But FAA Won't Send Money Until Stage 2 Jet Ban Lifted

If you fly into Naples Municipal Airport in Florida, look closely along the side of the runway. You'll see a very long extension cord -- it's what's feeding electricity to the runway lights.

"Our lighting went out in the middle of the summer when all the hurricanes were hitting," said Airport Authority Executive Director Ted Soliday, in an interview with the Naples Daily News. "We had three or four direct (lightning) hits to our power on our main runway. We had hundreds of yards of power line that was literally fried.... We went almost a week without lights on our main runway."

In the wake of Hurricane Charley, which sideswiped Naples on August 13th, the Naples Airport Authority is all set to start the second phase of its runway lighting project -- except for one little thing: that pesky Stage Two Jet Ban.

The Authority has refused to allow older, louder jets to operate from Naples Municipal Airport. Until that situation changes, the FAA won't cough up a grant for the lighting project.

In essence, even though the FAA sent a grant to Naples that helped cover the $1.6 million first phase of the lighting project, the Authority is going to have to kick in all $1.3 million for the project -- at least as front money -- until the Stage Two controversy can be settled to the FAA's satisfaction. And the interesting thing about it is, the Authority seems to have the backing of local pilots.

"The airport authority is doing a job that is consistent with part of its mandate," pilot Scott Cameron told the Daily News. "I don't think it is unusual that they would front the money to complete the project. It is part of an overall program of safety. Any good airport is going to have a good lighting system. Can we land in an airport without lights? Yeah. Is it safe? Not as safe as when you do have lights. Will (this phase of the lighting project) probably avert some kind of a mishap or something like that? Certainly it could play a role in that."

Cameron sees the entire funding dispute as something of an inter-governmental game of chicken. He's confident that, mindful of the safety issue at Naples Municipal, the FAA will eventually relent and reimburse the Airport Authority for the runway lighting system.

"The FAA realizes it is a critical element of safety," Cameron told the Naples paper.

Not everyone, however, is of the same mind as Cameron. Take Scott Phillips, for instance. Like the FAA, he is engaged in an epic legal battle with the airport. His case is over the right to sell fuel there. The Airport Authority says he can't sell fuel and wants him to pay $5 million for existing sales it considers "illegal." His suggestion: The Authority should just give in.

"I don't think it's right," he told the Daily News, referring to the amount of money that Naples is spending on the lighting project.

But Authority chieftain Soliday says he'll stay the course with the lighting project -- and with the legal battle over Stage Two jets.

"We really are capable of handling this," Soliday told the paper. "We are watching our cash flow very carefully. If the fight with the FAA is protracted, we may have to borrow."

FMI: www.flynaples.com