FAA’s Pat on the Back

FAA named Addison Airport the winner of the agency’s Excellence in Construction Safety award for its recent renovation of runway 15/33. The project team was honored at last Thursday’s FAA Southwest Regions’ 2011 Fall Conference luncheon for exceeding the agency’s already stringent construction safety standards. Work included upgrading and improving approach and airport lighting, drainage and grading.

It’s always nice to know though, that unlike some other towns, Addison’s leaders understand the airport’s value, as well as the day-to-day issues faced at the facility.

Mayor Todd Meier said, “Addison is constantly vigilant when it comes to safety—safety for our pilots, for our tenants, and for the general public. The Town is committed to investing in the airport for the benefit of our tenants, the traveling public and especially our owners, the citizens of Addison. This award recognizes the hard work of the airport and town staff, as well as the contractors, all of whom went above and beyond to complete this important project safely, on-time and under budget.”

Considering the complexity of the work, the project was completed without a single runway incursion or surface incident. “This work was especially challenging because Addison is one of the region’s busiest general aviation airports,” Joel Jenkinson said. He’s Addison’s airport director. “We remained operational during most of the construction process, despite the tight schedule and a commitment to interfere with air traffic as little as possible.”

Because safety was the airport’s highest priority, Jenkinson explained “Contractor supervisors had to pass the airport’s Movement Area driver training program and an Airport Access course to make sure they understood how to operate safely in an active aviation environment.”

In addition to members of the Addison Airport staff, representatives of Garver Engineers and EAS Contracting also received the award. The project was 90-percent funded by the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program through a block grant to the TX-DOT Aviation Division. The airport provided 10-percent of the funds to the $11.6 million budget.