Sudden runway closure stirs Carson airport opinions

The Carson City Airport runway will be closed during daytime hours starting today and may possibly stay closed on weekdays for as long as six weeks.

The runway will be closed today and Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to allow repair work to be done during the warmest times of the day.

Pilots may use the runway on weekends, airport manager Yvon Weaver said.

The Carson City Airport Authority will have a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday to allow the public to comment before making a decision whether to continue the daytime closure for six weeks. The meeting will be in the Sierra Room at the Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William St.

The sudden announcement Tuesday of daytime runway closures caught operators at the airport off guard and angered them, said Steve Lewis, president of Sterling Air Ltd.

"I'm pretty aggravated at the approach the airport authority has taken," Lewis said. "They didn't call me or John Kelly (at El Aero services) to say the temperatures are getting too cold and they are faced with closing the runway or ask us, 'Hey, guys, what's the best thing to do?'"

Runway repair work started Monday to fill 4 miles of cracks in the runway. Work was to be done from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. so pilots could land and take off during daytime hours.

Granite Construction, however, found night-time temperatures too cold to fill the cracks, Weaver said.

At least three airport users complained to Mayor Ray Masayko, a member of the Carson City Airport Authority. Masayko asked authority Chairman David Corrao to call a special meeting to hear from airport users about the sudden closure.

"I think we need to hear from these folks (fixed-base operators and pilots)," Masayko said. "The authority needs to hear testimony from them to take a position."

A fax notifying El Aero of the Thursday closure arrived Tuesday morning, but Lewis, at Sterling, said he was never officially notified. After phone calls to Weaver, Lewis said a revised statement changed the six-week closure to "until further notice."

"I can't survive with 'further notice,'" said Lewis, whose firm is the largest aircraft dealer in Northern Nevada. "I'm hoping there's some concession between the business and the airport authority."

He said airport-based businesses would be agreeable to closing the runway 24 hours a day for six days to have the cracks fixed.

"We all realize the work needs to be done," Lewis said. "Why not petition the Federal Aviation Administration to do the work in spring?"

Along with filling cracks, the entire runway surface is to be slurry sealed. Airport engineer Jim Clague hopes to do the slurry sealing this year but the work will require steady 55-degree or higher temperatures in November.

IF YOU GO

What: Special meeting of the Carson City Airport Authority

When: 6:30 p.m. Monday

Where: Sierra Room, Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William St.