Tag: Federal Aviation Administration

Skydive Myrtle Beach Wait Continues

Another month is passing and Skydive Myrtle Beach still has no documents from the Federal Aviation Administration with respect to an ongoing Freedom of Information request.

The FOIA seeks documents that were used by Horry County Department of Airports as the excuse needed to stop Skydive Myrtle Beach from operating at the county’s Grand Strand Airport.

In 2014, Skydive Myrtle Beach lodged a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration against Horry County Department of Airports alleging discriminatory actions against Skydive Myrtle Beach by HCDA.

In response, Horry County Department of Airports reported to the Federal Aviation Administration that Skydive Myrtle Beach was the subject of 112 alleged safety violations while conducting business at Grand Strand Airport.

According to Aaron Holly, a principal of Skydive Myrtle Beach, his business had never been notified of any of these violations and still has not received any official paperwork relating to any of them.

In October 2015, the FAA issued a 73 page Director’s Determination Report, in response to Holly’s original complaint, supposedly basing the report on those safety violations. Horry County subsequently used this report as an excuse to shut down Skydive Myrtle Beach operations at Grand Strand Airport.

But nobody can produce documentation of the alleged 112 safety violations.

Horry County claims not to have the documentation even though it was the government agency that ostensibly generated them.

The FAA has failed to produce the documentation even though the agency acknowledged February 2, 2016 was the date to send it out. Since February 2nd, one outrageous excuse after another has been the FAA’s tact.

Douglas A. Decker Receives Wright Brothers Master Pilots Award

(Above image left to right, Gary Pendleton, Marjorie Jake, Douglas Decker)

The Federal Aviation Administration presented Douglas A. Decker, Pawleys Island, SC, Thursday with the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award in recognition of 50 years of safe flying and his contribution to aviation safety. In addition to the plaque, Decker’s name will be added to the FAA’s Roll of Honor in Washington DC.

The award was presented at the South Carolina Aviation Association Annual Conference in Charleston SC, by FAA’s Mr. Gary M. Pendleton and Ms. Marjorie Jake both representing the Flight Standards District Office, Columbia, SC.

The Wright Brothers Master Pilot award is the most prestigious award the FAA issues to pilots. This award is named after the aviation pioneer Wright Brothers. It recognizes individuals who have exhibited professionalism, skill and aviation expertise for at least 50 years while piloting aircraft as Master Pilots.

Decker started his aviation activity in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1964 and currently holds an Airline Transport pilot’s license. He owns a single engine A-36 Beechcraft Bonanza airplane, which he flies from the Grand Strand area.’

Decker has served in many aviation positions including Commissioner on the Utah State Aeronautics Board, member of Salt Lake City International Airport Advisory Board, and member of the Capital Improvements Committee, General Mitchell Milwaukee International Airport. In addition he was appointed a member of the State of Wisconsin Aviation Master Plan Task Force.

Decker spearheaded the successful effort to open the Wendover AFB, Utah for public use in 1974. The city renamed the airport “DECKER FIELD” and he also received the Utah Pilot’s award for Outstanding Service to Aviation in Utah.

Who Has Information on Skydive Myrtle Beach?

The ongoing dispute between Skydive Myrtle Beach and Horry County Department of Airports has taken interesting twists and turns in recent weeks.

In 2014, Skydive Myrtle Beach lodged a complaint with the Federal Aviation Administration against Horry County Department of Airports alleging discriminatory actions against Skydive Myrtle Beach by HCDA.

In response, Horry County Department of Airports reported to the Federal Aviation Administration that Skydive Myrtle Beach was the subject of 112 alleged safety violations while conducting business at Grand Strand Airport.

According to Aaron Holly, a principal of Skydive Myrtle Beach, his business had never been notified of any of these violations and still has not received any official paperwork relating to any of them.

In October 2015, the FAA issued a 73 page Director’s Determination Report, in response to Holly’s original complaint, supposedly basing the report on those safety violations. Horry County subsequently used this report as an excuse to shut down Skydive Myrtle Beach operations at Grand Strand Airport.

County officials said FAA grant funding was in jeopardy if the Department of Airports didn’t act to shut down the business.

That’s not exactly true. A letter from Michael O’Donnell of the FAA to HCDA director Pat Apone, dated November 13, 2015, states in part, “The FAA also requested Horry County to submit a “corrective action plan incorporating acceptable risk mitigation measures and revised procedures under which safe skydiving operations may resume.”

The county was only supposed to suspend skydiving operations until a mitigation plan was submitted.

And the problem for HCDA gets worse.

Myrtle Beach International Airport

Horry County Department of Airports Conundrum

Setting minimum standards for general aviation airports in Horry County requires more than Horry County government’s typical “Independent Republic” approach.

Too much is at stake for Horry County government and its Department of Airports to assume it can do whatever it wants to do with respect to the treatment afforded to businesses conducting general aviation aeronautical activities at the county’s airports.

Accepting FAA grant money (of which Horry County receives millions every year) and free land conveyance of former Air Force property brings with it certain requirements of and assurances from the county, most importantly that the airport and its facilities must be available for public use in a non-discriminatory manner.

Snowplows at Myrtle Beach International Airport

Approximately 10 years ago, the Myrtle Beach International Airport bought eight trucks with attachable snow plow blades with a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The airport really didn’t want snowplows. It wanted trucks to use in maintenance around the airport and it wanted a maintenance building, built with another FAA grant, in which the trucks and other things would be stored.

The snow plow grant was approximately $300,000 and the grant for the maintenance building was approximately $1 million.

Budgets - Cuts, Spending and You

ITAP Grant Symptom of Federal Money Woes

A recent grant announcement in the amount of $3.7 million from the Federal Aviation Administration to the International Technology and Aerospace Park (ITAP) at Myrtle Beach International Airport is a symptom of the greater problems affecting federal government spending.

While ballyhooed locally as a great aid to luring businesses to the now vacant facility, it’s really nothing more than pork barrel spending.

The 400 acre site, and plans to build this grand aerospace park, grew out of the failed West Side Terminal project at Myrtle Beach International.

The land was originally purchased, with a $12 million grant from the FAA, to be the site of the airport’s new west side terminal.