2 new aircraft hangers added
PENN TWP — The Butler County Airport recently added two new aircraft hangars as part of its effort to upgrade facilities.
Complementing a 1,000-foot runway extension and new taxiway added last year, the pair of 7,700-square-foot T-hangars, named for the shape of the aircraft ‘parking spots' within, will hold 10 aircraft apiece.
That will raise the airport's total storage capacity to 130 general aircraft, plus a few private hangars for corporate aircraft.
“The T-hangars are long, narrow single story buildings built on a concrete slab, designed specifically for the storage of aircraft,” said Ike Kelly, chairman of the airport authority.
“We're replacing one building that had the capacity for eight aircraft, so we added 12 spaces. All but four of the new units already are spoken for.”
The total cost of the taxiway improvements and hangars was about $1.2 million, according to airport manager Ivan Longdon.
About $570,000 of that came from federal and state grants, $600,000 came from loans, and $30,000 was paid by the airport authority.
The state portion of the funding, about $170,000, came from Pennsylvania's jet fuel tax and the federal portion, about $400,000, came from aviation-related taxes collected by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The improvements are part of the airport's master plan, which includes continued improvements to airport technology and infrastructure.
“Our primary goal is to remain a general aviation airport,” Kelly said.
General airports do not support scheduled air carriers such as commercial airlines, but the airport does have a fixed base operator, AirQuest Aviation.
Part of the need for improvement stems from the airport's role as a “designated reliever” for greater Pittsburgh airspace, a place where planes are detoured during heavy air traffic.
“Butler County Airport is desirable because of how close we are to Route 8 and Route 28,” Kelly said.
Planned improvements include upgraded GPS and instrument technology.
“Technology is changing so rapidly that we want to make sure we're looking to the future as much as we can,” Kelly said.
A fuel road also is planned. FAA regulations state a fuel truck cannot cross a runway, meaning aircraft at the airport only have access to fuel at the airfield's north end, something Kelly would like to remedy with a road that a fuel tanker could use to service other planes.
