Mount Olive airport panel not pleased with surveyor
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on November 29, 2005 1:46 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- Members of the Mount Olive Airport Committee say they are disappointed with the work of a surveyor they hired to study runway expansion.
The committee hired the Raleigh firm of Aiken and Yelle in July to survey both ends of the airport runway for $3,000.
At a meeting Monday, airport manager Mike Bass told committee members that he had expected the work to take only a couple of weeks but that it still has not been finished.
Bass said field work was completed five weeks ago but that he has not received the results.
The committee is trying to decide whether to extend the runway to the north or the south. The runway is 700 feet short of the 5,000 feet necessary to accommodate larger jets, airport officials saiy.
If the runway is expanded south, it would nearly reach Northeast Church Road. Choosing that option, would cause the minimum altitudes at which pilots could approach landing to be higher than if they came in from the north, aviation officials said.
Airport committee member George Futrelle said he is sorry he recommended Aiken and Yelle. The company had done surveying job quickly at Mount Olive and at the airport Futrelle manages in Duplin County," he said.
"We're stuck in the mud until we get that survey," Futrelle said.
"I hope he turns it in soon," he added. "It would be more aggravating to have to find somebody else."