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Cox outlines Big Sandy Regional Airport’s vital role, pushes to keep facility disaster-ready
BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN INEZ — As Black Hawk helicopters thundered into Big Sandy Regional Airport carrying pajama-clad flood evacuees in February, Gary Wayne Cox stood ready in the dark, literally. With his home power out and disaster unfolding across eastern Kentucky, the airport manager scrambled to confirm enough fuel for a nonstop rescue…
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Big Sandy Regional Airport runway saved
$5.8-million project achieves federal compliance BY ROGER SMITHMOUNTAIN CITIZEN DEBORD — The Big Sandy Regional Airport will keep its 5,000-foot runway. Contractors are putting the finishing touches on a project that brought the runway safety areas (RSA) into compliance with current Federal Aviation Administration standards. Construction on the $5.8-million project began in July 2020, and…
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Inbound for Landing: My longest trip
BY GARY WAYNE COX Aircraft: Big Sandy Unicom…Cherokee…3…9…4…3…Whiskey…departing runway 2…1 …to the west… Unicom: Winds calm…have a safe trip… After I finished fueling the Massey Energy jet a few years ago, I reached for their credit card and asked their pilot, my good friend, Dave Nichols, “Where are you guys going to today?” Dave said,…
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Inbound for Landing
Airport Road BY GARY WAYNE COX As you can tell by reading these articles, I’m immensely proud of this airport. Managing Big Sandy Regional Airport is more than just a job for me. I consider it a duty to be an ambassador for Eastern Kentucky, especially the four counties that own this facility. When people…
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Inbound for Landing: Look to the Hills
BY GARY WAYNE COX Aircraft: Big Sandy Unicom…Piper…7…8…7…Bravo…Charlie…10 miles to the north…inbound for landing… Unicom: Winds 250 at 6 knots…favoring runway 2…1…no other reported traffic… During the start of the pandemic, general aviation, like everything else, took a big hit. No one was flying; there was nowhere to go, and even the medical flights stopped…
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Inbound for Landing: My 15 minutes of fame
Gary wayne cox Aircraft: Falcon…7…7…Golf…Echo…10 miles to the west…inbound for landing… Unicom: Winds calm…no other reported traffic… I had just finished cutting grass and checked FlightAware to make sure nothing was inbound, nothing was, so I grabbed my book to do some reading in the gazebo. I had just sat down when I heard a…
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Inbound for Landing: Getting my wings
Flight instructor Larry Short GARY WAYNE COX Aircraft: November…7…3…2…8…Golf…departing runway 2…1…to the north… Unicom: No other reported traffic…Have a safe trip… Learning to fly an airplane is not hard to do. It just requires a desire to learn and special training. Managing airspeed and controlling the airplane is what it’s all about. All airplanes have…
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Inbound for Landing: The Medal of Honor
GARY WAYNE COX Ernest E. West, Medal of Honor recipient Aircraft: Helicopter…4…0….7…Mike…Charlie…departing the ramp northbound… Unicom: Have a safe trip… All of the stories I have written have taken place during my tenure as airport manager. This one does not. It originated from Big Sandy and my brother, Larry Joe Cox, was my pilot, but…
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Inbound for Landing: A lesson in civics
BY GARY WAYNE COX Aircraft: Big Sandy Unicom…Citation 7…7…3…Bravo…Charlie…10 miles to the northeast… inbound for landing… Unicom: Bravo…Charlie…winds calm…no other traffic… I get to meet a lot of interesting people from all walks of life at the airport. Airplanes are actually more than just a mode of transportation; they are “time machines.” You can cover…
