TERRE HAUTE —

It may be another six months before officials at Terre Haute International Airport-Hulman Field and Indiana State University know if the Wabash Valley will be part of a Federal Aviation Administration test site for unmanned aircraft systems.

The two entities are part of what is called Indiana’s National Center for Complex Operations, which last month partnered with the state of Ohio, to pursue one of six sites the FAA will pick for developing unmanned aircraft system technology and operational procedures for such craft to routinely fly across the U.S.

Ohio offers test laboratories, and Indiana has restricted air space for test flights at locations such as Muscatatuck Urban Training Center and Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center.

Terre Haute’s airport can be used as a launching site to reach those restricted air spaces, said Darrel Zeck, director of operations and development at the airport.

Terre Haute offers less congested airspace that other sites, is capable of landing nearly any sized aircraft, provides automated landing and takeoff systems, and houses air traffic controllers, which includes a training center for those controllers, Zeck said.

Growth in the multi-billion unmanned aerial systems industry is expected to skyrocket in the next decade. A test site would create jobs from contractors using the test sites, Zeck said.

Zeck said Friday that the Ohio/Indiana partnership was to submit a proposal by Sept. 18. The FAA, he said, has pushed that back.

“I personally believe we won’t see anything until after the [November] election, likely in early December,” Zeck said. It would then be another 90 days before the FAA rules on the six sites, he added.

If the Ohio/Indiana partnership is selected as a test site, Indiana State University would serve as a “gateway” for civilian organizations to use the airspace in Indiana, said Richard E. Baker, ISU assistant professor of aviation and program director of ISU’s Unmanned System and Human Capital Development.

“If a company wants to come in and use the airspace to do some training with their unmanned system, ISU will take a look at it and sponsor them into the National Guard,” Baker said.

“We would do a small risk assessment to make sure [an unmanned system] is air worthy and safe to fly and has appropriate plans and checklists in place,” Baker said.

Zeck said whether the Ohio/Indiana partnership is chosen as a test site designation, the Terre Haute airport is continuing a parallel path with ISU “working on unmanned systems and bringing that business and economic development to the state of Indiana,” Zeck said.

Baker said by year’s end, ISU plans to obtain a certificate of authority to fly small unmanned systems out of Terre Haute International Airport-Hulman Field.

“That will be very limited. They will look like toy helicopters and toy airplanes to most people,” Baker said.

ISU currently offers a minor in unmanned systems and will offer a bachelor’s degree in the fall of 2013, Baker said.

“We are working on the application of unmanned systems for the benefit of people in areas such as homeland security, first responders and agricultural applications,” Baker said.

“You could get a better crop estimate and look at things such as crop damage and disease. The advantage is it costs much less that hiring an aircraft with a person per hour,” Baker said of unmanned aircraft.

Unmanned aircraft can also fly on cloudy days, which can block the view for satellites, Baker said. Such unmanned flights could also be used to show flood damage or potential flood concerns, Baker added.

“We think the civilian and agricultural side will grow rapidly over time, especially after the FAA has figured out how to work them in the national airspace system. That is why we are involved in the Indiana/Ohio effort to get a test site in our state,” Baker said.

“We want to be on the leading edge of trying to make sure this is done safely in the national airspace,” Baker said. “The biggest task is to make sure there is an ability to keep an unmanned aircraft system safely in the national airspace with a sense and avoid system, which works the same as a manned aircraft which uses a see and avoid” system with a pilot, he said.

“The research is how is this going to work,” Baker said.

Reporter Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.

com.

TERRE HAUTE — A just-released economic impact study of Hoosier airports has Wabash Valley aviation officials flying higher than expected.

A 24-page report released Tuesday contends that Indiana’s 69 public-use airports generate $14.1 billion in economic output and sustain more than 69,000 jobs. In break-outs (below) explaining the numbers produced at each of the airports, the jobs and payroll of facility employees and tenants sites alike were tabulated.

Bill McKown, executive director of the Terre Haute International Airport, said at first look, he was a little surprised and thought the numbers were high at more than $68.7 million in economic output. But on further inspection, McKown said that figure might actually be a little low.

And given major developments already slated to land at the Terre Haute facility next year, he said bigger numbers are on the horizon.

“The big thing to remember is the economic impact (the airport) has on the community,” he said, describing aviation as part of a transportation mix including rail and highways. “We complete the equation.”

By the numbers

The 2012 Indiana Airports Economic Impact Study was organized by the Aviation Association of Indiana and Conexus Indiana in partnership with the Indiana Department of Transportation. Modeled after FAA-endorsed methodologies, it was designed to determine economic impact of on-airport and off-airport businesses using multipliers to estimate the rollover effect. State aviation officials said the data support their argument that aviation remains a significant component of the economy.

“These study results paint a clear picture of the value of Indiana’s airports not only to residents who rely on air travel for business and pleasure, but to the thousands of businesses that rely on airport services to move people and products,” Bart Giesler, executive director of the Aviation Association of Indiana, said in a news release. “This backs our continued assertion that aviation investment by the state creates jobs in the private sector. Airports connect Hoosier businesses to their customers, and this connection means jobs.”

According to the study, Indiana airports serve more than 6.5 million Hoosiers. Businesses that use those airports generate total payrolls exceeding $4.1 billion.

Of the total 69,149 jobs, approximately 30 percent exist at Indianapolis International Airport; another 23 percent exist at Indiana’s three other commercial airports; and the remaining 47 percent exist at Indiana’s 65 general aviation airports.

In addition to creating jobs in communities across the state, Indiana airports provide Hoosier communities with support for air cargo and logistics operations; emergency medical transportation; law enforcement/search-and-rescue efforts; aerial agricultural operations; flight training and education; land surveying; and entertainment.

Regionally, the report states Wabash Valley facilities are also generating substantial output totals:

• Sullivan County’s airport reportedly supports a total of 6.1 jobs, payroll impact of $347,571 and overall output of $841,385.

• Clay County’s airport supports a total of 76.8 total jobs, associated payrolls exceeding $3.2 million and a total output of more than $12.8 million.

• In Vermillion County, the airport is estimated to support 223.9 total jobs, payrolls of $11.4 million and overall output of $27.5 million.

• Putnam County’s airport reportedly supports 489.9 jobs, payrolls of $22.2 million and overall output of $103.4 million.

• And the Terre Haute airport impacts 772.4 jobs, payrolls of $39.8 million and an overall output of $68.7 million.

McKown said the local facility’s numbers reflect the partnership with multiple military units, including the 181st Intelligence Wing of the Indiana Air National Guard.

“The Guard is probably the largest employer here,” he said, explaining those jobs and associated businesses would most likely be absent were it not for an airport here. Other businesses maintain employees at the facility, from the restaurant to Tri-Aerospace, Williams Aviation and White Construction, he said.

Depending on how one counts the numerous part-time positions or seasonal labor associated with the facility’s rented farm ground and ongoing construction projects, the total on-site number of workers could actually be as high as 900, he said, adding overall economic impact could realistically be in excess of $70 million.

Smaller counties’ impact

Ron Walker, manager of the Sullivan County airport, said residents aren’t always aware of the traffic his facility receives. And some don’t even know it exists.

“We try to make it a community airport as much as we can,” he said, describing the facility’s business as “general aviation” with regular Aviation Awareness Days, aerobatics shows and other entertainment.

But corporations fly executives into the airport two or three times each month, some for Hoosier Energy and others for the area coal mines. About 34 planes are based on the local field, and four new pilots will earn their licenses by this year’s end, he said.

In Brazil, airport manager Jack Thomas said their facility is used each year for agricultural applications as crop dusters fly in from as far as Paris, Ill.

Thomas and his wife, Bobbie, have managed the airport more than 15 years and both are pilots. Thomas got his license there in 1978. The current airport actually began as a grass airstrip in the 1960s, with additions and updates made continually. Today, the airport fields about 18 planes as well as corporate aircraft for local businesses with out-of-state clients.

“It’s kind of a weekend airport,” he said, pointing out that in addition to being a business necessity, flying is fun.

The rising price of fuel has made recreational aviation a little slower these days, he said, noting current prices are between $6 and $6.50 per gallon. A Cessna 172 typically burns eight gallons an hour, and like automobiles, fuel efficiency varies among models, he explained.

“The price of fuel has really hurt the flying time of pilots here because of the cost of it,” he said, noting $50 an hour is pretty average.

Generating traffic

McKown said construction will begin this spring on a new $10.5 million Army National Guard facility to be located at the Terre Haute International Airport. Another 60 full-time jobs will be brought to the facility, in addition to the hundreds more that come for weekend drill.

“That’s a very exciting piece. That’s a real plus,” he said, pointing out how rare it is for an airport like this to host three different Guard units.

Another goal he plans to achieve is the procurement of a “vacation destination airline” which would transport travelers to a recreational facility.

Bigger than its neighbors and smaller than Indianapolis, the Terre Haute airport balances a wide range of business from university athletic team travel to the transport of prisoners to and from federal facilities. Compared with its peers, McKown said the local airport is doing well and should do even better in the coming years.

“We have a super general aviation airport,” he said, describing a plan to dominate the market available for facilities this size.

Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.