Chapter Information

Chapter Officers

As of October 10th, the airport cafe has re-opened under the new management of  Michelle McMillian.  Cafe hours are: 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, Monday through Sunday. 

Come on out to the airport and enjoy great food,fun, friendly service and an awesome airport atmosphere.

     Cafe Telephone number:  816-364-6211

Rosecrans airport gets needed improvements

by Master Sgt. Mike Smith
139th Airlift WIng

A cooperative agreement between the City of St. Joseph and the Missouri Air National Guard's 139th Airlift Wing is bringing millions in additional Guard funding for taxiway repairs this summer at Rosecrans Memorial Airport.

Taxiways Alpha, Bravo and Charlie, which run along the East side of the airport's main, north-south runway, will be completely reconstructed at the city-owned airfield. The project is scheduled to begin mid-April with completion in the fall. The Guard is funding nearly $4.5 million of the project's $6.9 million total cost to ensure the taxiways remain operable.

"We really appreciate working with the FAA and the Missouri Department of Transportation in working out the funding and the city contribution for this, to make improvements for the Wing as well as for the community," said Lt. Col. Grace Link, base civil engineer.

The original airfield was developed in 1939 and its runways and taxiways lengthened and repaired in many projects since. The Air Guard has been a tenant since its conception, earlier still with the Army Air Corps, during World War II. Officials said the current taxiway no longer meets Air Force C-130 operating standards, which require good conditions to support military cargo aircraft.

"The concrete has been deteriorating for years and is in dire need of replacement," said Link.

In some sections, the layers of old concrete and asphalt and subgrade are nearly three feet thick, amounting to tons of rubble removal. Officials said it will be sampled for contaminants before its proper disposal.

"Our role is to ensure it meets our military specifications," said Link. That includes the design of the pavements as well as in construction oversight.

Link said construction is about underway after nearly a year-and-a-half of planning with many agencies, to include the Missouri Department of Transportation, the City of St. Joseph, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Guard Bureau. The two-phase project will split construction, first at the south, and then at the north sides of the airfield, which allows military and general aviation operations to continue. Taxiways closed will be reopened once all concrete is cured.

"We are going to get it done as soon as possible," she said, adding that the two-phase approach cuts more than a month-and-a-half from construction time. "Until then, it will be a shorter runway, and different taxiways will be used."

"Despite the on-going construction, both military and general aviation operations will continue with minimal impact."

Airport could see funds slashed
Marshall White
St. Joseph News-Press
POSTED: 9:53 pm CDT October 9, 2011UPDATED: 10:02 pm CDT October 9, 2011

The city’s airport operations are threatened by a decision at the National Guard bureau in Washington, D.C., that could reduce the payment for joint use of Rosecrans Memorial Airport to $1 a year.

In a letter, Col. Peter Tunison, chief of the Air Guard’s asset management division, stated that “a payment to the airport is baseless.”

Airport Manager Mike Hurst delivered the bad news to the city’s aviation board during a monthly meeting last week.

“I suspect the National Guard bureau may have mistakenly bypassed the negotiation phase. The city would be happy to re-engage negotiations,” Mr. Hurst said.

The city doesn’t know why the bureau got itself in a position of tardiness in the effort to renew a joint use agreement. The current agreement expired on Sept. 30.

Now, the National Guard bureau wants to reduce its payment from $155,000 a year to $1 annually by 2017.

“This offer is certainly not acceptable,” Mr. Hurst said, adding that the bureau uses a formula that doesn’t accurately reflect Air Guard usage of city services.

The city used a five-year study to obtain an average usage by the Missouri Air National Guard. The city believes the study supports an annual usage equal to 38 percent, while the bureau used 2010 numbers to say the usage only equates to 23 percent.

Guard bureau numbers suggest that in 2010, the city had a traffic count of 42,000 operations.

“We have never achieved such annual operations, but I will be the first to celebrate if we ever attain such increases,” Mr. Hurst said.

Board members voted to unanimously ask the city manager to inform Congressman Sam Graves and the rest of the Missouri congressional delegation of the development. The city continues to seek a way to bring the bureau to negotiations.

Marshall White can be reached at marshall.white@newspressnow.com.

LASER ASSAULTS ON AIRCRAFT CONTINUE TO GROW, FAA SAYS

The Federal Aviation Administration says there were 2,733 laser strikes through Oct. 13. The pace threatens to eclipse the 2,836 incidents for all of last year. It's approaching 10 times the 300 reported in 2005.

The rising number prompted the FAA in June to impose a civil fine of up to $11,000 for "interfering" with a crew by shining a laser into a cockpit. The fines are easier to pursue than federal criminal sanctions of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for "incapacitating" a crewmember.

Arrests are rare for people who can easily shine a hand-held laser into a cockpit and temporarily blind a pilot. The airline industry and pilots unions will confer with police and prosecutors Thursday in Washington to discuss what else can be done to thwart attacks.

"Shining a laser at a plane and its pilots is very dangerous," says FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, a 25-year pilot. "You wouldn't want a pilot incapacitated for any reason."  Aircraft targeted

The FAA reported 2,733 laser strikes on aircraft this year through Oct. 13, closing in on last year's total of 2,836.
Airports with the most incidents in 2010:

Source: FAA

Many attacks occur near airports when planes take off or land. Philadelphia has had the most laser strikes this year with 93.

Prosecutions have been rare. Finding culprits can be difficult because commercial jetliner pilots taking off or landing have trouble describing a laser's source for authorities on the ground.

Dana Christian Welch of California was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2009 in what the FBI says was the first U.S. trial conviction on federal charges against pointing a laser at a plane.

He was found guilty of interfering with pilots by pointing a green laser at a United Airlines jet and an Alaska Airlines jet preparing to land at John Wayne Airport in Orange County in May 2008.

The United Airlines pilot told investigators it was "the worst possible time to be distracted." The Alaska Airlines pilot complained that his eyes stung the rest of the night.

Passenger airlines aren't the only targets:

•Los Angeles prosecutors charged the grandson of the late actor Clark Gable, Clark James Gable, 23, with three felony counts for allegedly pointing a laser at a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter flying July 28 above Hollywood Boulevard. He pleaded not guilty.

•On July 6, Phoenix police charged Conrad Rzewski, 24, with two counts of felony endangerment for allegedly pointing a laser at their helicopter with two officers aboard. "Depending on the type of laser, it can cause eye damage," Phoenix police Sgt. Tommy Thompson says. "I think most of the offenders … just don't realize how dangerous it can be."

Source:  usatoday.com.

To contact a representative of our Chapter, click on the envelope link.

email:  mpa_ponyexpress@yahoo.com

Comments & Suggestions are always welcomed.