Gold Coast Skydivers Said Jackson County Airport Authority Was Discriminating

Mike Igo says he was wronged. He was evicted from Trent Lott International Airport in Mississippi because the airport authority said he violated his lease. But the FAA has agreed with Igo, telling Igo and the authority to work up an agreement everyone can live with.

Igo filed a three-count complaint to the FAA after he was thrown off airport grounds in February. In addition to the supposed violation involving construction of an office, the airport authority said he failed to remove recreational vehicles from the airport as ordered until two days before his eviction became effective.

Igo said the airport wasn't being fair. Whereas he could only get a series of one-year leases, other tenants, he said, were routinely offered five-year leases.

"We conclude that Jackson County may be in violation of certain obligations contained in grant agreements for development of the Trent Lott International Airport," said FAA program manager William Schuller. He was quoted in the Mississippi Press.

The ruling says the Jackson County Airport Authority has the right to enforce reasonable lease provisions and can certainly ban equipment deemed unacceptable from airport grounds. But the agency wrote in a March 30th letter to the authority, it should "provide lease terms that are consistent from tenant to tenant, unless there is a compelling reason not to."

The FAA wants this matter cleared up within 90 days.

Airport officials say they've offered Igo what they believe is a more appropriate location for his skydiving operation. They want him to move his packing dome closer to the drop zone -- which is on airport property. But officials say Igo passed up the chance to pursue the move.

Igo, on the other hand, told the Mississippi Press he had real reasons to resist a forced move. In the dozen years Gold Coast Skydiving has been in operation at Trent Lott International, he's built a building, packing area, lounge, kitchen and office that he said are worth $166,000.

"The airport hasn't spent one nickel on it and now they're saying it belongs to them," Igo told the Press. He said the airport authority's real agenda is to get rid of skydiving on the field altogether.

FMI: www.goldcoastskydivers.com