SPRINGDALE — Offices at the Jones Center overlook a garden, parking lots and a stream of airplanes landing at the Springdale Municipal Airport.
“I can look up from my desk and see the planes all the time,” said Kelly Kemp-McLintock, the center’s chief advancement officer. “It’s never been a problem.”
The flight path to the runway passes about 300 feet from the offices and about 200 feet from the Jones Center chapel. Lights marking the path are installed through the parking lot. On Feb. 12, a small airplane crashed at the foot of the last light on the Jones Center grounds.
The crash of the two-seat Cessna 105G injured Barry Gilbow, 53, and Shane Crawford, 46. They were treated and released from Northwest Medical Center-Springdale.
Despite the proximity of the airport, about 900 feet from the north end of the runway to the center’s main building, incidents have been rare, said Jeff Ohnstad, director of the organization’s Team Adventure Center.
The recent crash was the nearest miss going back to when the building was the Jones Truck Lines terminal, Ohnstad said. The terminal was built in the 1970s, he said. Ohnstad has been with the Jones Center since it opened.
The center, which opened in 1996, provides meeting space and recreational activities, including a swimming pool and ice rink, for families. Between 2,000 and 4,000 people go through the building’s doors on a Saturday, said Kemp-McLintock.
The airport opened in 1943 and was donated to Springdale in 1947, said Wyman Morgan, city director of administration.
The city, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Jones Center and the Rodeo of the Ozarks worked together when renovation at the Jones Center and Parsons Stadium conflicted with airport regulations, according to city records.
Parsons Stadium, where the rodeo is held, is about 750 feet east of the runway. The stadium’s capacity is about 9,000 for its events, which include demolition derbies and carnivals. The rodeo has been in the same location since the 1940s, according to its website.
“The FAA’s concerns weren’t so much with the height of the buildings as the potential for a problem when a large number of people would attend events in the flight path,” said Neil Johnson, a pilot and a member of the Springdale Airport Commission.
In 1995, FAA representatives told the city the Jones Center was not in compliance with its recommendations against having large assembly places near airports, according to city records. The conversion of an existing building, the truck terminal, made the Jones Center possible, city officials responded.
The FAA understood why the center was being built and construction would not jeopardize future grants from the organization, stated the records.
The airport has continued to receive FAA grants, including more than $400,000 in 2009 that paid for land on the east side of the runway.
The FAA closely watches the height of any obstacle beyond the ends of the runway, Morgan said. The city purchased aerial easement for the land beyond the runway. The easement limits the height of anything in the easement, including trees. The city trims trees that grow into the easement every two to three years, said James Smith, city airport manager.
A Kum & Go built at the north end of the airport on Old Missouri Road could not put up a flagpole as tall as it wanted, because the easement, Morgan said.
An E-Z Mart at the corner of Old Missouri Road and Emma Avenue had to remove the top two rows of blocks from its front facade, according to city records. The FAA ruled the blocks extended into the protected zone of the runway.
The Jones Center had to adjust the roof on its renovation plans after the FAA ruled the building extended into the protected zone, Morgan said.
The regulations also affected the rodeo’s plans to put a roof over the west stands of the stadium.
“If you look at the roof, you can see the northwest corner is lower,” said Charles “Tex” Holt, a long-time member of the Rodeo of the Ozarks board. “I believe we had to do that to be approved.”
Roofing material was stacked outside the stadium for two years before the approval was granted, Holt said. The FAA changed the airport’s approach path to a steeper angle to help the buildings’ heights fit regulations, city records state.
The presence of the center, stadium and other buildings around the airport creates an unusual situation for pilots of small planes, Johnson said.
“You don’t have as much of a margin for error,” Johnson said. “If you’re off in some airports in eastern Arkansas, you can land in a bean field.”
Last week’s plane crash was the first with injuries in years, Smith said. The last fatal accident at the airport, Johnson said, was in 1971, while he was studying to be a pilot.
FAA records state a flight instructor and a student were killed Sept. 20, 1971, when a Piper airplane stalled during touch and go landings and nosed into the runway. The names of the victims were not available from the records.
Four people died in the crash of another Piper a few minutes after taking off from Springdale on March 16, 1984, according to FAA records. The plane dipped out of low-hanging clouds and hit a high-voltage power line.
Because Springdale’s airport is designated for general aviation, a fire station is not required on site, Smith said. Airports with passenger airlines, such as Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, are required to have staffed fire stations.
The Springdale airport falls within easy response time of three fire stations, said Fire Chief Duane Atha. Two stations have almost straight shots to the airport, he said.
“We have access through several gates to the airport,” Atha said. “We’ve never had a problem getting there quickly.”
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By The Numbers
Airport Stats
The Federal Aviation Administration defines an aviation accident as anything that causes an injury to a person or major damage to an aircraft. Before a plane crash Feb. 12 near the Springdale Municipal Airport that injured two, the last accident when a person was injured came in 2001. The Drake Aviation flying school closed in 2006, reducing operations, which are take-offs and landings.
Year Operations Accidents
2010 28,969 0
2009 33,007 1
2008 31,322 0
2007 26,916 0
2006 41,304 0
2005 60,095 0
2004 56,624 1
2003 52,494 2
2002 48,997 0
2001 52,402 2
2000 29,835 0
Source: Springdale, Federal Aviation Administration