[JYO] FAA Probe Into Safety At Airport Considered

from the Washington Post 4/6/03:

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HREF="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31985-2003Apr4.html";>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31985-2003Apr4.html</A>

FAA Probe Into Safety At Airport Considered

By Barbara E. Martinez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 6, 2003; Page LZ01 


The Federal Aviation Administration said it was considering a comprehensive 
safety inspection of Leesburg Executive Airport after three fatal crashes of 
small planes approaching the airport in less than nine months. Mayor Kristen 
C. Umstattd said Friday that the FAA also recommended improvements to the 
airport's 5,500-foot runway.

The Town Council is considering $3.1 million in airport capital projects in 
its 2004 budget, including $2.25 million for resurfacing the runway, which 
town staff said "has been developing cracks and is reaching the end of its 
useful life." Slightly more than $2 million of that would be covered by an 
FAA grant.

Umstattd, Town Manager Robert S. Noe and Airport Director Doug McNeely met 
with representatives of the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board 
(NTSB) and the office of U.S. Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) to discuss the three 
crashes. Five people in the planes died, but no one on the ground was hurt, 
although each crash occurred within feet of houses in residential 
neighborhoods.

NTSB officials assured the mayor that they would make any safety 
recommendations they saw fit during their investigation of the crashes.

NTSB spokeswoman Lauren Peduzzi said a final report and determination of the 
cause of a crash July 6, tentatively blamed on engine failure, should be 
available soon. Reports on the crashes March 1 and March 20 "are still a ways 
off," she said. A preliminary report on the crash March 1 suggested that no 
mechanical failure was involved, and the first report on the crash March 20 
was inconclusive.

"No recommendations have been made at this time to the airport," Peduzzi 
said.

FAA spokesman Jim Peters said that although his office was considering a 
safety audit, "we haven't made a decision." He said the agency was also 
looking into accelerating improvements to the instrument landing system, 
which helps to guide pilots into the airport. Leesburg airport has only 
horizontal, not vertical, guidance.

Wolf's office, meanwhile, will look into a project in Alaska in which federal 
funds paid for improved navigational equipment in small planes, which at 
$8,000 to $10,000 a plane would be too pricey for most pilots, Umstattd said. 


The FAA has said Leesburg would be among the first general aviation airports 
in the country to receive a new navigational system that uses global 
positioning satellites to give planes a smooth descent path to the airport. 
Planes now use a "step-down" approach, descending, then leveling on a 
prescribed path, to clear obstacles.

The new Wide Area Augmentation System would do little to improve safety, 
however, if planes do not have the equipment to use it. According to 
Umstattd, Wolf's staff will look into ways the government could subsidize 
retrofitting planes for the new system. No one from the congressman's office 
was available for comment Friday.

"I think what the council is going to do is look favorably on anything that 
will enhance safety," Umstattd said of the 2004 budget process and airport 
requests. 

Umstattd said the airport's proximity to Dulles International Airport and 
Washington and its official status as a reliever airport for Dulles should 
lead to an increase in corporate jet traffic. Construction of a new terminal 
and proposals for new corporate hangars would support that shift, Umstattd 
said.

"Those planes tend to be quiet.," she said of the jets. "They tend to be 
safe. They all have the most up-to-date navigation systems on them. . . . If 
the mix were to change and we were to get more of them, that in itself is 
probably going to enhance safety."

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