THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 4, 1995 TAG: 9501040398
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: VIRGINIA
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHERRYSTONE LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
Each winter night, before landing his small Cessna, Granville Hogg buzzes low over the grass runway to frighten away grazing deer. From the air, Hogg's private airport is a puddle of darkness. Red reflectors marking the landing strip flare at the last second, as the plane's lights hit the ground.
Nothing marks the power lines strung across the east end of the runway, except a blinding security light hung from a 40-foot pole, also at the end of the runway.
If Hogg approaches from the east, the light ruins his night vision and he can hardly see the ground. If he approaches from the west and needs to pull up again, he could get hung up on the wires. Takeoffs in that direction are equally hazardous.
If this were a public airport, the wires, pole and light would all break government safety regulations. But Hogg's airstrip is private, so it doesn't come under the regulatory purview of the Federal Aviation Administration or the Virginia Department of Aviation.
Still, Hogg acknowledges the problems and says he has asked the power company to bury the lines and the county Board of Supervisors to rescind a recent zoning change that allows trailers to be put on lots at one end of the strip.
Hogg is not the only one concerned.
The governor, state police, game wardens and search-and-rescue pilots all land on his runway. And about 2,500 licensed pilots in the Hampton Roads area depend on small airports like this one for emergency landings.
``For all practical purposes, this strip has been rendered useless by that telephone pole,'' said Andy Gibbs, a flying instructor from Newport News. Gibbs first landed on Hogg's field when he was low on gas and a thunderstorm was chasing him across the Chesapeake.
``We don't want to lose the runway. It's a margin of safety,'' said Don Ligon, another Newport News pilot. ``Without these little fields we'd all be in trouble.''
Hogg's landing strip - the longest in Northampton County - isn't the only airport in danger. Nationwide, aviators are losing one landing facility each day. Virginia, with 15,000 pilots, has 70 public-use airports. The national average is 110.
Some landing facilities are closed by the cost of airport insurance. Others succumb to the forces of development.
``The developers have moved in and crowded out the airports on economic grounds,'' said Cliff Naughton with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots' Association in Frederick, Md. Flat, open ground looks good to builders.
``Politically, the likelihood of getting crowded out is very high,'' said Gibbs.
Hogg's airport near Cherrystone Creek has been there since 1958. He has offered to buy the land at the end of his landing strip several times, he said. Instead, the owner has subdivided it and is selling lots for trailers.
Hogg said he wanted to comment at a public hearing for a trailer that was to be placed at the end of his runway, but wasn't told when the hearing would be. County officials didn't consider him an ``adjacent landowner,'' he said.
The special permit for the trailer was approved. The county's ordinance for an Airport Protection District requires no obstructions within 5,000 feet of the runway's center line. It's the second trailer to locate within the landing strip's most likely crash-zone.
Power company officials aren't sure what they're going to do about the pole and wires.
``We'll have to make a study of it and see what it's all about,'' said Ed Drummond with A&N Electric Cooperative. He said that the study would probably take a few weeks.
Meanwhile, local pilots like Mike Steelman hope the airport's safety issues can be solved once and for all.
``One man's life, what's it worth?'' asked Steelman. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
BETH BERGMAN/Staff
At the east end of Granville Hogg's air strip, power lines are
unmarked at night save for a lone security light. The situation
makes approaches and takeoffs hazardous. A private runway, it
doesn't come under federal or state safety regulations.
by CNB