Airport improvements continuing

A lot has changed in Eunice since 1964, and advancements at the airport since it opened that year are no exception.
“The airport started out with one hanger and a 3,000-foot runway,” said Manager Drew Miller, who has watched the airstrip’s continuing improvements for more than 30 years. “Now we have six hangers and one large corporate hanger, and the runway is now 5,100 feet long.”
Each year, the airport forms a five-year capital improvements plan, and several large projects are slated for the next few years, including runway rehabilitation, construction of a new terminal and seal coating the taxiway and apron -- all other airstrip pavement that is not part of the runway.
This year, plans for the runway rehabilitation are being designed, and the actual work will take place next year. The rehabilitation design work has a price tag of $80,000, and the work itself will cost about $1.3 million.
“We discuss and plan projects pretty much every year,” Miller said. “We schedule the projects we want, and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development’s Aviation Division and the Federal Aviation Administration approve and fund the projects. Ninety percent of funding comes from the FAA, and other 10 percent comes from the state. They give us the money to do work, like building a new hanger, and then the hanger is ours.”
Projects are let out for bidding, and in the past, many of the jobs have gone to area companies, adding money to the local economy.
In addition to next year’s runway rehabilitation work, plans will also be drawn up for the construction of the new terminal building. The airport’s last terminal building flooded in early 2013, and the terminal is currently housed in a temporary building.
The new terminal will be between 1,200-1,600 square feet and will have office space, a pilot’s lounge and a flight plan room. Construction is slated for 2016, and the cost for building is estimated to be about $250,000. The work to seal coat the taxiway and apron is also slated for 2016.
Many smaller projects, such as obstruction removal in the approaching and safety area, are included in the five-year comprehensive plan, but are not set for a specific year. Some of the smaller projects are also subject to change depending on what happens in the next two to three years.
“I’m looking forward to the construction,” Miller said. “My job is to pretty much to get grants for improvements and keep up with compliance.”
Traffic at the general aviation airport -- there is no cost to land at the strip -- includes corporate fliers, pleasure cruisers, people flying into the area for Mardi Gras, hospital transports and people visiting family
“Sometimes we get a whole lot of oilfield traffic, like if a pipeline is coming through,” Miller said. “Traffic at the airport can be sporadic. I may go three days without seeing a plane or I may have 10 planes land in one day.”
“Rainy conditions in the area sometimes force a lot of crop dusters to land here because the dirt and grass runways may be too muddy to land.”
While there is no cost to land at the airport, revenue flows in through hangar rentals, ranging from a $75 a month for a small Cessna-sized berth to $450 a month to house a King Air B200, and fuel sales. These funds go into the city’s coffers.
Miller is usually on the job by 7 a.m. and is off for the day anywhere between 4 and 10 p.m.
On a recent day, pilot Douglas Beissenberger with Mowata Farms stopped by the strip to eat lunch before flying out to spray some soybeans near the airport, and pilot Wayne Haristy dropped by, via his truck, to visit with Miller.
“It will be nice to have a new office that won’t flood and maybe some new hangers,” Haristy said. “When the past improvements were let out for bid, they went to local labor. There was lots of money coming into the area.”
Haristy, who currently flies a 1962 Piper Comanche 250, has rented a hanger at the airport since 2005 and mainly takes to the air over Louisiana and Texas.
“I hunt at my cousin’s 4,000-acre ranch in Sonora, Texas, and that’s a 10-hour drive from here,” Haristy said, laughing. “I thought, ‘Why not get my pilot’s license?’ instead of driving. That was pretty much behind the drive to get my pilot’s license.”