FAA approves $59 million for Alaska airports

Joshua Saul photo

U.S. Sen. Mark Begich speaks to reporters while FAA head Randy Babbitt looks on.

According to the FAA website, pilots landing at the Chefornak Airport should "BE ALERT" because "CENTER NOT CROWNED, FROST HEAVES, LARGE PUDDLES AND RUTS."

Flying in rural Alaska is dangerous, as shown by an Aug. 9 crash that killed five and the disappearance of another plane Aug. 21 that was carrying four men. But in a ceremony held Tuesday morning at the UAA Aviation Technology Center, U.S. Sen. Mark Begich and FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt announced $59 million in grants to improve aviation safety in the 49th state, including $20.5 million for a new airport in Chefornak.

"This investment the FAA is making is about making our airports safer," Begich said, standing in a UAA hanger. "In our state, it's about life and death."

Babbitt, a former commercial pilot and founding partner of an aviation consulting firm, said one of the safety issues in Alaska has less to do with better regulations and more to do with pilots making better choices. Many accidents are a result of pilots choosing to fly in poor visibility or weather, he said.

"Pilots have to recognize their limits," he said.

The $59 million in Airport Improvement Program Grants is coming from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Besides the money for Chefornak, the grants include $30 million to expand the runway safety area at the Sitka airport, $500,000 for a noise study at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, and $150,000 to update the master plan for the Deadhorse Airport.

Spending $20 million on an airport that supports a Western Alaska village of only 475 may seem excessive to non-Alaskans, but 80 percent of Alaska communities are not on a road system, Begich said. The state has six times as many pilots and 16 times as many planes as the rest of the country. "What works in Texas may not work in Nome, Alaska," Begich said.

Contact Joshua Saul at jsaul(at)alaskadispatch.com.