With clean-up work from Yeager Airport's March 2015 safety-overrun collapse expected to end in two months, members of the Charleston airport's governing board on Wednesday began talking about a rebuilding plan that could lead to emerging from the disaster with a longer runway and enhanced safety features.
On Tuesday, during a tour of slide debris removal activity, Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper revisited the idea of extending the airport's runway northward, across a section of Coonskin Park, to add to its current 6,802-foot length.
The concept was first publicly mentioned during an airport board meeting last October, when board member and Kanawha County Parks Commission President Allen C. Tackett asked that the airport's engineering consultants consider the Coonskin Park extension while weighing rebuild options.
On Wednesday, Ed Hill, chairman of Yeager's governing board, asked airport Executive Director Terry Sayre what he thought of the plan to extend the runway by filling in a portion of Coonskin Park.
"I consider it a strong option," Sayre replied. "It could give us a 1,000-foot overrun area," he said, at the Coonskin Park end of the runway, as well as a 600-foot EMAS (engineered materials arresting system) bed, considered by federal safety officials to be equivalent to a 1,000-foot overrun area, at the Charleston end.
"It would make available 7,000 feet of runway for landings and 8,000 feet for take-offs," Sayre said. "The material needed for fill would be free, since it's coming from county- or park-owned land."
Hill then asked Tackett his opinion on the proposed Coonskin Park extension.
Its construction process "would level out nearly 100 acres in Coonskin, making it possible to have more soccer and baseball fields," Tackett said.
By making more soccer fields available at Coonskin, Shawnee Park, near Dunbar, would not have to sacrifice its golf course to provide space for much-needed soccer fields - a plan currently under consideration - he added.
"I see it as a win-win alternative," Tackett said. "Kids will have more places to play at Coonskin," while the airport would have enhanced runway capacity and safety features.
Kanawha County Commissioner Dave Hardy, who attended Wednesday's Yeager board meeting, said he is "very interested in this concept," and fellow commissioner and airport board member Hoppy Shores agreed, adding that he supports the "improved recreation" the northward extension could bring.
While several existing picnic areas at Coonskin would be buried under fill dirt, should the northward extension take place, the new entryway to the park would be unaffected, Tackett said. Since the new park entrance has opened, public usage has almost doubled, he added.
In other developments at Wednesday's board meeting, it was announced that a new U.S. Customs agent will begin work at the Charleston airport in 60 to 90 days, ending West Virginia's 20-month stint as the only state without a Customs officer.
The new agent's presence will allow international corporate jets and military aircraft returning from overseas deployment to fly directly to Charleston without first having to make a stop to clear Customs in another state.
Yeager Airport Police Chief Joe Crawford told board members that seven passengers have been cited so far this year for trying to board commercial aircraft while carrying firearms on their person or in their carry-on baggage.
"We've already cited twice the number of people we cited last year," he said.
Hill said one of those cited was a man who was stopped by a Transportation Security Administration screener when a loaded handgun stuck in his belt showed up as he went through a body scanner at the airport's security checkpoint.
Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelhammer@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5169 or follow @rsteelhammer on Twitter.