Aeroplex receives $100,000 grant

The Arkansas Aeroplex is the recipient of $100,000 in grant funding from the Arkansas Department of Aeronautics.

Friday afternoon, state and local officials unveiled the new 24/7 fueling station at the Aeroplex during a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The new self-service filling station allows small planes to land on the giant runway and fill up here without needing someone onsite. The setup is similar to a typical pay-at-the-pump for automobiles.

According to Arkansas Department of Aeronautics Commission chairman Sam Jackson, the organization paid $100,000 of the $120,000 project with the Blytheville-Gosnell Regional Airport Authority providing the remaining funds.

“All of our funding comes from aviation sales tax,” Arkansas Department of Aeronautics director Jerry Chism added. “We don’t get any general revenue funds. So, in Arkansas, aviation basically funds itself. The airports contribute into the fund and they take it back out in the form of grants for projects like this. It’s a really good program.”

The Arkansas Department of Aeronautics is responsible for maintaining and administering the aviation tax dollars generated in the state and uses those funds for projects that do not qualify for federal money.

“Airports like this will have needs throughout the year where they may need a fueling system or some repairs to the lighting,” Jackson said. “If those projects aren’t eligible through FAA funding, then the state has an opportunity to fund those projects. Basically, what the federal government does, they tend to fund the bigger projects — runway maintenance, lighting systems — and we fill the gap...”

General aviation airports that have a certain number of aircraft based there can receive federal funding for specific projects.

Once it reaches that mark, the Aeroplex will qualify for $150,000 per year from the FAA to use for approved projects.

Jackson noted by installing the fueling system, the airport has attracted the aircraft needed to meet the standard and will begin receiving that $150,000 annually beginning next year.

“This project here has already paid for itself in federal funds in one year,” Jackson said.

Blytheville-Gosnell Regional Airport Authority president Barrett Harrison is excited to provide the new service for small aircraft.

“It’s fantastic,” Harrison said. “It kind of makes us a real airport again. We have been able to serve our jet customers and we will continue to do that on a full service basis. This allows these folks that are traveling cross-country on weekends, after-hours, to stop and get fuel if we are here or not. An example of that, just three nights ago a gentleman was flying from California to North Carolina and he stopped at 11:30 at night and filled his plane up. Nobody had to be here to help him. We’re excited about it. It also encourages folks to store their aircraft here. We’ve had a lot of requests for that but since we didn’t have fuel, it was easy for them to keep their airplanes somewhere else. We have room for 10 general aviation aircraft; we already have eight committed to the hangar. And that just happened overnight. As soon as we found out we were going to have fuel, our phone starting ringing. It’s exciting.”

He added BGRAA will be looking for funding to build individual hangars. Currently, those keeping their planes at the Aeroplex are sharing the old World War II hangar.

“People love this big runway,” Harrison said. “There is a lot of room to make mistakes or in the event of weather...It’s wide and long and they are real comfortable getting down. All of the commercial jets seem to want to land here, even if there is an airport at Osceola — I’m thinking about Big River right now— even if the airport at Osceola or West Memphis will accommodate them, they come here only because of that runway. We’re trying to do what’s necessary to take care of those pilots and those aircraft when they do come and I think we’ve made a lot of real good progress.”

In August, while testing new brakes on Lockheed Martin’s massive LM-100J, world renowned pilot Capt. Wayne Roberts called the Aeroplex “the perfect place” to test planes because of its long, wide runway.

The new fueling station is the third Arkansas Department of Aeronautics project in Blytheville this year.