Stresses Airport's Relationship With Community

Peter O. Knight Airport (TPF) and the Tampa Bay area of Florida have an interesting historical relationship. After years of planning, the Great Depression stalled construction until the airport was adopted by the Federal Works Project Administration, a federal jobs program aimed at speeding the nation's economic recovery.

Starting with its opening in 1935, Peter O. Knight was the area's principal commercial airport, served by both Eastern and National Airlines until they relocated to Tampa International in 1946. The airport has since flourished as a general aviation facility, that in 2005 hosted the aircraft exhibit for the annual Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Expo in Tampa.

The airport has also survived in relative peace with its neighbors in the trendy Davis Islands area... but that appears to be changing. A plan by the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority to move runway 3/21 to the south by 175 feet has led to NIMBY concerns the authority is courting a return of bigger planes.

Louis E. Miller, executive director of the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, recently wrote an open letter to the public, seeking to clarify the authority's intent, and diffuse any suspicion that the board has a big-plane agenda.

The letter was printed Monday in the Tampa Tribune. In it, Miller says, "The Aviation Authority has the obligation to operate the airport in a safe and efficient manner. In order to fulfill this obligation, we have presented a reconfiguration of Runway 3/21 to provide a mandated runway safety area.

"This regulatory mandate requires an overrun area of 240 feet on both ends of the runway. The north end of the runway adjacent to the Seddon Channel does not meet this requirement so we intend to shift the runway 175 feet to the south, which will bring both ends of Runway 3/21 into compliance with federal requirements.

"These changes will not increase the airport's capacity or ability to serve larger aircraft. Our plan also calls for constructing new hangars that will be sized to accommodate existing users of Peter O. Knight Airport, not to increase the activity or size of aircraft at the airport."

Miller closed his letter with a promise to always consider the impacts of any proposed development on the community... which is still shaken by a 2006 fatal accident near the airport, in which a King Air attempting to land at TPF during a tropical storm impacted an area home.

As ANN reported, the plane's pilot was the sole fatality in that accident; the co-pilot was seriously injured.

FMI: www.tampaairport.com/about/general_aviation/tpf.asp