Aviation View | April 2021

146 AVIATION VIEW APRIL 2021 The flights that come in to Connellsville Airport are for both business and pleasure. “There is a shuttle from New York that comes in a couple times a week to bring people back and forth,” says Neckerauer “And we get a lot of people coming in on their way to Nemacolin Woodlands. The resort has their own runway but they can’t night land up there and they can’t land in bad weather. And we get tourists from all over the country going to the Fallingwater site. It’s a sought-after destination and, if you fly in here, I have courtesy cars that I loan out for people to drive there.” Going forward, the great desire is to extend the 3833 ft main runway. The 12-year Airport Master Plan recommends an increase to 4400 feet and the airport has commissioned a study that looks at demand and has warranted an extension to 5,500 feet for the larger corporate aircraft. Neckerauer puts that at the top of his wish list, stating, “The runway extension, and more hangars. Both of those would make a big difference. In the past, the airport never built new hangars on its own, it was actually the military or private individuals. The first time we did it was in 2015. And people said, “Where are you going to get the planes to put in there? You’ll never rent them.” But like the saying goes: Build it and they will come. In one month, I had all but one corporate hangar full and two weeks later that one was rented too. Now, what I really need is more corporate hangars because when we build the runway we’re going to get more corporate activity in the county.” PREFERRED VENDOR/ PARTNER n STAT MedEvac www.statmedevac.com