CMP.WERNER@UTEXAS-20.ARPA (12/18/83)
From: Werner Uhrig <CMP.WERNER@UTEXAS-20.ARPA> (from the TAC-Bulletin Sep/Oct 83, TAC=Texas Aeronautics Commision) W O R T H A I R I N G ================================ - the $1.5 million grant sought by Austin Executive Airpark, formerly Tims Airpark, has finally been approved by the FAA. This makes this the first privately owned airport in the country to receive a federal grant. - the survey of new airports, conducted by the National Association of State Aviation Officials, shows that few have opened in the past year and a half (and fewer scheduled in the upcoming 18 months) but many of those that have been proposed will be privately owned but open to the public. - 5 airports in Texas wil receive wind-shear alert systems ordered by the FAA from Climatronics corporation of Bohemia, N.Y. Austin, Dallas Love Field, El Paso, Lubbock, Midland, were among the 110 picked across the country for the $3.1 million program. Thje system use a mini-computer to monitor wind-speed and direction from 5 sensors, located around an airport perimeter, then compare the readings with those from another sensor located near the center of the airport operational area. When a significant change is noted, audible and visual alarms are triggered in the airport control tower and controllers can then alert pilots to the problem. Deliveries of the wind-shear alert systems will begin in 9 months and be completed in 22 months, according to the FAA. - AOPA, NBAA, and the FAA teamed up with an FBO at Westchester County Airport at White Plains, NY, in a successful suit against the airport, forcing it to drop its night-time curfew. A Federal District Court ruled that county officials did not have the power to impose a curfew and issued a permanent injunction against the ban of night-time operations. The presiding judge, however, did not close the door on the county's imposition of reasonable noise-levels for aircraft using the airport. - Unleaded automobile gas has been approved by the FAA for use in Cessna models 140, 180, and 182, in addition to the previously approved model 150. [Werner: I think I have also seen a 172] A supplemental type certificate was awarded to the Experimental Aircraft Association after a 530 hour flight evaluation in a Cessna 182. Operators of these aircraft who want to use auto-fuel must apply for the approval and pay a fee to the EAA in Hails Corner, Wisc. Applicants will, in return, receive a copy of the STC for their aircraft, placcards for the fuel filler openings, and an operating manual. [ from talking to the 172 owner on my field, I understand, that the only change is in setting the timing of ignition differently] - A year-long demonstration of automatic weather observing systems, AWOS, started in late summer, when the first of 14 such systems went into operation. AWOS is designed by the FAA to gather weather data around an airport automatically and transmit the information directly to pilots by way of computer generated voice messages. The airports to be equipped with the demonstration systems are listed in the latest issues of the biweekly Class 2 Notams. -------