Airport getting hangers in order

The Laconia Airport Authority (LAA) last week addressed two issues — the use of aircraft hangars and minimum standards for commercial operators — that have roiled its relations with tenants and businesses and threatened its standing with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The LAA rescinded its rule allowing up to 20 percent of hangars with runway access to be used for non-aviation related purposes in order to comply with FAA regulations that require all properties with access to the airstrip to be used solely for aeronautical purposes. Airport Manager Diane Cooper said that the LAA originally adopted its rule, which relaxed the FAA standard, to strike a balance between the desires of its tenants and the strictures of the government. Hangar owners typically stored personal items like automobiles, motorcycles, boats and other seasonal objects in the space not occupied by aircraft.

The use of so-called end-spaces, the excess portion of a hangar in which aircraft are stored nose to tail, has been especially contentious. Russ Dumais, owner and operator of Airport Deli, had stored inventory, supplies and equipment for his business in the end-space of his hanger.

Cooper said that while the Land Use Committee was considering the issue, "someone called the FAA for guidance." She said that Donna Witte "showed up" from the FAA compliance office in Burlington, Massachusetts and asked "what's going on?" After discussing the issue, touring the airport and visiting some hangars, Cooper said that Witte made it clear that the FAA expected airport property to be used exclusively for aeronautical purposes. "The 20 percent rule was not in line with the FAA and put the airport out of compliance," Cooper said.

The LAA also adopted what members jokingly referred to the "13th draft" of the minimum standards governing commercial operators at the airport. The standards have been the source of controversy between the Land Use Committee and aviation firms because they specify the requirements a firm must meet in order to sell fuel, easily the most profitable line of business at the field.

The standards specify that to qualify as a "fixed base operator," or FBO, which alone can sell fuel, a firm must provide five other services — ramp service, tie-down and hangar storage, maintenance, an inventory of parts and accessories and operation of the Aviation Advisory Radio Station (UNICOM). An FBO must also have a hangar of at least 4,000 square feet, two 12,000 gallon tanks, tie-down space for six aircraft.

Originally the standards required an FBO to employ a qualified A&P (airframe and powerplant) mechanic, which would have left Emerson Aviation the sole FBO at the field since Sky Bright shed its maintenance operation. However, the committee loosened the requirement by allowing an FBO to contract for maintenance services.

Cooper said the minimum standards will not be implemented until the LAA negotiates contracts with each of the commercial operators at the airport.

Cooper stressed that restricting the use of hangar space and adopting the minimum standards brought the airport into compliance with FAA regulations and guidelines. "If the FAA finds an airport out of compliance," she explained, "it can withdraw or withhold funding and even require repayment of any or all of the grant money it has provided to date." With the LAA poised to begin $8 million worth of capital improvements, 95 percent of which will be funded by the FAA, Cooper said that it was essential the airport fully comply with the agency's rules and regulations.