Aztec Airport

5 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 Aztec ruins. This national heritage site is part of the Pueblo system running from Chaco Canyon to Mesa Verde, Colorado. These are significant archaeological sites with tremendous tourism and educational value Aside from the attractions mentioned,Aztec has access to almost all kinds of outdoor, cultural, and shopping activities within a short distance. Business ViewMagazine: Let’s talk specifically about the airport grounds. Could you give us an overview of the airport facilities? Wallace Begay: Aztec Regional is a general aviation airport, meaning most pilots flying in are weekend pilots and folks traveling cross country. Because of this, no businesses are established within the airport grounds as you’d have in a Commercial Air Transport (CAT) airport. The airport is set on a hill within an area having a latitude of 5654, making it a high-altitude landing area. The facility has two runways, although one is currently closed as we are considering building another north-south runway. The Aztec municipality owns Aztec airport, does not charge any landing or tie-down fees, and provides a courtesy car, making it a popular stopover for many pilots. Some pilots fly in to see the Aztec ruins, while others will come in on transit, spend one or two days in town and carry on. Business ViewMagazine: Are any operational upgrades in the works? Wallace Begay: We are awarded a federal aviation grant to upgrade the airport, and the main project we are currently undertaking is the addition of LED lighting on the runway edge.We now have high-intensity retro reflectors that work great, but the LED will give the runway a great touch and feel for those flying in at night. Once complete, pilots can radio into the tower and automatically have the lights and LEDs go on and light up the runway light. Besides this, we are also looking at building a fewmore hangars because we currently have a limited number, and they are all filled. Once we get a patent for additional land, we can do that and possibly build the north-south runway already in our airport layout plan. Once complete, this runway will facilitate taxiways parallel to the runway. Jeff Blackburn: I’d like to add that we recently renovated the entire pilots’ lounge, putting in some fantastic upgrades. It might be small, but it is spotless and inviting. Business ViewMagazine: Speaking of runways, what have you traditionally done to keep small animals off the runway, especially at the higher elevation the airport occupies? Wallace Begay: The only small animals we have here are prairie dogs. Fortunately, we don’t see them much because the coyotes hunt them down. We’ve not seen any larger animals like deer up here, although we have fencing just in case.