In a much less crowded room with with much less fanfare than 24 hours earlier, the Greeneville Airport Authority held its monthly meeting in the G. Thomas Love Boardroom at the GEA building on Wednesday.
ANIMAL UPDATE
The black bear and her family who were first seen at the Airport in June have apparently vacated the premises. In conjunction with the TWRA, loud sirens were used to convince the bear family to move elsewhere. Following a report that the mother bear had been seen crossing the runway, one obvious concern was of a collision with a plane attempting to land or take off.
Bird strikes however are still a concern. Scott Niswonger continues to address the airport authority and even plans to reach out to the state on his concerns with bird strikes, which he calls “an emergency situation”.
SKY NIGHT UPDATE
On another matter related to Niswonger’s Sky Night operations, the airport authority approved a 40 feet wide and 10 feet deep addition at his cost to one of the company’s hangers.
The addition will be attached to the hanger that houses the company’s largest plane will keep it totally protected from the elements. That plane by the way is currently in San Francisco with another scheduled trip to China in December. Niswonger says he does plan to have the plane on display during the annual Wings and Wheels event at the airport on September 27th. Niswonger is also adding a Challenger 3500 to his local fleet. It seats ten and will be available for national based charters.
RUNWAY CLOSURE SCHEDULED
Airport Manager Angela Alley notified the board Wednesday that the airport’s runway will have a brief maintenance closure September 3rd from 5 pm until midnight. She is hopeful doing so during those hours will be less inconvenient.
