Martin Airport wins state award
The award for the Best Maintained Small General Aviation Airport in South Dakota for 2019 was presented to Martin Municipal Airport. The award ceremony was held on March 12 during the South Dakota Airports Conference. The conference was held in Rapid City and was attended by about 100 people. This is the first time that Martin Airport has won the award.
The award was presented by Tom Koch of the SD Department of the Transportation, Office of Air, Rail and Transit, to Paul Noel, Martin Airport Manager. The award recognizes the “team” effort in maintaining the airport including city officials, airport manager, and airport workers.
Tom Koch and Brad Remmich inspected all public airports in South Dakota in 2019 and evaluated them based on the criteria below.
The criteria for the annual SD Airport Awards are:
Airport must have all lights working including precision approach path indicator and beacon, if applicable. There can be no burnt out bulbs, damaged bases, missing lights, etc.
Airport needs to be mowed in all areas that are required to be mowed.
All fences need to be maintained well and all gates closed and locked.
The entrance road must be in good shape with no potholes or bumps.
Airports need to keep their pavements in workable condition -- meaning proper maintenance needs to be done like crack sealing, crack repair, and foreign object debris removed.
There can be no obstructions that are in the approach slope areas. Obstructions are usually trees, but can be anything that penetrates the different approach slopes.
Pavement marking should be to Federal Aviation Administration standards and in good shape.
All signs leading to the airport and on the airport (airside signs) should be readable, straight, not faded, and in proper place.
The airport should look neat, free from debris, and be kept up in a tidy fashion. In general it should look nice and be pleasing to the eye.
See March 25, 2020, Issue for Full Article
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