Mahlon Joseph Bourgeois
July 7, 2009
Ronnie Jerome Labit
July 9, 2009
The Houma-Terrebonne Airport will install new lights on its crosswind runway and new cables to supply the runway’s lighting system, funded entirely by a $950,000 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Work will begin in mid-July. Contractor DACO Construction of Norfolk, Nebraska has 120 days to complete the project.
The funds from the FAA are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also called the federal stimulus bill, which has also paid for improvements at several other Louisiana airports.
Both the lights that identify the ends of the secondary runway and the Precision Approach Path Indicator lighting system on the sides will be replaced. The re-cabling involves replacing the cables containing the wires leading to the lighting system.
The Houma-Terrebonne Airport Commission met at a special meeting on June 15 to sign the grant offer from the FAA’s Southwest Region-Airport District Office. Earl Hicks, Houma-Terrebonne Airport director, said the commission’s regular meeting would have occurred too late for chairman Tim Bourgeois to sign the offer.
Later this year, the airport commission hopes to upgrade lighting on the main runway, which was reconstructed in 2005, Hicks said.
The airport commission has several other projects planned to improve the facility.
The airport’s master plan needs to be updated, Hicks said. Since the plan was issued, the airport has completed several other projects.
Drainage in the northern part of the airport needs to be improved, but work cannot begin until the proper permits are obtained.
The airport may also want to upgrade other navigational aids – the guidance system for planes coming into the airport. Hicks said the improved guidance system is part of the airport’s master plan to keep pace with technology.
“It’s to better serve the flying public,” he said.
All the projects could begin in July and carry on for several years, Hicks said.
Another major project undertaken by the airport is working with Nicholls State University and Fletcher Technical Community College in Houma to help develop unmanned aerial vehicles that will map coastal erosion along the Louisiana coast. The two colleges have received around $350,000 in grants to develop the program.
The airport commission assisted Nicholls with obtaining a certificate of authorization from the FAA to fly unmanned aerial vehicles.
Nicholls’ current UAV, the CyberBug, can fly for 45 minutes and is launched by hand. A demonstration is planned for sometime in July or August after a laptop and batteries are acquired.
But the university will eventually have a larger UAV program that will require more space, said Dr. Balaji Ramachandran, assistant professor of geomatics.
The airport will provide hangar space and around 150 acres to assist the unmanned vehicle program as it increases in size, he said.
“What we really want to do is go to the next level,” Ramachandran said. “We’re writing grant proposals.”
The airport commission has aided the development of the Nicholls-Fletcher unmanned aerial system in a couple of other ways as well.
Hicks, also an aviator, and pilot Darryl Christen are volunteering to operate the CyberBug on the ground through remote control.
Ramachandran said FAA regulations require the unmanned aerial vehicle to be operated by pilots on the ground.
The airport commission also funded Hicks’ and Christien’s travel to Utah so the two could receive pilot training for the program, Ramachandran said.
“Unmanned aerial systems are so much more sophisticated. They can be plugged in,” Hicks said. “Our involvement is to help them (Nicholls) develop the UAS program. Should they build larger, we will have the airport ready with technology and equipment to handle larger UASs.”
The Houma-Terrebonne Airport is undergoing improvements on its crosswind runway, including new cables to supply the lighting system, courtesy of a Federal Aviation Administration grant. * Photo courtesy of HOUMA-TERREBONNE AIPORT AUTHORITY
