Tiny Airports Get Big Cut of Stimulus Cash

(CBS)  If you want to know your federal stimulus package dollars are already having an impact, you might want to look up. The small planes you spot could be bound for one of the hundreds of tiny airports that have landed big money from the government, as CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

In upstate New York, there's a tiny airport owned by the Williamson Flying Club, a private social club for local pilots.

Club President Joe Ebert is pleased to show off their brand new $400,000 runway, paid for by your tax dollars.

It's all new, he says, and it's all part of $1.1 billion in stimulus money handed out to more than 300 airports around the nation.

"We were looking for projects that airports in areas around the country desperately needed to be done for safety and security concerns," said Department of Transportation press secretary Sasha Johnson.

Yet some of the projects hardly seem urgent. And taxpayers may be surprised to find "that airports they never heard of in communities they will never visit are getting some of the maximum stimulus grants," says Michael Grabell of the non-profit journalism group ProPublica.

In fact, more than $350 million is being spent on little-used airports or ones catering to recreational flyers, corporate jets and remote communities.

That's because Congress' stimulus rules don't give priority to the most congested airports or biggest safety problems.

Consider that Los Angeles International doesn't have the money to install critical taxiway warning lights. And a third of the nation's largest airports - 11 of the 30 biggest, handling over one-fourth of the nation's passenger traffic - have substandard safety areas for when planes veer off the runway.

Yet tiny Purdue University Airport got $800,000 to help keep animals off the runway. That's even though they've reported just one incident: a plane ran over a skunk in 1996.

In Alaska, $15 million dollars went to build a bigger, better airport for the town of Ouizinkie - population just 165. That's roughly $90,000 dollars per resident.

The stimulus funds were granted by the FAA, under the Department of Transportation.

Asked why the costs at small airports shouldn't be borne by the people benefiting from them, Johnson said, "The community can't raise that kind of money. Rural airports deserve to be safe and kept up as much as other airports do."

She also points out small airports are used by rescue aircraft and cargo haulers, and the stimulus projects create jobs.

But nobody would tell us how many unemployed workers, if any, were hired to pave the Flying Club's runway. The whole job took just five days.

On the bright side, all airports that get stimulus funds are open to the public. So if you ever feel like flying to a little airport, there's one in upstate New York that's happy to spread out the welcome mat on their brand new runway.


See additional reporting on this subject from Propublica.org

[cstanfill11]

Wherever I see general aviation referred to, it is passed off as a toy for the rich. In contrast to this, I soloed a Blanik L-13 when I was 14 years old. I am not rich and wish to explain that $10000 is plenty to get any hard working individual a private pilot's license. Secondly, these airfields are open to anyone who wishes to come and learn to fly. The general aviation community is one of the most receptive groups of people you'll ever encounter. Don't fall for Sharyl's attacks on your friends in aviation. We already pay large fuel taxes and user fees which help the government cover jobs like this flying club's runway. Let me put it this way. How would you like it if a homeless person came up to you and chastised the government for funding the repaving of a road in your neighborhood. We'll, you could tell him how your neighborhood's taxes funded the road. General aviation does a great job of paying for itself too. Perhaps Sheryl should research better next time where the money going into the aviation stimulus came from. I bet a large part of it is aviation.
Look up the EAA and AOPA websites to find out how GA helps you. You'll be suprised.
And, oh, Sheryl. Come on down to your local airport and find out how exclusive an environment the aviation community really is. You'll probably be scared to death how quickly some friendly ol' pilot will take you for a ride.
And remember, words are powerful. So don't float them on such shallow water. Happy Flying!

[payasyougo]

It's convenient how the author of this article elected not to include airport projects such as the John Murtha airport outside PA which has received $200 million for the airport "that has virtually no passengers".

As if this were only a republican spending issue.

[MrUsername2U]

Please stop this type of stupid yellow journalism. We need better reporting not CBS hyped headlines or disingenuous stories.

The stimulus money should be used to build/rebuild our old infrastructure. The reason the USA has been a great country is many (40+) years ago leaders realized that building airports, freeways, etc provided easier movement of goods and services...and our commerce prospered. $15Million to build an airport in a rural area is a VERY effective use of funds thereby initially creating some construction jobs and then the airport keeps giving back to the community by providing a safe, efficient access route to the rest of the world.

[myryan]

This has to be the worst piece of alleged journalism I've ever read! Small airports are huge economic generators for small communities, not playgrounds for the rich.

[TVENG]

The other comments point out benefits of General Aviation that have been overlooked by this article. The only question I have at this point is, why are these airports not worth the money for some safety improvements?

[lalomac]

Wow, was this written for HS newspaper or what?
I feel so sorry for this country.

[sooodisappointed]

Maybe you guys should take a little trip to Ouzinkie, Alaska.. see what the present airport is like, Fly over on a little plane and see for yourself what is like and how it benefits the small rural community then rethink story. When that ouzinkie airport project get under way it will provide jobs and keep workers from being layed off.

[OOWBMan]

Ignorance is rampant in reporting now. They don't seek knowledge as that would ruin the story.

[poorpilot123]

I'm "poor" pilot, paying off mutiple Salliemae loans from fullfilling a life long dream to fly and hopefully make a career out of it. All or most my flying is via small GA airports. YOU ARE SOOOO Wrong and mislead!!!!

I'm forwarding this biased bunch of crap to Fox News and Bill O'reilly in hopes that they fillet your mis-guided unresearch reporting Sharyl Attkisson! REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED TO DAN RATHER FOR NOT FULLY SUBSTANTIATING HIS REPORTS! YOU'RE NEXT! TAKE THE BUS NEXT TIME YOU HAVE TO GO SOMEWHERE SINCE YOU SEEM TO HATE GA!

[Skyhawkflr]

If anyone thinks that general aviation is just a rich man's sport, or that these "stimulus" dollars are wasted on a few people they are really mistaken. I can assure you that GA is not a rich man's sport, our local airport did not get any of the stimulus funds, though we would have liked to. The pilot population at our airport comes from all walks of life, retirees, business owners, students, and farmers. The largest employers in our county use this airport to come check on their operations. Two of those employers have recently created hundreds of jobs by moving production here, one company moving its entire production here from Mexico. The airport provides access in emergency situations as well. Life saving medical flights and cargo relief flights pass through local airports. Few news corporations had reported how general aviation helped after Hurricane Katrina, while FEMA was still trying to find their car keys and a dog sitter.
As for aviation being a rich man's sport think again. If your family can afford a couple of snowmobiles, you can afford an airplane and you can use that year round. I make less than $18,000 a year managing an airport and I can still afford to go fly for fun once in a while.
Business aircraft save time and can actually help a company make money. Local business use their aircraft to make sales calls, visit possible clients or bring clients here. They can use their aircraft to make several visits in one day and still come back to their own operation and their home at the end of the day.
I would like to see reporters try to fly on the airlines to cover all their stories, especially for "breaking news". We certainly don't need a news helicopter (that probably operates from a GA airport!) following Michael Jackson's body from the hospital to the morg. We don't need a President that has to fly a 747, a cargo plane, and helicopters to St. Louis to throw a baseball. We also didn't need the President to fly all that equipment to Michigan as well, just to tell us its all going to be okay.