Updated — The Stafford County Board of Supervisors could use coronavirus money to help tell the story of Aerodrome No. 5, now believed to be the first case of unmanned flight.
The Langley Foundation has sought American Rescue Plan Act funding to create a new exhibit at the Stafford Regional Airport, a replica of Aerodrome No. 5, flown by Samuel Pierpont Langley on May 6, 1896, in Stafford County.
dThe foundation’s president Chris Hornung hopes to raise $300,000 to build the exhibit. The funds from the county would be a one-to-one match with the foundation responsible for raising the other $150,000.
Some members of the Board expressed disapproval over the potential funding. Hartwood District Supervisor Darrell English said there would be little return on the investment. The regional airport is located in the Hartwood District. English later stated that the funds would be better suited to establish a museum in the county.
“I don’t think this is a good use of funding,” said English. “I think we have other needs that we need to take care of and I can’t support it.”
Aquia District Supervisor Monica Gary responded with her support of the project, believing it could bring tourism to the county.
“I see this as an investment,” said Gary. “A small investment compared to the return we could see, such as education opportunities and what this would do for our tourism.”
According to county documents, Director of Economic Development and Tourism John Holden said ARPA funding could be used to aid planned expansion or upgrade of tourism, travel, and hospitality facilities delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The county’s consultants are still reviewing the project to meet compliance for eligibility.
The Aerodrome No. 5 project has been in the works since 2019 and was hampered by the pandemic. The foundation has contracted with the Warrenton-based Wright Experience to construct the exhibit.
The goals of the Aerodrome Initiative include bringing national attention to the Aerodrome No.5 event as the first heavier-than-air mechanical flight in history, the first successful aircraft carrier launch, and the first unmanned aerial vehicle. Other goals include the development of an aviation STEAM-related curriculum for county students, attracting the aviation industry to the area, and promoting employment opportunities in the aviation field.
The Board of Supervisors has yet to approve the funding and could do so soon.
The Langley Foundation is obligated to raise funds to build the exhibit by December 31, 2024, and have it completed by December 31, 2026.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the Stafford County Board of Supervisors had resolved to use coronavirus money to fund the Aerodrome No. 5 project.
After 15 years of planning and negotiation, Stafford Regional Airport has completed its goal of extending its runway by 1,000 feet.
The airport held a ceremony in honor of the extension, which included the flight of a blue Boeing-Stearman Model 75 biplane, the first plane that flew from and touched down on the newly extended runway.
The ceremony included former and current members of its authority and various members of the Stafford County government and its board of supervisors.
“It’s a monumental day. There are so many people that were involved in getting this project going. We had great leadership, and it was a big collaboration between the municipalities and the FAA on the state and national levels. It’s a great combination of everyone coming together to see this happen.” said John Eaves, the current chairman of the Airport Authority.
The goal of the extension, according to both Eaves and other members of the authority, was to allow for bigger planes to use the airport. The 1,000-foot extension will also lead to more fuel sales and a greater probability of economic development in the area due to the newly extended, now 6,000-foot runway.
The funding for the extension came from the Federal Aviation Administration, which gave $5.5 million to the airport in July 2021. That funding came from a larger pot of $14 million of transportation funding dedicated to Virginia airports. Construction on the extension would begin in June 2022 and finish in early September.
“We’re very excited that the runway extension is complete and that the FAA was phenomenal in this since they paid for the entire expansion. This did not cost our taxpayers in Stafford County any money,” said Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke.
Potomac Local News also spoke to Hank Schapenberg, who was also present at the ceremony and performed the ribbon-cutting duties. Scharfenberg has been a part of the Airport Authority since 2007 and was a vocal proponent of the runway extension when people thought, as Scharpenberg himself puts it “touching the third rail” on the matter.
“The airport can now function as a true economic driver, it can get businessmen in here from either the West Coast or Europe, take off again, and we know that’s going to bring economic development,” said Scharpenberg.
The next move for the airport, according to Schapenberg adding more T-hangers to house more planes. The airport also wants to pursue more corporate clients willing to park their aircraft at the airport.
The Stafford Regional Airport sits at 90 Aviation Way in Stafford, just off Centreport Parkway.
The Stafford Regional Airport held an event to announce the launch of its Aerodrome No.5 project, which will tell the story of the county’s connection to early American aviation.
Professor Samuel Pierpont Langley is noted for successfully conducting the first heavier-than-air flight on May 6, 1896, with the designated Aerodrome No. 5. Langley chose Chopawamsic Island, a small land mass in the Potomac River between Quantico and Stafford County, as his launching point.
The 14-foot structure was launched from a houseboat off of the island’s coast and flew approximately 3,300 feet for 90 seconds before having a gentle landing on the river. The Aerodrome No.5 flight is the first instance of mechanical flight in the U.S., event organizers said.
Until now historians have credited The Wright Brothers are credited for being the first to fully when they flew a heavier-than-air contraption at Kitty Hawk, N.C., on December 17, 1903. The state coined the phrase “first in flight” and printed it on its vehicle license plates.
Langley beat his record on November 26, 1896, when Aerodrome No.6 was launched from the same location and flew 4,200 feet at an average speed of 30 miles per hour.
“Stafford’s history is so rich and deep, we want to get it out there and talk about it,” said Scott Mayausky, treasurer of the Langley Flight Foundation. “What Langley achieved changed the course of world history, he was an instrumental part of that, and it happened right here in Stafford County. We want to recognize that, acknowledge that, and be proud that it happened here in Stafford County.”
In addition to his position with the foundation, Mayausky is also the president of the Stafford Museum and Cultural Museum and the county’s Commissioner of Revenue.
The Foundation and the Stafford Regional Airport have formed a partnership to have a to-scale model of Aerodrome No.5 built to display it in the airport’s terminal. The 14 by 14 model intends to use it for educational purposes for students interested in STEM fields such as engineering, aviation, and mathematics.
Other possibilities of use for the Aerodrome No.5 exhibit include spurring more economic development and tourism, which could attract aviation enthusiasts and airplane and drone development.
“This is an incredible opportunity to not only educate people not only about a little-known aspect of Stafford’s history but to give people a sense of the whole concept of what happened here and how we can move forward in the future,” said Hank Scharpenberg, a member of the Stafford Regional Airport Authority.
The event was-co sponsored by the Langley Flight Foundation, a 501c3 corporation, seeking funding of $350,000 for constructing a replica of Aerodrome No.5. The Wright Experience in Warrenton would build the model, to be housed at the Stafford Regional Airport.
The original Aerodrome No.5 sits at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
The Langley Foundation has set up a GoFundMe page as one method of raising funds for the exhibit. Donations for the project can also be made on the foundation’s webpage at langfound.org.
Stover briefed the Stafford County Board of Supervisors, giving a healthy outlook on the airport's business, including a progress report on the ongoing expansion of its runway.
According to Stover, the 1,000 foot runway extension is expected to be completed on time and come in at budget. Phase I of the expansion, which included inspections, permits, and other approvals has been completed on time and has come in slightly under budget. Phase II which involves the actual extension of the runway itself was declared by Stover to be completed by September 2022.
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The Stafford County Board of Supervisors will consider creating an Economic Infrastructure Fund that will secure future funds for infrastructure improvements along Centreport Parkway, near the Stafford Regional Airport.
Conceptually, the fund would be used as a savings account that would use a portion of the county's tax revenue to support future growth and development in the area where a new 200,000 square foot Amazon fulfillment center will open.
The new center is expected to create at least 100 full and part-time associate jobs and potentially hundreds of driver opportunities.
The Centreport area has long been targeted by the county's Community and Economic Development Committee as an area with potential for both industrial and distribution businesses.
According to county documents, the fund model is based on the use of future tax revenues as opposed to other options such as Community Development Authorities, which raise funds through additional taxes.
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The Stafford County Regional Airport Authority is discussing the possibility of holding a recycling day.
A letter sent to the airport by Diane Jones, the Recycling Manager of the Rappahannock Regional Solid Waste Management Board, or R-Board, is requesting permission from the airport to hold a bi-annual collection for household, hazardous, and electronic waste on their property.
Specifically, the R-Board wants to hold the event in their parking lot in a fashion similar to events they held in Stafford and Fredericksburg over the years.
The R-Board has held these events annually, the most recent one being held at the Fredericksburg City Public Works offices in downtown. The plan would be to hold such an event in the middle of the year at the airport were products that couldn’t ordinarily be left in the landfill would be collected and properly disposed of.
This would include substances such as latex paints, gasoline, and other toxic chemicals. This also includes old and broken electronic equipment which is illegal to dump in any landfill.
The one issue that concerned the Airport Authority was the possibility of spills that could occur during the event. R-Board spokeswoman M.C. Morris said that the event would have a professional company on hand at the event for such occasions just as they have for the collection events they’ve held in the past.
One such company that was on hand last year at an event held at the Stafford County Government Center was New York-based company MXI. No word has come from the R-Board about who would offer such environmental clean-up services since the event hasn’t been officially promoted yet.
Should the event go forward it would be held at the Stafford County Regional Airport sometime in May or early June and be open to the public on a Saturday between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
According to Morris, the R-board offers this collection as a free service to the public with the costs covered by the board themselves.
“No taxes or fees are collected for this event, the funds to offer this event comes from the pockets of the board itself,” said Morris.
During a closed-to-the-public ceremony sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, today’s Stafford County Regional Airport broke ground on a project to extend its existing runway.
A small group was invited to join the Stafford Airport Regional Airport Authority in the biting January wind to celebrate the beginning of construction on their new runway extension, which has been in the works since 2007.
The construction will add 1,000 feet to the existing 5,000 runway, which is 100 feet wide. Many officials on the Airport Authority and the governments of surrounding counties are certain that it will help bring greater economic growth to the area.
Speakers at the event included Authority Chairman Samer Shalaby, who gave a brief history of the airport’s development and commented on the potential future of what the airport can offer to customers who will come in for a landing.
“With this extension, we hope to attract more planes and in the future to be able to offer more services. We have great onsite mechanics, and we’d like to be able to offer that service to planes coming to the area,” said Shalaby.
Prince William County Potomac District Supervisor Andrea O. Bailey also spoke, and who congratulated the airport on occasion, as did Stafford County Board of Supervisors Cindy Shelton, of the Aquia District, who expressed excitement for the project and praised the authority for their drive and fiscal responsibility which led to the project becoming a reality.
Desi Arnaiz has served on the board for the last 15 years and stressed the importance of getting the runway completed.
“It allows a large amount of commercial aircraft that couldn’t come in here to come in. That extra 1,000 foot complies with their internal corporate policies, so the airport will probably double in services and landings. And it’s a good safety feature,” said Arnaiz.
Arnaiz also commented on how the improved runway could draw in long-range flights as a stopover for refueling before heading off across the country and international flights.
Hank Scharpenberg has served on the Authority since 2007 and has been one of the driving forces behind getting the extension done. Scharfenberg also commented on the economic possibilities that the extension could bring once construction is completed in the next two years.
The Stafford Regional Airport is responsible for $23 million in annual economic activity in the region, according to a 2017 study from the Virginia Department of Aviation. With the new extension, that activity may soon soar to greater heights.
Stafford and Prince William counties and Fredericksburg City each provide local funding for the airport.
The Stafford Regional Airport will hold a groundbreaking for the extension of its runway on Monday, January 18, 2021, at 11 a.m.
The groundbreaking takes place at the airport located at 95 Aviation Way. Members of the Board of Supervisors are invited and may attend. The groundbreaking is not open to the public due to the coronavirus, a county spokeswoman tells PLN.
The existing 5,000-foot runway will be extended 1,000 feet. This project has been in the works since 2007, and the Stafford Regional Airport Authority (SRAA) opened bids for a contract on June 9. The winning bidder was Fredericksburg based Henderson Construction Company, which made a bid of just over $3.4 million for the project.
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