FAA Asks Whiteside Airport to Shorten Runway

“They want the runway shortened from 6,500 feet to 5,000, which would mean critical planes (i.e. jets) would no longer be able to use it,” said Pete Harkness, a former pilot and self-described ‘friend of the airport.’ “That would limit future development.”

The WCA was built more than 50 years ago to accommodate commercial flights, according to Chris King, a member of the WCA Board. According to Darin Heffelfinger, airport manager, United Express stopped commercial service to the airport in 1997. “We had more corporate jet traffic when we had a larger industrial base,” he said.

If the WCA Board decides to keep the airport’s longest runway, it will have to look for funding to maintain it.

“I really don’t see things changing much,” Heffelfinger said. “I think OSF likes its building and that we will continue to provide service to the region.”

In September, the WCA Board sent a memo to the Illinois Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics, to ask for support for the need to maintain the current main runway’s dimensions. According to the memo, the airport “averages several thousand takeoffs and landings annually.”

Shortening the main runway would mean changing the WCA’s plans to build a hangar large enough to accommodate jets. According to Harkness, the new hangar would encourage more jet owners to keep their planes at the airport.

According to the airport board’s September memo, the WCA has one of the region’s longest runways outside of O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. The runway was long enough to accommodate Air Force One when then-President Ronald Reagan visited the area.

“I think we should change our name to the Northwest Regional Airport,” Heffelfinger said. “We bring a lot into the region.”

According to the WCA Board’s September memo, about 21% of Northwest Illinois’ Gross Domestic Product comes from manufacturing. The memo goes on to say that the WCA produces an estimated $13 million to the local economy.

“You might be able to land a jet on a shorter runway in good weather,” Heffelfinger said. “On rainy days, you need a longer runway because it takes longer for the plane to stop.”

Trimming the main runway would also cost the WCA more than maintaining it as is. According to the WCA Board’s memo, it would cost $15 million over 50 years to maintain the current runway. The cost over the same time period to trim and maintain a shorter and narrower runway would be $24 million.

ILS is important to services like OSF Life Flights, according to Heffelfinger. “Planes can use GPS (Global Positioning System), but it is not as accurate as the ILS,” he added.

In the September memo, the WCA Board concluded by saying, “Maintaining the current runway length and width at WCA is not merely an airport infrastructure decision, it is a public health and safety, economic development, and regional development decision.”

The WCA should hear from the FAA in a few weeks, according to Heffelfinger.