How to Save Your Airport.

The article reports that with large tracts of land becoming scarcer in urban areas, developers and politicians are turning their attention toward general aviation airports. Contra Costa County, California's director of airports, Keith Freitas admitted that there was no precedent for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) allowing a federal land-grant or AIP-funded airport to be closed and replaced by another field, which cuts to the heart of the discussion: If development interests can convince the FAA that the alternate-airport concept is sound and the agency buys off on the Buchanan proposal, then CCR becomes the precedent, and the developers have found the instrument by which they can finally circumvent federal regulations obligating airport managements to keep these fields open. In the final analysis, the subcommittee chairman said the proponents of the closure didn't make a strong enough case for closing the airport. INSET: A CCR Operator Speaks Out.