Weather tower going in at municipal airport|[04/04/08]

Published 12:00 am Friday, April 4, 2008

The Vicksburg Municipal Airport Thursday received separate offers that could beef up operations at the city-owned airport and help with future funding.

The Mississippi Forestry Commission will soon place a remote automated weather station on airport land off U.S. 61 South to help stop fires before they start, members of its board decided Thursday.

The 30-foot tower, one of 14 in the state, will assimilate weather data 24 hours a day, which will help forestry authorities forecast fire behavior and fire containment, said Jerry DeLaughter, state remote automated service coordinator for the agency.

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The system would be able to use data that goes back 10 years to determine conditions and predict fire behavior, he told board members.

“You can look at the data and see if it approaches a trigger point,” he said. “You can retrieve data every hour.”

In Vicksburg, a similar station exists at the Vicksburg National Military Park. It no longer meets the standards, however, because trees have grown up around it.

DeLaughter said that station would be removed and placed at the city-owned airport, where it would serve its purpose more efficiently.

Similar stations are already on land at airports throughout the state in Monroe and Pike counties, DeLaughter said. The system, which may be accessed through Web sites and runs off solar power, does not provide cloud base and visibility like other weather systems.

The airport is currently applying for grant funds from the Mississippi Department of Transportation for, among other amenities, an AWOS, or automated weather observation system, which automatically measures meteorological parameters, reduces and analyzes the data through a computer and broadcasts aviation weather reports which can be received by aircraft operating up to 10,000 feet above ground level and 25 nautical miles from the station. While the AWOS is needed at the airport, the forestry commission station will also provide benefits by allowing airport officials to access real-time weather.

The system is not compatible with the other technology, but also will not interfere with it, board members discussed.

Relocation is expected within the next two weeks and will entail the station being placed directly on the ground with rail spikes and guy wires that are attached under the ground, DeLaughter said.

In a separate offer, the board voted to have the Institute for Multimodal Transportation at Jackson State University perform a pavement condition survey of the entire airport facility, which would provide airport officials with survey data for software development. The study, which will be completed for free, will rate the pavement’s physical condition based on nondestructive survey techniques.

The study, which measures distress based on traffic, environment and construction issues, is used worldwide to identify maintenance and rehabilitation needs, said IMTrans director Don Smith. The pavement condition data will also be paired with risk management software that may be used by officials with the airport, MDOT and emergency management. Smith said, in return for the “real world” data his group needs, the airport will receive a complete pavement condition survey, maintenance recommendations and a usable GIS pavement management system.

Board president Kimble Slaton said having the study will be a positive move.

“It’s a dynamic model. They will find all kinds of distresses that we have no idea exist,” he said. “That kind of stuff being free to us is worth gold.”

The data will be helpful for the airport, which is gearing for an expansion of its facility.

Slaton said today he will submit a state airport multimodal grant application, asking MDOT for about $800,000 of the $3.4 million in funding available statewide to complete projects that will enhance the current layout of the airport and increase the amenities. In addition to purchasing the AWOS, board members are requesting about $130,000 to build a self-serve fuel farm for AVGas, about $30,000 for a Precision Approach Path Indicator and about $650,000 for T-hangars, for which the board is also hoping the city will come through to provide a concrete foundation on the ground that has already been leveled.

In other business, the board:Voted to purchase two, 20-pound extinguishers for the existing fuel farm and two covers for $256 with a $6 maintenance plan on each.Approved airport manager Frank May’s $212.48 monthly expense report.Approved a payment of $344.80 for board secretary Jay Kilroy’s flight to Washington, D.C., where he represented the board in a local effort to lobby for funds.