Pease Airport Users’ Group

Minutes

March 16, 2005

6:30 PM

Bapp Auditorium, Pease ANGB

 

PRESIDING:      K. William Hopper, Acting Airport Manager

 

ATTENDING:     General Aviation tenants, members of NHANG, PDA staff members, FBO staff                  members,TSA, ATCS, Corporate tenants, Cargo tenants.

 

 

 

I.                   Introduction: Acting Airport Manager Bill Hopper thanked everyone for attending the first Users’ Group meeting and said he was looking forward to communicating tonight with the tenants of the airfield who have questions and ideas on how to make Pease a more user-friendly airport. He also wanted to provide information so that people can better understand some of the things that we do. This is a medium for the people who fly planes to give a voice to what they think is good and bad about Pease Airport and what can be done to make it better. 

                        Mr. Hopper introduced the PDA staff and asked the other attendees to introduce themselves and describe their connection to the airport.

II.                Airfield Activities: Andrew Pomeroy, Senior Operations Agent described the upcoming airfield activities for the 2005/2006 season.

A.                 Airfield Construction

1.      Taxiway East Object Free Area (OFA) Rehabilitation: This project has a start date of 3/21 and consists of removing two rows of concrete from between Taxiway A and the concrete apron area and putting in grass islands and new taxiways with lights and signs.  The phenomenon of Alkaline Silica Reaction (ASR), which is concrete swelling and creating excess pressure, will be relieved by this project.  A new sign plan was submitted to the FAA and Taxiway Alpha will have signs and lights on both sides making it more user-friendly. 

   An attendee asked questions to clarify that more taxiways would be added.

2.      General Aviation Apron: This project is still in the design process.  If funding goes through, it should begin in the fall. The project consists of the removal of all of the concrete in front of Pan Am Services and Port City Air and repaving it with asphalt as well as installing hard stands for larger aircraft.  There are three add/alts in case the entire project runs over cost.  They consist of the FBO north taxi lane, the T-Hangar area, and the two oil/water separators.  The project will result in replacement of ASR damaged pavement, will improve drainage and will make better use of the space.  The entire project is estimated to require 320 days of work which would likely take two years with winters off.  The project will be done in phases to minimize the impact on GA users. There will be a meeting at 6:30 PM on March 30th in the Pease Development Authority Board Room to update users on the project design.

   Users in attendance asked if the project would result in more space for T-Hangars and the airport said that if it could happen, it will.  Other questions were asked regarding the timeline and the response was that it could start as early as July 1 but most probably would not because of FAA funding.

3.  Environmental Work:  Marty Mistretta of Montgomery Watson Harza (MWH) spoke on the environmental work that will be done in 2005 at the airport.  They do not have any construction activity planned, only routine operations. There will be a fair amount of drilling.  In the spring they will be drilling in the terminal apron for about a week and routine sampling.  It has not been decided if the portable treatment system in front of the ARFF station will be set out this year. Questions were asked regarding the source of the contamination and Mr. Mistratta said the source of most of it is jet fuel leaks from the old Air Force underground storage tanks.  Sometime in the spring MWH will be drilling and installing wells in the Guard area, around Flight Line Road, and several other areas including south of Bravo and south of the T-Hangars.  Spring summer and fall they will be conducting routine long-term monitoring of hundreds of wells covering the entire airfield.  Some of this sampling will require temporary closures of taxiways.  The Air Force may construct an underground treatment system in 2006 or 2007.  A main reason for the monitoring of the water is that Haven well, located just north of Taxiway B, is a water supply for much of the tradeport and the city hopes to pump a lot more water out of that well in the future to also supply the downtown area. Mr. Hopper added that Mr. Mistratta’s job is not an easy one as he has to keep everyone happy from the airport to the environmental people to the pilots. 

4. Air National Guard Apron Reconstruction:  NHANG is gradually reconstructing their apron in sections.  They will be tearing up and replacing the existing concrete in another two rows of aircraft parking as well as installing an underground hydrant system for refueling. 

B.            Airfield Maintenance: Mr. Alan Weston relayed that in the 2005 season they will be repainting airfield markings, removing rubber, refurbishing the lights, rebuilding the manholes, and possibly filling in some of the North Apron. Basically they will be maintaining all of the airport equipment along with mowing, etc.

C.           Special Events:

                 1. Pease Triennial Exercise:  Every three years the FAA mandates that Pease and other 139 airports have a full-scale mock up emergency exercise to test our airport emergency plan.  It involves all of the area fire and police departments, ambulance services, hospitals, etc.  An aircraft crash is simulated on the airfield. Although the scenario changes from year to year, it always involves an air carrier aircraft crashing on the airfield with mass casualties.  Last year there were 100 volunteer “victims”.  The idea is to practice the plan and determine where it comes up short. The next exercise will be in April of 2006. This exercise includes the whole seacoast region and planning takes about a year. Airport Operations asks anyone wishing to volunteer for the exercise to please contact Andrew Pomeroy.

2. NHANG Air Show:  There will be a small scale air show in September 2006. The NHANG hope to build on it to have a larger show in 2008 or 2009 with community involvement in transportation and parking, etc.  The long term plan is to build involvement to get the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels here in 2009 or 2010 for a two day show.

3. Port City Air Open House:  On May 13 from 3-7 PM Port City Air will be holding an open house.  It will be a catered event and AOPA is scheduled to do a brief seminar. PCA is hoping to get a few other seminars for general aviation people who are interested in learning about air safety.  The event is open to everybody and invitations will be mailed out with more details.  Bill Hopper commented that that would be a very good opportunity to take a look at Port City Air’s facility which is barely over a year old.

III       Airport Operations:  Airport Operations Department is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  If you need anything at all on the airfield the operations agent is the person to get a hold of.  Their contact numbers are:  Office- 603.433.6536, Cell- 603.817.9411, and Pager- 603.564.1983.  During later hours, it is hit or miss catching agents in the office, so the pager number is probably the most reliable way to get a hold of them. In instances such as not being able to exit the airfield, it is suggested that you call the tower and they have direct communication with the agent at all times.

                         Personnel and Equipment Working all Surfaces, Snow Removal OPS IP UFN is a common NOTAM you will see in the system during snow removal.  This is issued as a local NOTAM so you will have to get it from Bangor Flight Service.  You can expect that NOTAM (snow removal ops in progress) to go out from the time the storm starts until generally about 12 hours after the storm ends, particularly if it is a big storm, shorter if it is a light storm.  It is done in this way because the only other alternative Flight Service gives us is to say that the airfield is closed. In the airport facility directory under Remarks for Pease it is stated that “During snow removal ops PPR 15 minutes on 128.4 and no practice low apch or touch and go ldg.”  If you are flying a faster aircraft 15 minutes out might be too far out to talk to the tower, but you are going to have your weather, you are going to be on IFR flight plan, and you will be in communication with air traffic control and approach control. They can relay your PPR in-flight, just tell approach to tell Pease that you are 15 out and they will expect you.  Pete Peatfield of ATCS also indicated that scenario is a preferable way in case you can not contact the tower directly.  He also brought up that there is no mention of departures in those remarks.  The PPR also applies to departing aircraft and that should be added. It’s easy to call the tower on your radio 15 minutes prior to your scheduled departure and just let them know that you are coming out and they will notify airport ops. 

                        Greg Mahanna indicated that it would be nice if they had a direct phone line to the tower he could call when he was 15 minutes out. When he is 15 minutes out he can not reach the tower on the radio and he said every other airport has a direct tower phone line. Andrew indicated that Mr. Peatfield would probably address that issue in a segment coming up.  The goal during snow removal is to have a clean runway from the time the snowfall starts until it stops.  The snow removal crews are out there anytime an aircraft is not landing or taking off.  If you call 15 minutes out, that gives them time to finish their pass and pull whatever is on the runway off.  If you don’t give them that notice, they may have snow on the runway that they cannot remove for up to 15 minutes.  By giving them the notice they will have the runway prepared for you and you will have a much better experience landing at Pease in the winter.  Another situation in which you will encounter the 15 minute PPR is during construction or maintenance activities including painting, etc.

                        Al Weston added that there is nothing better for the plow staff than when a pilot thanks them for doing a good job.  Andrew Pomeroy said he couldn’t say enough about Al’s crew.  They are out there during a storm working really hard, working long shifts and doing a great job for us. 

IV.     Air Traffic Control:  Pete Peatfield indicated that he is here tonight to listen and understand some of the issues and see what he can do to fix them or at least get some answers.  In a quick rundown of what Air Traffic Control does, Mr. Peatfield indicated that the Pease Air Guard is a DOD tower.  Air Traffic Control separation procedures come from FAA 7110.65.  The tower operates 24 hours a day and provides air traffic control services to all users of Pease International Airport.  Their military mission is supporting the 157 air re-fueling in their 24 hour alert re-fueling mission.  They are also the Air National Guard 260th Air Traffic Control Squadron whose mission it is to deploy air traffic controllers and air traffic control equipment worldwide in support of Air Force requirements, particularly now with the global war on terrorism.  Pease is a major training sight, one of only ten in the Air National Guard, who trains Air National Guard uniformed air traffic controllers from technical school through certification.  Since the squad was organized in 1997 they have certified dozens of training controllers to certified air traffic controllers  and these ladies and gentlemen have served all over the world including Afghanistan and  Iraq, and they are still going strong.  An advantage of their military mission is that the tower is open twenty-four hours a day.  The FAA has a list of 48 airports that may close down the midnight shift including Manchester and Bangor. 

                        A question came from a user regarding GCA approaches and Mr. Peatfield responded that they are offered 8AM-4PM Monday through Friday.  The current FAA requirement is that civil aircraft must be on a VFR flight plan flying under VFR conditions before the GCA can provide a precision approach or a surveillance approach.  They can certainly do vectors to the ILS in IFR.  Probably sometime this year the FAA will take over responsibility for their military PAR and ASR procedure. Once they do that, approve it, and certify it as a FAA approved approach Pease will be able to provide it to civil aircraft at their request during IFR conditions.  A user asked what the procedure would be. Mr. Peatfield responded that if you are inbound working with Manchester, just let them know that you would like to come over to Pease GCA to use their approach. If you are in the local traffic pattern let Pease Tower know and the tower will coordinate with the GCA. 

                        Another user asked about a phone number for pilots to call the tower with their 15 minute PPR and typically he is unable to get current weather conditions because they are often 60 minutes old.  Mr. Peatfield responded that within 30-45 days they will have a new ATIS installed which is compatible with the phone lines, allowing pilots to dial in directly.  As soon as it is on line he will release the number.  The weather information is currently updated whenever it changes.  If the weather doesn’t change it is updated once an hour. An independent weather station provides all the weather information to the tower through a distribution system.  In October of 2006 a new state of the art weather system will be connected to the weather station and Mr. Peatfield believes it is also phone compatible.  If that is true they will hook it up to a phone line.  Presently the equipment is 30-50 years old.  Mr. Hopper asked when the ATIS goes on the telephone system if it will be broadcast 24 hours a day? Right now during the overnight hours it is not broadcast.  Mr. Peatfield answered that now there are no plans for that.  Mr. Hopper asked him to consider it for the future when they have the capability of phoning in for it as it would be a huge benefit for corporate pilots.  Craig Goodman commented that he would like to be able to call in from home to find out what the current conditions are so he can decide if he should go down and fly or not. 

               Mr. Peatfield addressed the question of calling in directly to the tower.  Right now they are operating under military rules and because the tower is a sensitive security facility they cannot publish the number.  In the past someone had obtained the restricted number and abused it. There is also a staffing issue as there are only 2 controllers on at one time, unlike many other towers who have 6 or 7 on, one of whose responsibility it is just to answer the phone line.  He indicated that he would ask the Air Force to see if he could get a better reading as to what they would like to see the tower do or not do verses their security requirements and operations.  He reiterated the 30-45 days until the call in ATIS is operational.

                         Mr. Hopper added that pilots can always call Airport Operations and leave their number for the controller to call them back and if they can’t, then the operations agent will call the pilot back.  In regard to the ATIS, when there are rapidly changing conditions, it is updated quite frequently, but the minimum is once per hour.

                        Mr. Peatfield added that because they are a training facility, the voice you hear may seem hesitant or a little mixed up, but they are under the supervision of a qualified controller.  They have recently finished installation of a virtual reality air traffic control simulator.  So now a lot of their training program will include the simulator so trainees can get over the jitters and get the phraseology down before they are dealing with real planes. The cost of the new equipment was $700,000.

                        Jim Jackson asked why the heavies are not using the hammerhead more when the guard has to delay.  Greg Mahanna said that the ATC unfairly favors the military over GA and Corporate tenants when they pay rent and fuel flow fees as well.  Lt. Col. Sullivan answered that he was unsure as to the specifics to which the users referred, but explained that at times the guard is performing a timed operation and must take off at an exactly specified time for their mission, and that he would bring up the point about using the hammerhead at the next flight crew meeting. 

                  Mr. Peatfield mentioned the Pilot/Controller Liaison Organization which publishes a newsletter every 3-4 months with both generic and specific articles.  There is also a NHANG ATC quality control sheet on the back of the newsletter.  They will attempt to answer any questions directly and if the question is of general interest it may become an article in the next issue. It was suggested that the newsletter and accompanying quality control sheet be posted on the Pease Airport website. The NHANG also indicated that they have an 18 page mid air collision avoidance program with diagrams that they could email to anyone interested or that could also be posted on the webpage. 

V.                      Noise Abatement Procedures:  Pease noise abatement procedures are voluntary, but pilots are strongly encouraged to follow them when possible.  The standard instrument departure procedures when departing 34 provide instructions that in most cases will lead aircraft over I-95 to the south.  From 10 PM to 7AM the preferential runway for departures is 16 and for arrivals is 34.  These procedures help to keep aircraft away from noise sensitive areas.  Pease also has a ground run up enclosure for full power maintenance runs for B-727 and smaller aircraft. Interested corporate tenants can get a copy of ground run up procedures from airport operations.  We also have a new and fully functional GPU/PCA unit on the Jetbridge and would like to make it something that larger aircraft want to use. 

                        The Sound Insulation Project will be insulating 12 homes in Newington and Portsmouth at an average cost of approximately $50,000.  The FAA is providing approximately 95% of the funding and the project will be ongoing for the next year.  There will be a second phase of the project including 2 historical homes which will require more detailed work to maintain their character and that phase will begin next year.  There is a noise complaint line for community use 603.436.6333 and the noise complaint form is also available on the Pease Airport website. 

VI.        Airport Security:  Dan Drumheller, Pease Airport Security Coordinator reminded all badge-holders and vehicle permit holders to please call to make an appointment to renew their badges before they expire. At times Dan is in the office on weekends and off hours so if you call first you should be able to make an appointment that is convenient for you.  Our badge program is part of the TSA security program.  Badge holders are asked to keep an eye open for anyone on the airfield not displaying a valid badge and to please confront that person or report them to Airport Operations or Portsmouth Police Department.  Security classes for new badge holders and retraining for driver certification are offered every other week.  Classes will be held on Wednesdays in April (the 6th and the 20th.) 

         There were two incidents of Gate P1 being left unlatched in January. TSA indicated that if there is another incident, civil penalties and fines would be issued against the airport and the individual responsible. At this juncture, anyone needing access through the P1 gate must contact airport operations. Mr. Drumheller is looking into a different access control system for gate P1.

         Brain Corliss of TSA wanted everyone to know that he realizes that “GA is not the enemy” but there are airport security guidelines for risk management that must be followed to keep airports safe.  Most recently, Congress passed the Alien Pilot Rule which mandates that flight instructors must log that each student is a US citizen.  If the student is not a citizen, they must undergo a procedure similar to a security            clearance. Also, DC area airports have been reopened in the Air Defense Identification Zone. 

VII.    Open Discussion:  The issue of 180 degree turns on the asphalt portion of the runway was brought up and Mr. Hopper said that engineers do not recommend it.  The pavement can get soft and 180 degree turns by larger aircraft can cause significant damage to the runway asphalt.  The pavement is “New England Mix” asphalt that is supposed to expand and contract with the temperature. 

VIII.     Next Meeting: Mr. Hopper indicated that this is a meeting for users and it was up to them what they would like to discuss as well as where when and how often they would like to meet.  It was suggested that a user’s group section be added to the website where users could have input and suggest topics for future meetings as well as read the minutes of previous meetings.  It was agreed that meetings should occur on a quarterly basis and that the current time of Wednesdays at 6:30 PM was good.  Mr. Hopper suggested that different organizations at the airport alternate sponsoring the meetings.  A user suggested the next meeting be held at the new Southern New Hampshire University facility on campus. It was also suggested that users again be notified by mail of the location of the next meeting.  It was decided that the next meeting will be held on Wednesday June 8th at 6:30 pm at a venue to be announced.  Anyone wishing to sponsor the next meeting is asked to contact Airport Operations.