BY GARY WAYNE COX
Aircraft: Big Sandy Unicom…Cirrus…2…7…3…Mike…Echo…approaching from the south…airport advisory please…
`*Unicom: Winds favoring runway 3...at 7 knots...no other traffic…* ** `I try to treat everyone the same here at the airport. It doesn’t matter if they are in a big jet or a small plane, I want to make them feel welcome at Big Sandy. I must admit, though, the big jets do get my attention. It’s amazing how much fuel these big jets can hold.
The biggest single fuel sale I ever got was a G4 Gulfstream from Burbank, Calif. For their return flight, I put in 2100 gallons of Jet-A. They said they would have taken a little more if my runway were longer. The 2,100 gallons would get them all the way back to California, but they would have to reduce power a little to conserve fuel. At today’s price, that fuel sale would be over $10,000.
You never really know if you are going to get those big fuel sales, though. I once had a Falcon 50 land here from Spokane, Washington. I was sure I would get a good sale when they left the next day, but they said, “We don’t need any fuel. We are just going to Birmingham, Ala.” I was disappointed, to say the least.
There are really only two ways for me to make money at Big Sandy Regional, fuel sales and renting hangar space. I’m just a gas station for the people who fly, a fuel stop for people crisscrossing our country.
Hangar space is important for airplanes, too. Airplanes are expensive and it’s not wise to leave them parked on the ramp all the time. Weather will destroy both the paint and interior of planes. Hail is especially bad on airplanes because most are made of aluminum, and hail larger than pea-size can do a lot of damage. It can actually total an airplane; with enough pockmarks, hail can make a plane not airworthy. Planes are made to fly, so if winds are strong enough, they can easily flip an airplane over.
Federal and state governments support our airport, but our local government is rarely asked to contribute any funds. Big Sandy Regional is mostly self-supported by rents and fuel sales. That’s why it’s important that aircraft buy fuel when they land.