ML Port mulls arrestor system at airport
CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 11 months AGO
MOSES LAKE — The Port of Moses Lake may have to install an arrestor system if it wants to host Air Force or Navy demonstration teams at future air shows.
According to Moses Lake Air Show organizer Terry Quick, the Air Force requires that any aircraft with tailhooks be able to land at an airfield with an arrestor system within “80 nautical miles” (92 miles) and that the nearest airfield with an arrestor system is around “120 nautical miles” (138 miles) away.
While tailhooks are commonly used on Navy and Marine Corps fighter jets to make carrier landing possible, most Air Force fighter jets have tailhooks as well in the event of an emergency. The tailhook is dropped to grab hold of a long steel cable stretched across a runway and anchored to either side (typically in concrete), which keeps the jet from moving forward.
This combination of cable and anchors is the arrestor system.
Even a fighter jet can “roll a long, long way” if its brakes fail, said Grant County International Airport Director Rich Mueller.
Quick, speaking at a regular meeting of the Port of Moses Lake Commission on Monday morning, told commissioners the port could install a temporary arrestor system for the air show for $50,000. However, he noted the system would prevent anyone else from using that runway.
“Once across, they have to shut that runway,” Quick said.
Quick said the issue needs to be considered soon because a performance team from Hill Air Force Base “may be available” for this year’s air show.
There are also permanent systems, which would allow GCIA to become one of those “nearest airfields” and possibly allow the Navy and Marine Corps to expand their operations in Moses Lake.
“The Navy may be able to pay for it,” Quick said. “That could be a source of income in the future.”
Airport Director Rich Mueller said the military has, in the past, installed temporary arrestor systems at the Grant County International Airport.
“They paid us to put it in,” he said.
Mueller said that French aerospace firm Safran makes a permanent arrestor system for airport runways, which can be raised or lowered as needed, for around $425,000. Safran bought Zodiac Aerospace, which owns Greenpoint Technology, which creates high-end custom interiors for 777 and 787 jetliners at its facility at the Port of Moses Lake.
“That would help for air shows,” Mueller said. “We would need to get reimbursement from the Air Force and/or the Navy.”
“I’m not worried about mitigating it, I’m worried about paying for it,” said Commissioner David “Kent” Jones.
While the Navy uses Grant County International Airport for training missions, mainly for the aging P-3 Orion patrol plane, testing its new P-8 Poseidon patrol plane, and occasional EA-18G Growler visits, Mueller said the Navy doesn’t currently pay for its use of the airport.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.
ARTICLES BY CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE
Potato prices up, sales down for first quarter 2023
DENVER — The value of grocery store potato sales rose 16% during the first three months of 2023 as the total volume of sales fell by 4.4%, according to a press release from PotatoesUSA, the national marketing board representing U.S. potato growers. The dollar value of all categories of U.S. potato products for the first quarter of 2023 was $4.2 billion, up from $3.6 billion for the first three months of 2022. However, the total volume of potato sales fell to 1.77 billion pounds in the first quarter of 2023 compared with 1.85 billion pounds during the same period of 2022, the press release noted. However, total grocery store potato sales for the first quarter of 2023 are still above the 1.74 billion pounds sold during the first three months of 2019 – a year before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the press release said.
WSU Lind Dryland Research Station welcomes new director
LIND — Washington State University soil scientist and wheat breeder Mike Pumphrey was a bit dejected as he stood in front of some thin test squares of stunted, somewhat scraggly spring wheat at the university’s Lind Dryland Research Station. “As you can see, the spring wheat is having a pretty tough go of it this year,” he said. “It’s a little discouraging to stand in front of plots that are going to yield maybe about seven bushels per acre. Or something like that.” Barely two inches of rain have fallen at the station since the beginning of March, according to station records. Pumphrey, speaking to a crowd of wheat farmers, researchers, seed company representatives and students during the Lind Dryland Research Station’s annual field day on Thursday, June 15, said years like 2023 are a reminder that dryland farming is a gamble.
Wilson Creek hosts bluegrass gathering
WILSON CREEK — Bluegrass in the Park is set to start today at Wilson Creek City Park. The inaugural event is set to bring music and visitors to one of Grant County’s smallest towns. “I've been listening to bluegrass my whole life,” said the event’s organizer Shirley Billings, whose family band plays on their porch every year for the crowd at the Little Big Show. “My whole family plays bluegrass. And I just wanted to kind of get something for the community going. So I just invited all the people that I know and they’ll come and camp and jam.” ...