Thomas Novelly/Collegian
The Michigan Department of Transportation’s office of Aeronautics along with the city of Hillsdale partnered to pay for a new automated weather observing system for the Hillsdale Municipal airport, which replaced the airport’s outdated AWOS.
According to city manager David Mackie, the total cost of the new AWOS was $70,000. MDOT covered 90 percent of the cost while Hillsdale was responsible for the remaining 10 percent. The city of Hillsdale covered the 10 percent with money from the Airport Capital Improvement Fund.
MDOT office of aeronautics is responsible for maintaining all AWOS systems in Michigan public airports.
“[MDOT Aero] no longer could find maintenance parts for [the Hillsdale airport AWOS] so as it was starting to get problems with it they couldn’t fix it any longer so it had to be updated,” Patriot Aviation assistant manager Ginger Moore said. “In order to keep this airport open it had to have a new one put in.”
Care of the AWOS falls under the responsibilities of the MDOT office of aeronautics.
“They’re are the ones who care for this equipment and come out and do routine checks on it and come out when there is anything wrong,” Moore said. “They’re the ones that are actually in charge of the AWOS system.”
AWOS is necessary for pilots to perform instrument approaches on the airports runways. The AWOS reports on weather conditions such as wind, rain, and visibility through a plane’s radio, communicating with and updating the pilot by a computer-generated voice. According to Moore, pilots won’t notice a difference in the quality of service between the old and new AWOS.
Airport general manager and owner of Patriot Aviation Jason Walters said the old AWOS was the last working unit of its kind left in the state and replacing it is part of a series of improvements the airport will undergo in the coming years.
“The AWOS is one of many safety and quality improvements since we took over last year,” Walters said.
Mackie said a new apron and terminal will be built in the future, as well. House bill 4440, already signed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, allotted $800,000 from MDOT Aero’s budget toward building the new apron for Hillsdale’s airport, Mackie said in an email.
The current apron is “at the end of its life so there’s concerns that it won’t hold up under the larger planes,” Mackie said. “The state recognized that and they were assisting us with basically building a new apron to accommodate that traffic.”
The improvements are being used as a selling point to local pilots to draw more business to the airport. Walters said several local pilots have already reached out to him expressing interest in keeping their planes at the Hillsdale airport.
Walters said the airport currently runs 10 to 12 operations per week, that is a plane either taking off or landing on an airport runway. Walters said 10 to 12 operations is a slight increase since Patriot Aviation took over management of the airport, but he wants the number to continue to increase.
“We want people to know the airport is under new management,” Walters said. “We’re hungry and aggressive and ready to compete for business.”