An email from Tom Hall sheds light on a Tennessee airport with a through-the-fence issue:
Although widely publicized, I do not see our airport listed. Scott County Airport (Oneida, TN) is currently “in informal non-compliance” with FAA land use. All funds have been with held. This is in retaliation for granting TTF access to the Big SouthFork Airpark.
A large, privately owned tract adjoins the existing airport on its west boundary. This is a large and well planned development with several phases and an extensive component of aviation accessible lots with both community hangars and lots with direct taxiway access. The Scott County Airport Authority negotiated a complex agreement with the developers to assure that the airport would be protected for the purposes of a general aviation facility. The airpark pays initial and yearly fees for access to the airport. Every point of FAA concern was expressly addressed in the agreement, but they are blind to the facts and fall back on dogma and bureaucratic positioning. This development has and will bring needed revenue and jobs to a rural county with unemployment approaching twenty percent. Further, to a rational mind, an aviation friendly neighbor is far more congenial than a non-aviation friendly housing development.
The State Aeronautical Board and FAA somehow fail to understand this basic premise. It appears that they feel that a county airport should be a fortress with barb-wire and gun turrets and exclude all but those deemed worthy by regulation. Somehow the real purpose of a general aviation airport has been lost.
One reply on “Add Scott County to TTF-troubled list”
1. Google “Sheriff Mack” and also go to http://www.SheriffMack.com, so you are familiar with the power of a county sheriff against all unconstitutional takings (like your right to access your airstrip).
2. Then, get an appointment with your sheriff for a visit how office with your entire homeowners association, acquaint him with what’s going on, encourage him with the courageous examples of the many sheriffs boldly standing up to federal bureaucrats going beyond their constitutionally-limited power, and see where he stands.
He certainly has both the power and authority to stand up against any paper or wire fence closings, if he has the backbone to do it and if you stand behind him. You may be pleasantly surprised.