Carson City Airport plans runway improvements

The Carson City Airport will soon be more inviting to pilots, and quieter for city residents.
Airport Manager Corey Jenkins said April 22 he’s in the planning stages of adding new approach lights to the airfield and relocating a weather tower.
“What this does is improves safety at the airport. This makes it safer for the pilots, and it makes it safer for the city,” Jenkins said.
The projects are based on results from a recent aeronautical survey of the airport. The report details every single possible obstruction a pilot might encounter while landing. Most obstructions are in the mountains around the airport.
Jenkins said the survey is so detailed that it even counts bushes that are slightly too high. But rather than set out into the hills and chop down all the shrubbery, he’s starting with the lights on the runway approach.
“The projects themselves are pretty small. We’re talking about lighting fixtures that are on a two-foot pad,” Jenkins said.

But the lights will be key for pilots using instrument flight rules. IFR allows pilots to fly with their instruments, as opposed to using visual flight rules.

Currently, IFR pilots must cancel their flight plans and switch to VFR when they try to land in Carson City at night or in smoky conditions, when they can’t see the runway from a certain distance. That means they must enter a rectangular traffic pattern, flying over the city, as opposed to landing when they first come over the mountains.

“(The precision approach lighting is) going to decrease the minimums – make it so pilots can get into the airport safely even in lower visibility situations,” Jenkins said.

Hence, less noise for residents and a more efficient route for pilots.

The runway approach lights will come in two parts – relocating the precision approach path indicators and adding a medium intensity approach lighting system. The PAPI’s help pilots angle their approach correctly at the right altitude, and the MALSF’s point to the end of the runway.

 “(The MALSF’s are) all level with the runway. … They’re not any higher than the existing lighting on the airport, so there won’t be any light pollution caused by that,” Jenkins said.

Over the course of fiscal year 2022-23 the lights will cost the airport over $120,000 with a $1.8 million match in federal funding.

In the long run, Jenkins expects the improvements to reduce noise for the city and attract more IFR jets and charter flight operations to the airport.

“That’s pretty significant. One charter jet in the air can produce as much property tax as 10 homes,” he said. The city and the airport share those fees.
Alongside the runway approach lights, he’ll also be working on moving and updating the automated weather observation system to make room for a snow equipment removal building. And in the long run, Jenkins is hoping that the airport can eventually lengthen the runway and work on pavement rehabilitation.
For now, only the approach lights and the weather tower relocation are certain.
“I do think we’ll get more (IFR) traffic, but since it’s moving to a better location, the city wouldn’t even notice,” Jenkins said. He added jokingly, “Most residents now don’t even realize that we have about 1,700 charter operations a year already, and most people don’t even know there’s an airport here.”