By Mark Langlois
January 6, 2011
Two taxiways at Danbury Airport will get a facelift this year because the City Council agreed to seek a $1 million federal Aviation Administration grant to repair the aged airplane paths.
The taxiways, known as “C” for Charlie and “B” for Bravo, have been patched over the years, said Airport Administrator Paul Estefan, but they haven’t been resurfaced entirely since the 1950s. Each taxiway at Danbury airport, A, B, C and D, run the length of the runway they serve.
For this project, one taxiway alongside each of the airport’s two runways will be repaired.
“Even when they expanded the taxiways in 1978, they didn’t repair the old taxiways, and they were 20 years old already,” Estefan said.
The city agreed to seek a federal $1,052,000 grant to repair the taxiways, which pilots use to drive their airplanes to the end of a runway before takeoff. Danbury’s share will be $13,000.
Once a plane reaches the end of the taxiway, the plane turns toward the runway, but it stops short on a paved “stub” where the plane typically sits for a few moments. There the pilot goes through the pre-takeoff check list. They also wait there for other planes ahead of them to clear the runway. Once they receive permission to proceed by the tower, they move onto the runway for takeoff.
Both the taxiways and the stubs will be resurfaced.
The city council agreed to seek this grant at its Tuesday night meeting without discussion.
http://danbury.patch.com/articles/airport-taxiways-may-get-repaired
Source: DANBURY PATCH
Date: 2011-01-06