she is resigning as a voting member - she has been out of town for several weeks and expects to be out of town for much of the next several months. She wants to stay on the mailing list and will attend meetings whenever she can. Tim asked if she would like to be a non-pilot alternate member. Jack suggested contacting Art Love, the realtor, to see if he is interested in serving as a non-pilot member. Trey said that he would prefer not to have the pilots select the non-pilot members. Tim asked the non-pilots to agressively seek another voting non-pilot candidate. Next Meeting ============ We agreed to meet next on March 23 at 4pm. The agenda will be: - approve minutes of previous meeting - reports on recent events - GPS instrument approach - updates on airport equipment (power supply, radio, etc.) - new HWP&T committee - agree on agenda for next meeting Ad Hoc Airport Committee voting members: ----------------------------------------- Joel Bornstein pilot, flight instructor lives near airport Trey Loy non-pilot, lives near airport Jack Reichel pilot, businessman Tim Scully pilot, computer programmer, lives near airport commutes by air to Oakland weekly Ray Yates non-pilot, Albion businessman Fran Tucker non-pilot, neighbor of the airport manages the Woods Ad Hoc Committee alternate members: ----------------------------------- Michael Moore pilot, economist Dick Ahrens pilot airport neighbor Susan Winding airport neighbor, non-pilot, local business owner