Friday, July 25, 2003
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Friday, July 25, 2003 |
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Vintage airplanes to stopover in PTC By J. FRANK
LYNCH
Peachtree City's Falcon Field will be a stop on the National Air Tour 2003, a recreation of the historic National Air Tours that took place between 1925 and 1931 when air travel was still a mysterious novelty to most of the nation. Nathan Roust of the National Air Tour appeared before the Peachtree City Airport Authority last week to seek permission to land up to 30 antique planes of various makes and models at Falcon Field Sept. 17. The planes will be making the journey that day from Birmingham, and will stay overnight on the taxiway, Roust explained. "We're recreating an airshow tour from 1932, and Atlanta was one of the stops then," he said. "But clearly, we can't land at Hartsfield, and Charlie Brown (Fulton County) and other airports wanted to charge us fees. You were our best choice." The tour, which starts Sept. 8 in Detroit, is being flown by members of the Centennial of Flight Commission. The airplanes likely to land in Peachtree City include three Ford tri-motors, Sikorsky flying boats, Stinson tri-motors, Speedmails, and other rare vintage planes from "America's Golden Age of Aviation," Roust said. The planes are scheduled to arrive at Falcon Field starting at noon Sept. 17, and will depart starting at 9 a.m. Sept. 18. Airport Manager Jim Savage said local partnerships with civic groups and the like will be sought to help the air tour organizers stage an open-house that evening on the field, so local residents can see the craft up close. But the tour was denied its biggest request, other than the right to land: The donation of 2,000 gallons of fuel. "We're in a tough budget situation," said authority chairwoman Cathy Nelmes. "I don't see how we can provide that." Roust seemed content with the airfield itself and expressed confidence that Peachtree City and Fayette County were a right fit for the event. Savage pointed out that the fly-in will come right on the heels of the annual Great Georgia Air Show, scheduled for Sept. 6-7 and expected to draw 20,000 spectators. He told Roust that the Commemorative Air Force and Civil Air Patrol might be willing to help out. In other business last week, Savage told authority members that the airport's financial footing is "sound," but "2004 is going to be an interesting budget year." Savage, of course, likely won't be around Falcon Field to see much of it, since a recent contract negotiation has him entering early retirement in December. But still, he warned Airport Authority members not to put too much into comparisons of month-to-month revenue fluctuations and annual income. "With the economy the way it is, and fuel prices the way they are, we are selling more fuel in bulk," he said. "And that looks like a lot on paper, but the markup on bulk fuel does affect us." With that in mind, perhaps, the authority played it safe when funding equations were offered last week. On a 3-2 vote, the authority gave Savage the OK to authorize spending $56,921 in airport funds to relocate utility lines along Stallings Road, a narrow gravel lane south of the airport that some in the city want to develop for offices and industry. But only after reviewing the source of the price. The original estimate provided by engineers for relocating the lines was about $30,000, Savage said, and eventually hit $45,000. Nobody on the authority seems to know where the $56,000 figure came from. "We're going back to them we're going back and ask to review the numbers to see if there are any computational errors, to say, 'How did this happen?'" The authority accepted a change in the brand of fuel provided by Eastern Aviations, the airport's fuel contractor. Starting Oct. 1, the company will use Shell. For nearly 90 minutes, authority members discussed a request to "rotate" by 90 degrees the layout of the planned Hangars B2, B3, B4, and B5. Several tenants under contract to use the new hangars suggested they would do much more business if the buildings were rotated 90 degrees, so the taxiway doors would be easier to navigate. While sympathetic to their cause, the board finally turned to Savage and asked him to look into how much it would cost to change the buildings now. "We're going to see if it's feasible, and also if it is cost effective," Savage said. "The authority is more than willing to work with (the tenants), but we made it clear that they would have to pay the cost."
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