FAA Determines It No Longer Meets Safety Standards

The crosswind runway at Norfolk International Airport has been closed indefinitely as talks about the runway continue with the FAA.

The Virginia Pilot online reports that the runway was closed July 21 when it was determined that its crash zones no longer meet FAA safety guidelines.

Airport operations director Steve Sterling told the paper that only about two percent of the airport's 250 daily operations use the shorter, 4,876-foot runway.

The airport master plan called for the eventual closing of the shorter runway, but only after construction of a new, parallel runway had been built. Those plans are now on hold, and the FAA says there is no need for the new runway to be constructed.

While the runway is officially closed until October 5, it is likely that will be extended indefinitely while the airport and the FAA continue to explore their options. The airport had asked the Virginia congressional delegation to intervene on its behalf with the agency, but Sterling said there has been little progress since talks began in the spring.

Small aircraft operating in a crosswind are the most likely to be affected, Sterling said. The main 9,000-foot runway remains open, he said, but any accident or incident that forces that runway to close could become a worst-case scenario.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.norfolkairport.com