Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport

It's always nice to hear a compliment about one's business, especially given the ease at which complaints seem to abound, deserved or not.

One of our Commission members, Jeff Uphoff, shared an email with me, from a patron using the services at the Fixed Base Operation at CHO, managed by Landmark Aviation.  Kudos to the staff at Landmark!

"This was forwarded to me recently by friend (a pilot and former air-traffic controller):

To: xxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 12:19 PM
Subject: Alternator failure


I'd like to share a little adventure we had last week and how it
may impact my RV-10 project.

My Dad and I were cruising along at 8500' enroute from PA down to FL
in our Glastar when I noticed an annoying red light on the instrument
panel.  That little red light of course was a low voltage warning
light, and sure enough we were on battery power at that point, the
alternator was doing nothing useful at all.   We requested a landing
at Charlottesville VA,  KCHO and within 15 minutes were on the ground. They let us bring our airplane inside a heated hangar to sort out our electrical problems.   We'll we got the true southern hospitality treatment.   A mechanic came over and offered us the use of any of his tools that we needed (although he was way to busy to work on our plane).  We removed the cowling and then the alternator and ohmed out the field winding of the alternator, it appeared to be an open circuit.   The alternator was a Ford Motorcraft as originally supplied with our 1960's vintage Lycoming 0-320.  (however it had been rebuilt in 2001, and now had about 350 hours of run time)   We asked the mechanic if he had any recommendations on a place to check and possibly replace our 'Ford' alternator.  He said, "Sure, I'll call Advanced Autoparts, I think they have an alternator "spinner". Sure enough, they did.  So the mechanic gave us the keys to his truck and we visited the aviation department of Advanced Autoparts.   Well the alternator was really dead and they actually had the exact replacement in stock!

So $57 later we were back on our way to the airport. Well we put it all back together and sure enough we were back in business, the aircraft bus voltage was back up to 14 volts!.  We thanked everyone over and over, took on some fuel and just over 2.5 hours after discovering the problem we were back in the air.   We were incredibly fortunate that day to meet such wonderful folks as we did at KCHO....  "

Despite information already broadcast to the contrary, The Market at CHO has moved its entrance to the secure side of the building in an effort to survive.  The Market has suffered as any other business as the result of the economy. However, unlike other businesses, The Market has endured a double financial blow because of the continuing TSA ban on liquids through the screening point.  They suddenly lost the sale of soda, coffee, and Virginia wines, all staples in their cabinet of financial success.  In addition, the early morning departures, a third of the entire day, became a race to get through screening, with no stops for morning coffee and a newspaper for the trip.

The Market wasn't the only grumbling that was heard.  Passengers become less keen on CHO once they find they have to return through screening to enter The Market if their flight is delayed and they want to browse magazines and the gift shop.  Of course, they have to bring all of their "stuff" back through screening as well, generally becoming too much trouble to undertake.   Finally, the message was delivered.  The monthly losses grew too much, and The Market's last effort to remain in operation at CHO was to move the door to the secure side, allowing passengers to leisurely browse the magazines, the early morning crowd that last ten minutes they need to grab a coffee or toothbrush.

Support The Market at CHO!  The battle is on as they attempt to revive sales sufficient to renew their agreement with the Airport this summer.

P.S. The Market changed their opening time to 4:30 a.m. today and reported quite a crowd!

This is not a paid advertisement. Consider it more of a pat on the back. On January 23^rd Wintergreen Resort will host more than 20 disabled soldiers and their families as part of their rehabilitation through Walter Reed Army Medical Center during the third annual Wounded Warriors Weekend. Our returning veterans face a number of challenges when they come home and some will carry physical and mental wounds for the rest of their lives. Wintergreen has stepped up to make winter activities, like skiing, possible again for some our disabled troops. Check out the following link.

I was recently asked to compare how the airport operates to another organization. The best answer I had was “it’s kind of like a small city”. You have the airport director who oversees the general day to day operations, under the directors control are managers of departments such as administration, police, fire, and maintenance. The director of the airport also works closely with rental car managers, airline managers, and various service providers throughout the airport such as food facilities and TSA. The managers of these separate divisions express the concerns and needs for them to stay operational and profitable. In this comparison the director would be like the mayor of a small city. The departmental managers would be equivalent to assistant city managers. The workers would then fall in line with respect to their occupation. Some departments would break down even further, for example the Chief of Police would command the officers in that department as well as the security teams. The maintenance manager would be in charge of building and grounds maintenance along with runway and lighting maintenance. Of course an oversight committee watches closely and makes recommendations on changes or improvements. The oversight committee would be equivalent to a city counsel. The Transportation Security Administration has been tasked with passenger screening as well as checked luggage screening. This small city of an airport has internal customers and external customers, the people who actually fly on the aircraft are just part of this equation. There are ground transportation providers who follow a certain set of rules to operate at the airport as well as employees of the rental car stations and airline stations who must follow airport rules and regulations, federal regulations, and their own company’s rules and regulations to stay employed and increase security. Police officers are tasked with enforcing these rules and regulations on the entire working community of the airport as well as enforcing local and state laws on private citizens on airport property. Security screeners enforce federal laws which prohibit certain items or individuals from entering the sterile area of the airport for travel purposes. All these things come together to make a small city that provides central Virginia with its airport of choice, Charlottesville – Albemarle Airport.

As reported in The Los Angeles Times and the American Association of Airport Executive daily news, Continental Airlines just completed a test flight using a biofuel in one engine.  The Boeing 737 jet utilized a mixture of 50% kerosene and 50% algae and Jatropha in one engine. According to Wikipedia, Jatropha is a succulent plant (and toxic weed) that produces seeds from which Jatropha Oil is extracted.  Although some say Jatropha may not be the liberator once thought, Continental Airlines' test is evidence that airlines are among the players searching for much-needed relief from the fuel strangle-hold.  Who knows what could be next?