More than $1 million worth of improvements are planned for the Lowndes County Airport, off Highway 69 in Columbus.
Henry Glover, co-owner of Tri South Aviation, announced new plans for the Lowndes County Airport over lunch at the Rotary Club”s weekly meeting at the Columbus Country Club.
“I”ve got a little over $1 million of improvements on the books that we”ve been approved for,” Glover told members in the packed dining room. “We hope to carry on the proud tradition of the Lowndes County Airport.”
The airport has new fuel pumps with credit-card readers so fliers can fill up any time of day, and a new fence with three automated gates surrounds the 250-acre property.
“It”s supposed to keep wildlife out, and terrorists,” Glover said, eliciting a laugh from the group.
A “runway rejuvenation” project (filling cracks, repainting, etc.) is one of the improvements Tri South will undertake. New hangars are in the works, and the company now offers interior maintenance.
“They have a lot of great plans to make general aviation accessible,” Rotary member Eric Harlan said.
The company also intends to jump-start pilot training by mid-summer for those who want to get their flying licenses.
“We can bring it back to life,” Glover said. “With the recession as it is, it may not have been the best time to take over, but we”re trying to rally the general aviation community.”
The company will charge $45 per hour for instruction and $125 per hour to cover the flight costs. Glover said the national average for pilots to obtain their licenses is 80 hours, but he thought a determined student could shave 30 hours off that time.
“If you jump and get it done, you can get it in 50, no problem,” he said.
Glover mentioned he plans to open a “dive” barbecue joint.
“Come in there, and get you some pork at the airport,” he said.
Glover and his business partner, Billy Scarbrough, took over management of the airfield on April 1. It had previously been run by Mike and Diane Taloney and their family for more than 30 years.
“We want to make sure they get a lot of credit,” Glover said. “When they took that airport over in the ”70s, there were goats running around the terminal.”
Last weekend, Tri South Aviation hosted a fly-in for its grand opening.
“We had a few war birds and about 12 airplanes that came,” Glover said.
Glover stressed the company would not be in competition with any of the several nearby airports for funding. For safety improvements, each airfield gets about $150,000 in funding: 1.25 percent from the city, 1.25 from the county and the rest from federal and state sources.
“We might be in business competition with some, but funds-wise we”re not,” Glover said. “We”re looking for that niche in the community because we”re a smaller airport, and we don”t have big planes or much helicopter activity.”
However, several towns and counties in the Golden Triangle have their own airports. Starkville, Macon, West Point and Monroe County were some Glover mentioned. The difference between those airfields and Lowndes County Airport is that Glover and Scarbrough will be on site seven days a week, and they”ll be on call 24 hours a day.
“We”re there all the time, and we”re going to make sure we take care of all the customers that come in and out,” Glover said.
Glover said the 4,500-foot runway can handle jets up to 120,000 pounds, and the airport handles 20 to 25 flights each week. Glover has 20 planes in his hangars and is looking for space for six more. He and Scarbrough hope to fill their lot with hangars as soon as possible.
Glover, a pilot himself for the past 20 years, worked at the Columbus Air Force Base for six years as a jet mechanic, and he was a helicopter technician in the Army. Scarbrough is a mechanic by trade and also worked off and on at his family”s upholstery business. He hopes the combination will make him well-suited for aircraft maintenance.
“I”ve always done machine work, and I”ve built engines my whole life,” Scarbrough said.
For more information or to fuel up their planes, people can contact Tri South Aviation by telephoning 662-327-6709.
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