Joseph A. Hardy Connellsville Airport

Joseph A. Hardy Connellsville Airport
Connellsville Municipal Airport

2006 USGS Orthophoto
IATA: none – ICAO: KVVS – FAA LID: VVS
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner/Operator Fayette County Airport Authority
Serves Connellsville, Pennsylvania
Location Dunbar Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Elevation AMSL 1,267 ft / 386 m
Coordinates 39°57′33″N 079°39′26″W / 39.95917°N 79.65722°W / 39.95917; -79.65722
Map
KVVS

Location of Joseph A. Hardy Connellsville Airport

Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
5/23 3,832 1,1,179 Asphalt
14/32 2,404 739 Asphalt
Statistics (2010)
Aircraft operations 19,532
Based aircraft 46

Joseph A. Hardy Connellsville Airport (ICAO: KVVS, FAA LID: VVS, formerly 2G3) is a public-use airport located four nautical miles (7 km) southwest of Connellsville in Dunbar Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned by the Fayette County Airport Authority and serves the south-eastern segment of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area.[1] The airport serves the general aviation community with no scheduled commercial airline service.

The airport is named for Joseph A. Hardy, founder of 84 Lumber. Previously known as "Connellsville Airport," it was renamed in 2007 to recognize Hardy's support of improving the airport. Hardy, a Fayette County Commissioner at the time of donation, gave the airport authority $800,000 for runway improvements.[2][3] Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, this airport is assigned VVS by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA.[4]

The airport property is home to other Fayette County entities and businesses:[5]

This airport also serves to provide a convenient stopping place for tourism in the region including those travelling to the following county historic and popular spots:

History

Military Airbase

Originally, the airport was a cooperative project between the City of Connellsville, Fayette County, and the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) Program. Although first opened in October 1938,[6] it was heavily used during World War II by the United States Army Air Force Air Technical Service Command as a sub-depot of the Middletown Air Depot near Harrisburg. Original airport construction occurred from 1936 to 1938 under the WPA.[7] California University of Pennsylvania helped conduct pilot training in support of the war effort at the Connellsville Airport starting in late 1939.[8]

The 805th Army Air Forces Specialized Depot, which opened on 1 July 1941, repaired and overhauled aircraft and returned them to active service. With the winding down of the war effort during the summer of 1945, the Air Force closed its facilities at Connellsville on 1 June 1945. The airport remained under Federal Government control from 1941 until July 1947[9] when the Government returned the airport to the city of Connellsville, stipulating it be used for public purposes. During the war, the Government improved the airport facilities greatly, mainly due to the increased industrialization occurring during the war and the expectation that the war would last for some time.

Post War Industry

Connellsville Airport also served as the site of a Taylorcraft airplane maintenance facility where Taylorcraft airplanes were built and/or repaired in the late 1940s and 1950s. The current main terminal site is the remnants of the Taylorcraft hangar. Connellsville became the headquarters for the Taylor Aircraft Corporation in 1950.[10][11][12]

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) Reserve also had training areas on the airport [10] in the 1950s. A two story brick building at the center of the airport held the base for the Marine Corps Reserve Training Center, which also utilized other buildings on the airport for various uses including a gymnasium, maintenance buildings, a weapons range, and locker rooms.

Jet Age

By the 1960s, the Connellsville airport had three paved runways, one of approximately 3,400 feet and the other two at 3,000 feet. Of those three, only two survive today. The middle runway was deactivated in the late 1960s. Today it is used as a taxiway and an area for driver training. Anchor Hocking ‘Glass Corporation’, a former major Fayette County employer, rented significant space on the airport, mostly warehouse type space, in the 1960s.[10]

The Fayette County Airport Authority (FCAA) was established in December 1965 to take ownership and management of the airport.[13] Membership to the authority would be based on a representative sample of the county and be selected on the basis of business competence and proven community leadership. Fayette County Airport Authority in February 1966 worked with Penn Central Airways to provide air taxi service between Somerset, Connellsville, and the Greater Pittsburgh Airports. This agreement also involved AAA of Uniontown and United Airlines at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport who helped to handle reservations.[10]

Modern Era

The airport reportedly fell into relative disrepair in the 1980s and 1990s due to poor pilot attendance/ usage and lack of operating funds.[14]

Fayette County received additional medical support by the addition of the Stat MedEvac group to the Connellsville Airport in 1994.[15] Stat MedEvac performs year-round emergency helicopter support to medical emergencies (namely “life flight” capability). This entity owned by the Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, operates from the sole dedicated helipad on the airport.

Revitalization

Airport revitalization efforts in the late 1990s resulted in significant improvements after 2001. In 2001, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Education certified and licensed ‘Carnegie Mellon Driver Training & Safety Institute, Inc.’, (CM-DSTI) a non-profit subsidiary of Carnegie Mellon University, PA, to operate a private licensed school. This school, funded under a $7.5 Million congressional appropriation in 1999, provided large truck driver training on the airport property focusing on public transportation safety and security and human performance reliability (stress and fatigue). This included an indoor simulator (valued at approximately $650,000[16]) and hands on training on Taxiway F (old decommissioned runway) [17] This school occupied three buildings at the heart of the Connellsville Airport (formerly buildings occupied by the USMC Reserve Training Center). The school, which had 60 employees and a $12 Million annual budget, operated at the airport location until about 2002.

VVS has received on numerous occasions Federal funding for improvements to the facilities and runways specifically from the Aviation Development Program (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation) after 2001. In 2005, the new terminal opened at a cost in excess of $2,000,000. In 2009, VVS received $1 million from Federal (Rural Community Assistance Partnership grant) [18] and state sources to extend the main runway (runway safe zone project[19]). This extension, using allocation of Federal and state money, allows for larger aircraft to land at Connellsville Airport.

KVVS also received grant money to improve general aviation hangar space in close proximity to the new terminal built in 2005. This money totaling $1 million from a Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) grant [20] has to be spent on aviation hangar spaces and requires airport matching funds of approximately $800,000. As of August 2011, no construction date has been set. The county has promised $50,000 annually to support improvements.

Since 2003, the county bus service, Fayette Area Coordinated Transportation (FACT) has occupied 4.5 acres of land immediately inside the main entrance to the airport. This publicly funded bus line services the communities throughout the county. This entity has a 49-year lease that commenced in April 2003 with two automatically renewing twenty-five year periods. Lease of the property occurred for the lump sum payment of $60,000 for the initial term.[21] Also in 2003, the Fayette County Hazardous Materials Response Team became an airport tenant. The purpose built building housing the response team is located adjacent to the main terminal building.[22]

A strategic master plan was also enacted in 2003. This included plans for the main terminal construction as well as extension of the runway which was substantially completed by late Fall in 2009. The extension was completed to appease insurance companies that refused to let larger planes land on the airfield. This extension stands to increase air traffic to and from the Connellsville Airport location in support of larger economic development efforts and tourism.

This revitalization included construction of a new terminal building on the north ramp area at the site of the old Taylor Aircraft hangar from 1951.[23] The hangar was partially disassembled to reveal the steel superstructure, with the new terminal being built into the west side of the old hangar. The remainder of the steel Taylor Aircraft hangar remains as part of a covered parking lot. Completion of the multimillion-dollar terminal project occurred in 2005. Approximately $6 Million was used to upgrade the airport from 2002 to 2007.[11] Other significant grant monies have been used or are tied to current projects, including establishment of new aircraft hangar space to the south of the main terminal area.[24] This requires removal of 1950s-1960s era hangars and warehouse space. This PennDOT Bureau of Aviation rehabilitation project is valued at $710,000 with a portion being funded by the FCAA directly through alternate sources.[25] An approximately $3 million project to extend the main runway safe zone was completed in 2010.

Facilities and aircraft

Joseph A. Hardy Connellsville Airport covers an area of 351 acres (142 ha) at an elevation of 1,267 feet (386 m) above mean sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways: 5/23 is 3,832 by 100 feet (1,179 x 30 m) and 14/32 measures 2,404 by 100 feet (739 x 30 m).[1]

For the 12 months preceding August 18, 2009, VVS had 19,352 total aircraft operations, an average of more than 53 per day and consisting of 80% general aviation, 10% military air operations, and 8% air taxi services. During this period 46 aircraft were based there (78% of those being single engine planes).[1]

VVS, through Fayette County Aviation, and its tenants provide aviation support by way of fuel services (AVGAS and JetA) and aircraft mechanics.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 FAA Airport Master Record for VVS (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2010-08-10.
  2. ↑ Chris Foreman, 2007-03-04, “Connellsville Airport will be renamed in honor of Hardy”. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
  3. ↑ John Tremba “Connellsville airport taking flight as facility upgrades, expands”, ‘’Daily Courier’’, 2007-04-15.
  4. ↑ Great Circle Mapper: KVVS – Connellsville, Pennsylvania Accessed 2011-08-12.
  5. ↑ John Tremba, ‘’Fayette County Website’’, April 15, 2007
  6. ↑ Pennsylvania Aviation History, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Bureau of Aviation; accessed 2011-08-16
  7. ↑ Judy Kroeger, Lasting Legacy: Flying field built for about $500,000, Daily Courier, 2011-01-26.
  8. ↑ California University of Pennsylvania, History California, PA 15419, Accessed 2011-08-06.
  9. ↑ Marilyn Forbes, A nature lover's paradise, Daily Courier, 2009-03-24.
  10. 1 2 3 4 ’’An Airport: Fayette County Style’’, Pennsylvania Economic League, Inc. March 1966.
  11. 1 2 Judy Kroeger,Connellsville Airport sees $6M in improvements, ‘’Daily Courier’’, January 24, 2006.
  12. ↑ Mark Phelps, “PA airport breaks ground on new GA terminal” ‘’Aviation International News’’ March 2005.
  13. ↑ Fayette County Airport Authority Articles of Incorporation, 1965-12-16.
  14. ↑ “Small airports struggle to continue operations”, ‘The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’, 2007-08-12.
  15. ↑ Lease of Land by Stat MedEvac from FCAA, 1994-01-15, Obtained through the Pennsylvania Right to Know Act 2011-08-05
  16. ↑ Richard Grace, A. Guzman, J. Staszewski, B.A. Peters, M. Mallis, and D.F. Dinges, "The Carnegie Mellon TruckSim: a tool to improve driving safety," Proceedings of the 17th Digital Avionics Systems Conference, October, 1998, pp. I35/1 - I35/8.
  17. ↑ Driver Training and Safety Institute Transport the World to...-a075303273 "Local Driver Training and Safety Institute Transport the World to Fayette County, Pa.” ‘Business Wire’, 2001-06-06.
  18. ↑ Jewels Phraner, “Connellsville airport runway expansion project nears”, 2009-06-05.
  19. ↑ Grant money to help fund Connellsville Airport runway safe zone, The Tribune-Review, 2009-03-24.
  20. ↑ Rebekah Sungala, Airport authority opens bids for hangars, 2011-01-12
  21. ↑ Lease of Land by FACT from FCAA, 2003-04-01, Obtained through the Pennsylvania Right to Know Act 2011-08-05
  22. ↑ Lease of Land by HAZMAT from FCAA, 2003, Obtained through the Pennsylvania Right to Know Act 2011-08-05
  23. ↑ PennDoT Airport Properties Directory, Accessed 2011-08-12.
  24. ↑ Judy Kroeger, “8 hangars at Connellsville airport could be replaced”, ‘Daily Courier, 2010-08-18.
  25. ↑ Judy Kroeger, “Tenants gripe about repair needs at airport”, The Tribune-Review, 2011-01-12.

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

External links

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