Basic HTML Version
The Future
The runway extension is
expected to be completed by fall
2012.
Future work will include
widening the runway from 60
to 75 feet, putting more space
between the taxiway and the
runway and possibly moving
the terminal, where the FBO of
the airport, Peoria Aviation LLC,
operates, to the other side of the
runway. The latter would be
down the road because it would
entail additional roadwork, as
well, he said.
The goal, Olson said, is to
convert Mount Hawley Airport
to a B-II status from B-I, which
would enable it to accept larger
aircraft. Having a 4,000-foot
runway is important, he said,
because that is “kind of the
magic number” for insurance
companies that cover those
aircraft.
Some insurance companies
prohibit the planes they cover
from landing at airports that
have less than 4,000 feet of
runway. Other may allow it, but
with payload restrictions, which
means less fuel is pumped into
the planes.
“The B-II, which correlates to
speed and wingspan, has been
identified as the ‘critical aircraft’
we need to be able to serve,”
Olson said. “That 400 feet may
not seem like much, but it is
critical to us if we’re going to be
able to do what we want to do
out here.”
Olson said the process for the
improvement began several years
ago with a feasibility study aimed
at answering the question of
what to do with Mount Hawley
in the future. That was prompted,
he added, by the realization that
residential growth to Peoria’s
north, including into Dunlap,
made the land on which the
airport sits potential very
valuable.
A decision was needed
whether to make the airport
larger and increase its value,
move it somewhere else or close
it, Olson said. The study showed
there was more than enough
activity at the airport to keep it
open, especially since there were
already about 500 operations —
landings and takeoffs — by B-II
aircraft at Mount Hawley each
year. In total the airport averages
21,000 operations a year.
“We knew we could increase
that, thereby increasing the
airport’s value. It’s location
makes it attractive to companies
flying in to do business at RLI
Corp., Caterpillar’s Mossville
center and other businesses in the
region,” Olson said. “It would
have a domino effect, as well. For
example, it would help Peoria
Aviation, our FBO out here, to
sell more fuel. The fuel company
would sell more fuel to the FBO,
etc. Those are some of the reasons
we decided we needed to do
this.”
Continued on page 44
Mike Tillman, an aircraft mechanic for Peoria Aviation LLC, does maintenance
work on a plane owned by the company and used for charter flights.
43
thePeorian.com