Airport Board testing unapproved material, hangar inspections discussed

On June 10, the Saratoga Airport Board met to discuss updates to the construction this summer at the airport, hangar inspections and updates to the hangars for safety concerns.

Engineer for the project Dave Shultz, updated the board on construction at the airport. It was determined a material that they were planning on using, called base coarse gravel, has not been used by many airports in the West—so little that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does not have it listed as an approved construction medium. The base coarse gravel is used before they pave the taxiways that will be rebuilt.

However, they may be able to use the base coarse gravel. Shultz sent it out for testing to see if it has similar components to FAA approved materials. If it does, then they can use it.

“It’s interesting, this is going to bring up some things in the FAA that they haven’t dealt with nationwide before, Shultz stated. “They’ve got design standards and everything and you cannot plug this material into their design parameter in any fashion to come up with a pavement design.”

Testing had not returned as of June 10, but Shultz was hopeful that he would receive results soon.

According to Shultz, they are still planning on applying the seal coat to the tarmac around July 15.

In addition, annual hangar inspections were discussed and how they planned on notifying and pursuing the inspections. It was decided that they would send out letters to set up appointments for each inspection.

The next airport board meeting will be at 1 p.m., July 8 at the Saratoga Town Hall.