By By JOHN DILMORE JR. Publisher
As part of an ongoing system of statewide airport planning, the Brewton Municipal Airport will soon be mapped from the air for the purpose of identifying possible obstructions for incoming aircraft.
Frank Farmer, with the Alabama Department of Transportation's (ALDOT) Aeronautics Bureau, said that Brewton's airport had been chosen largely because, "Brewton has a lot of activity with military training."
Because of the layout of its airfield and its proximity to Pensacola, Farmer said, the Brewton airport makes for a natural military training location.
The process of identifying possible obstructions will involved looking for both existing and potential problems.
The system used for the project is called the Runway Approach Obstruction Location System (RAOLS). It will allow, through aerial mapping, for a "bird's eye" view of the areas leading up the airport's runways.
Things the system will be looking for include the heights of trees and the size and proximity of any man-made structures.
The project will be carried out by Garver Engineers, of Huntsville.
Engineers from Garver, along with ALDOT representatives, visited the airport in preparation for the project on May 4.
They took pictures of their airfield, and spoke with city officials.
In other airport-related news, the city recently learned that it would receive funding to go toward installing an Automated Weather Operating System (AWOS). The system will measure atmospheric data, then convert the information into a simulated human voice recording which can be accessed by dialing a toll free number.
The recording will be able to tell callers the current temperature, level of precipitation and other atmospheric conditions.
The Federal Aviation Administration has provided $105,000 worth of funding for the project, which will cost a total of $155,000. It is still up in the air as to how much of the remaining $50,000 will be paid by the state, and how much of it will be paid by the city.