Flights resume at Columbia Regional Airport
Tuesday, the Columbia Regional Airport is back open after a plane gets stuck on the runway, causing the airport to shut down for 14 hours.
This is the second time a plan has gotten stuck in that same spot in the last six weeks.
The airport canceled three flights Monday, including the plane leaving for Dallas that got stuck. The plane was finally taken off the runway around 4:00 a.m. Tuesday morning after a long inspection process. The airport reopened about an hour later.
But Tuesday morning, two flights were delayed for about three hours because the airport had to wait for planes to arrive that could not fly in Monday night.
In the last 10 years, four planes have veered off the runway at the same spot in the airport, two of those times since the beginning of April. Steven Sapp with Columbia Public Works said both times were because of the sharp turn pilots have to make at that intersection of the runway.
“If you’re familiar with Columbia and you can think of the intersection of Broadway and Old 63, where it doesn’t meet square, it’s kind of that x-shaped intersection, it’s similar to what the pilots are dealing with at the north end of 220/13-31,” Sapp said. “So it’s a hard turn and kind of backwards.”
But that problem should be fixed soon. Last Monday, the Columbia City Council approved a $3.5 million project to improve that very spot in the runway among other things.
“The project that’s getting ready to take place is the first phase of many to improve the infrastructure of the runways and taxiways at Columbia Regional Airport,” Sapp said. “And that is taking care of that intersection and making those turns line up to more 90 degree type turns that we as motorists are used to as well.”
The first phase of the project will also add a new lighting system, new directional signs and new runway markings. A Federal Aviation Administration grant will pay for 90 percent of the project, and the city is expected to pay about $350,000.
“Can we say that it will never happen again? You know you can never say never about things,” Sapp said. “Incursions off the runway infrequent, but they can incur for a variety of reasons, could be weather related, could be just the mechanics of the way it’s laid out. So it’s gonna be greatly improved and greatly enhanced.”
Phase one of the project is currently out to bid for a contractor. And the next phases of the project will rebuilt one of the runways that is nearly 50 years old and extend the main runway a thousand feet as well as moving Rangeline farther to the east. Once all of that is completed, Sapp said the Columbia Regional Airport will be up to current FAA compliance.
The city council is set to vote on the next phase of airport improvements on Monday. And the entire project is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
