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OK. Takeoffs and landings. I got it. Most of the airport statistics deal with passenger boardings or freight tonnage. Commercial flights in and out are often counted, also. Boarding gates are also a statistic that comes up.
I have found no reference anywhere about the military using the Morgantown airport in conjunction with Camp Dawson. Speculation doesn't count.
You'll never find anything but speculation in that regard. The only thing I can point to are the published percentages of military tower operations for Morgantown Airport (Dawson doesn't keep such statistics since they have no tower and Morgantown would control air operations in that area from their tower). I would point out though that my speculation is somewhat of an educated one since I have worked at both Dawson and at Pittsburgh IAP (but not Morgantown). Admittedly, that was several years ago. It's the best I can do.
Robert Byrd had a large training center installed at Dawson a couple decades ago, and it brings in people from military organizations all over the country as well as other government groups using it for training purposes. The runway at Dawson won't support the larger aircraft needed to bring them there. The one at Morgantown will serve that purpose for many aircraft.
I'm certainly not claiming that the Morgantown Airport is a world beater in any regard. It is, however, taking on a more important role in our community.
Last edited by CTMountaineer; 11-10-2019 at 06:36 AM..
My information came from a Colonel with flight certs and a security clearance. He said there are things going on at Camp Dawson that he can't talk about, but that he could say with certainty that the Morgantown airport does not factor into any plans for Camp Dawson.
I just asked a pilot about the takeoffs and landings. I was told that airports with commercial and military activities are not as conducive to practice flying activities, called touch and goes. For example, that kind of practice is less at Yeager Airport because it takes place at Mallory's in South Charleston. Every touch and go a pilot does would be a tower operation.
My information came from a Colonel with flight certs and a security clearance. He said there are things going on at Camp Dawson that he can't talk about, but that he could say with certainty that the Morgantown airport does not factor into any plans for Camp Dawson.
I just asked a pilot about the takeoffs and landings. I was told that airports with commercial and military activities are not as conducive to practice flying activities, called touch and goes. For example, that kind of practice is less at Yeager Airport because it takes place at Mallory's in South Charleston. Every touch and go a pilot does would be a tower operation.
I believe your Colonel friend is correct that there are various activities at Dawson. That has been in the mix for decades there now. Dawson wouldn't be involved with planning at Morgantown Airport. Groups going there would get there by the most expedient means possible. For some, that would be by bus, for others by convoy. Still others would get there by military aircraft transport. Those traveling by tactical aircraft would likely use Morgantown Airport since it is the closest to Dawson. Those using strategic aircraft could disembark at Clarksburg, or in some cases at Pittsburgh. Dawson itself would not be involved in those decisions. That would be the responsibility of the units taking part themselves. You aren't getting wrong information. You just are not getting the full story. In addition, everybody at the Pentagon has a security clearance. I'm sure you would agree with that.
I can't attest to the reason for touch and goes conducted, but as your pilot friend says, they are all tower operations. I have no way to determine how many touch and goes are military related and how many are not. I also don't know how many of the tower operations are of that sort. What is available is the percent of military related tower operations, and the number of tower operations. Morgantown has more of those than any other airport in the state, meaning as far as airport towers are concerned, it is the busiest in the state. That was the point I was making in my post, and it is also my answer to your question.
I really couldn't care about passenger operations in Charleston or Huntington. People around here do not use those airports for those purposes. I'm sure it is important to you and others from those areas, but this is the Morgantown thread, after all. I mean no offense by pointing that out.
Last edited by CTMountaineer; 11-11-2019 at 03:05 PM..
Somehow the runway project secured an additional 7+ million in federal dollars from one of the COVID packages. This apparently will allow for a much larger I-68 industrial park than what was originally talked about.
Buried in another article I was reading about the runway project (forget which one), it was mentioned that Morgantown majorly lucked out or pulled a bunch of strings and got only a 5% matching requirement for the project.
Somehow the runway project secured an additional 7+ million in federal dollars from one of the COVID packages. This apparently will allow for a much larger I-68 industrial park than what was originally talked about.
Buried in another article I was reading about the runway project (forget which one), it was mentioned that Morgantown majorly lucked out or pulled a bunch of strings and got only a 5% matching requirement for the project.
Somebody should get a Robert C. Bird award for pulling off the securing of that funding in this authorization.
It’s probably dead, just like everything else in this one horse town.
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