Exercise part of quest to get air traffic control

Local pilots are needed to fly in and out of South Alabama Regional Airport as the airport undergoes another air traffic control exercise.

SARA Executive Director Jed Blackwell said the exercise will be Sept. 26-Sept. 28.

“This is the last in a series,” he said.

The airport has been working to get air traffic control back for sometime now.

Star-News archives show that an unlucky lightning strike in 2011, paired with federal budget cuts, made the military decide to stop providing air traffic control services locally.

The air traffic control tower and ground-control approach radar, which was due to be upgraded in 2012, was hit by lightning in September 2011.

Last October, Blackwell requested an air traffic control assessment, and the airport had good numbers.

Blackwell said then that they needed between 150-200 operations per day to meet the qualifications for a T-1 tower.

Blackwell said Monday that having the tower would be a boost for the airport.

“We could get some more commercial aircraft in here,’ he said. “We would also be able to attract Air Force aircraft from Whiting.”

Blackwell said there are some military members who prefer an uncontrolled airfield, but the pros of having air traffic control outweigh the cons.

If fuel sale numbers are any inclination of the increased traffic at SARA, they airport has sold $15,500 more in fuel in the eleven months of the fiscal year.

In 11 months, it has recorded $2.2 million in military fuel sales and $195,186 in civilian fuel sales.

After expenses, the total net revenue for 11 months is $882,545.