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Response to Madden’s resignation from Airport Authority
To the Editor:
I have read with some interest Commissioner Eddie Madden’s letter of resignation from the Jackson County Airport Authority and feel compelled to respond.
My only contact with Madden has been through his membership on the JCAA, on which he found time to attend less than half the meetings during his tenure (2002-2005). He did, however, attend meetings with the N.C. Division of Aviation in the winter of 2003, where he voiced support to begin the process to help a neglected airport move toward becoming a viable part of the state transportation system. Madden remained an airport advocate until January, when he joined county commissioners’ actions to remove the chairman of the JCAA.
A couple of interesting things happened along the way. First, Madden called just after he joined JCAA to ask me to fly him to Myrtle Beach to conduct some real estate business. When I was unable to do so, he asked if I could locate someone who could. I found that an unusual request from person I hardly knew, let alone a county commissioner who had just joined the JCAA. However, in that conversation, he talked positively about the same airport projects he now decries.
Soon after, Madden, who was taking flying lessons, called to say he was purchasing an airplane and wanted to house it at the Jackson County Airport. Madden was aware that all hangar spaces were rented and that there was a waiting list. Again, he was unable to get his wishes, but it is odd that he at that time wanted to base his plane at an “inadequate” airport.
Then I learned Madden had decided to put his airplane at Macon County Airport, and was told that he had made statements there about Jackson County putting some $200,000 or more toward the match money Macon needs to extend its runway. Soon after, a scheme, from thin air, was developed to create a Jackson-Macon Airport Authority to benefit the Macon airport. This new, never publicly discussed plan came from a commissioners’ closed session after a lawsuit was filed to stop the illegal takeover of the JCAA by Madden and some of his supporters.
A couple of other remarks in response to Madden’s assertions:
Madden says that the airport has had little economic benefit. Does that mean that the Harrah’s representatives who flew in when negotiating with the Eastern Band to build and operate a casino, that the businessmen from Wal-Mart who flew in to scout and site a store, or the businessmen from Lowe’s who regularly fly into the JCA as they move toward a store here are all of no economic benefit? How many jobs are linked to just these companies? Does that mean that families flying in to see Thomas the Tank engine are not of economic benefit?
Madden quotes from a 1997 report by Talbert and Bright aviation consultants. Just as Madden seemed to have forgotten that the Authority had contracted for, received and distributed audits in each of the years he was a member when he suddenly this spring called for audits, he also seems to have forgotten that Talbert and Bright just completed a 10-year master plan for the JCA. This came after a communitywide visioning process and with the support the Division of Aviation. That plan was not completed in 1997 but in April 2004 (back when Madden was in favor of the airport).
That report said that a runway length of 4,000 could be attained and that such a length would accommodate up to 95 percent of the general aviation fleet having less than 10 passenger seats. Seventy-five percent of the general aviation fleet can be accommodated with 3,400 feet of runway.
It is true that commercial air carrier service of a regional nature is not in the future for the JCA. Of course that’s true, and the reality is that it’s not likely destined for Macon, or Andrews-Murphy, or Transylvania County. Asheville has been struggling to hold its air carrier service with 8,000 feet of runway.
Chris Hudson of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, a national organization advocating for general aviation, recently said this about the Jackson and Macon airports. “Both are in an area underserved by aviation with significant economic development needs. Both are actively working on airport master plans with consultants and with NCDOT Aviation which will improve that service. Neither could serve the region by itself as well as the two together, and both ought to be allowed to stand on their own foundation.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Jim Rowell
Secretary/Treasurer
Jackson County Airport Authority
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