Ouch. Where to begin?

It is not that I totally disagree with you, but, we do need to realize
that there is a pretty good argument towards not having an Iowa City
airport. Heres the "Devils Advocate" in me.

The Cedar Rapids airport is easily within 20 minutes of the Iowa City
airport.

This is nonsense. I drive it all the time, and I can't make it in 20
minutes, door to door. At least not legally. It's more like 30.

Ahhhh, you must be the guy slowing me down!!!

Small runways for charter planes (athletics)

Well, come see the place on "football Saturdays" this fall. You won't
believe some of the mini-airliners that get in here!

Been there, done that! Do the citizens of the city want to afford that
luxury to the "high rollers"? What about the other 355 days of the
year. They could all fly into Cedar Rapids.


Also, when they close RWY 18/36 in the next year or three, Rwy 07 is slated
to be shortened on the east, and Rwy 25 is to be extended to the west.
They're also supposed to get an ILS approach at that time.

If the trucks show up in the middle of the night to "start"
construction, get worried.

(Ha! I'm not
holding my breath...)

Don't hold your breath to long, or there may be more than just a truck
called the purple grape!


Development around the airport- some see an accident into the
Wal-Mart/Menards just waiting to happen. Some recent crashes into
the hill to the north keep this argument going (BTW, I know that
there were reasons for the crashes)

Worse, they're now building a 500 unit apartment complex on that very same
hill. That's a bunch of trouble brewing, for the airport and many other
reasons. (Traffic will be a bitch, for sure, with an extra 500 folks in
such a tiny area.)

Yea, I know. It's a bitch that they build and then complain. Having
said that, the tax base of those 500 units will more than make up for
what the rich folks drop to come in for football. Just think about the
potential tax base sitting there on the field. It is a pretty good
argument. Wait till a guy runs out of gas ans screws himself into one!


Approach/departure over the city Approach/Depature over Kinnick
Stadium
Waste of good land- Why in the world do you need three crossing
runways?

See the note above about closing 18/36. There won't be anyone departing
over the city after that closes.

That may be the only thing that saves the airport. One more
knucklehead crashing anywhere close to the population will shut it
down.

Proximity to Cedar Rapids- Cedar Rapids- only about 15-20 min. away

Now we're down to 15 minutes? Dang, Jeff, what are you driving nowadays?

A Ford Excursion, stay the hell out of my way! Just kidding. i will
look at the clock a little closer next time I drive it and report
back. The two airports had viability when we relied only on the old 2
lane 218 to get us to Iowa City. That was probably an hour drive
airport to airport back then. With 380 built in the late 70's, it
effectively brought the cities closer together.

Services at Cedar Rapids- Tower, security, ILS approaches, crossing
large runways, pleny of room for more GA hangars, snow removal,
police, fire, general maintenance, good hangars

The horrible thing about Cedar Rapids is the security and commercial
activity. Iowa City has the finest GA airport in the nation -- or at least
it's the best I've seen in almost ten years of buzzing around the country.
Every fly-in guest at the inn comments on it, almost without exception.

What is horrible about the security. I hangar there and have NEVER had
a problem at all. In fact, I do not have to worry as much about my
plane/belongings. Don't argue the security thing with non-flyers, or
they will close you down for sure. I am not sure what it is worth to
the citizens of Iowa City, or, the citizens of Iowa that you have the
finest GA airport. I agree with you, but it is not important for me to
subsidize it with my dollars.

Duplication- To the layperson (in fact even to me) it seems to be
close enough to each other that one would do. Iowa city would
not only have no expenses, but Cedar Rapids could become
stronger

Actually, it would make a lot more sense to close the Cedar Rapids tower (a
true waste of the taxpayer's dollar) and transfer the commercial flights
back to Iowa City, from whence they came. But that won't happen either...

Wow, now that would be unsafe!!! Do you really think that IOW have the
infrastructure to handle the commercials along with UPS, Fed EX, and
others. Do you believe that there is any way that Rockwell Collins
(headquartered in Cedar Rapids) would move to Iowa City. There in NO
WAY that IOW comes even close. I will say that the non-GA folks would
go for a tower over saving Iowa City. Keep in mind...nobody really
cares about GA except for the sliver of the population that flies
these little things.

Liberals- Iowa City is chuck pack full of liberals that really
don't care about folks rich enough to be able to fly.

Boy, that's for sure. And, as under-employed university folks, they've got
all day to stew about it over a cup of mocha...

Keep'em down there!!!

Medical flights- Most are by copter- doesn't matter

Actually, most transplant organs arrive in fixed wing aircraft. Speed is
life, and copters often just won't do.

Ah, I said medical flights. Transplants could come into CID.

Transplant stuff- 20 minutes to CID no big deal. thats the reason
for the igloo's

They measure the success of those transplants based on the "age" of the
donor organ. 20 minutes (more like 30-35) is forever when you're getting a
lung from Michigan...

A copter waiting at Cedar Rapids could cut it even more. May be
quicker/safer than the drive from the airport. Could land at the
hospital helipad. Would certainly be less expensive to the folks in
Iowa City by changing the airport into tax base.


FBO's- choice of two in Cedar Rapids (Although you probably would
not count PS Air)

I always liked the guys at PS Air -- they just don't know anything about
running a business. And they sure stiffed Iowa City when they packed up and
fled in the middle of the night. All of our current problems flow all the
way back to those *******s insisting on that stupidly huge hangar.

Wasn't there also a guy that was going to have a charter operation
that put up $1,000,000 worth of United Airlines stock, for the bank to
figure out later that he had altered it, and he only had $10,000 worth
(nowadays worthless)? I don't think that it was all PS Air.


Dollars- Lots of commercial operations to pay the way. Virtually
none in Iowa City.

The City Council and Mayor of Iowa City have stood firmly against the evils
of "development" for the past 40 years (or so I've been told). They wanted
Iowa City to remain a bucolic, pretty little University town, and enacted
dozens of laws that essentially drove all new business away. (Coralridge
Mall -- the largest in the state -- was supposed to be built in Iowa City.
After hearing all the environmental crap they would be required to do, the
developers walked over to Coralville, and built it the way they wanted it
built.)

Now that Coralville and North Liberty are literally eating Iowa City's
lunch, they seem to be changing their tune. Let's hope it's not too late.

It very well may be too late. Urbana to Cedar Rapids to Coralville to
Iowa city will be the corridor. Iowa City sits on the end of the line,
and they think way different than most of us Iowa folks.


Lack of potential growth- I do not believe that any two of the
three
runways could ever be expanded.

See the note about RWY 25, above. The land has been purchased, and all they
need is the go ahead. (Which may never come, of course.)

That is one runway, you need to have a viable crosswind to be a viable
commercial airport so I am told. My bet is that it does not happen.

Opportunity costs- Current use vs. the tax base of developement.
The newer hangar could have other uses if developed around. Money in
rather than money out looks good. The deal about streets doesn't
hold much water because virtually everybody uses the streets.

Brian Sponcil (an occasional contributor to this group) did some digging
into the Iowa City annual budget, and discovered that we spent as much last
year on "cemetery beautification" as we did on the airport.

That's CEMETERY BEAUTIFICATION, Jeff! I think it's obvious that we can
afford to keep the airport open -- the issue is just a huge smoke-screen put
up by the local politicians, so that they look like they're "doing
something" about the budget deficit. And the liberals in town are glad to
fan the class warfare flames.

Stick with that argument and they will not only close the airport, but
also you will begin to have ugly cemeteries!!! My point is that you
cannot argue the fact that the potential tax base sitting there could
bring to the citizens of Iowa City lower property taxes, and a nicer
enviroment for everybody, except the few that fly. Very small %.

Cedar Rapids Airport Commision- I think that they squashed the
Marion
Airport expansion a couple of years ago. It is my opinion that
they
will get in your shorts also (I am golfing with one of the
commission
members this week. I will pick his brain)

??? I don't know anything about this. Can you expand on this a bit -- it
must've been before we moved here in '97?

A few years ago, Marion wanted to expand 18/36, and add a crosswind
runway. The word that I got was that the Cedar Rapids Airport
Commission had enough clout to effectively shut it down. They did not
want marion to take any "operations", the number that federal dollars
are determined by. Expanding IOW would very well do the same thing. I
don't know if you noticed or not, but the Cedar Rapids Municiple
Airport (as known by the FAA), is now going by the name of The Eastern
Iowa Airport. They really expect for this airport to service alot of
eastern iowa. CID is just completing the finsh stages of the 13/31
runway expansion project. We now have two real runways for real planes
(as seen in the eyes of the public). For typical Joe, there would be
no comparison between CID and IOW. Jon Ochenfels may know more of the
details.

Plenty of land around the Cedar Rapids Airport- Enough room for a
re-located aviation themed hotel

True -- but there's little reason to visit Cedar Rapids. (Sorry!)

Ouch, c'mon now. The reason in the future to come to Cedar Rapids may
be to LAND your plane!!!

It is certainly not that I would like to see it closed, they just have
plenty of reasons to close it. I personally feel that it is just a
matter of time.

Well, that's probably true of all but a dozen or so airports in the country.
I just hope that the inevitable happens long after I've flown my final
flight.

I agree, and it is not that I personally believe that it should be
closed. In reality, though, there is a pretty strong argument to do
so. In a time where budgets must be cut, it may be an easy place to do
just that. Iowa City has the foresight of a nightcrawler at times.

I would guess that 95% of Iowa City residents really don't care if the
airport closes, as they do not use it. I would guess that many of
those would rather see a U of I expansion, or something else to bring
jobs utilizing the same dirt.

A psycology teacher that I had at one time made us argue the
counterpoint of anything that we felt strongly for/against. It really
made me see the other side and come up with better arguments to
support my case. I think that it may be time to figure out those
arguments.

Later,
Jeff