AIRPORT FACILITY REQUIREMENTS Chapter Three
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Chapter Three MESA-FALCONMESA-FALCON FIELDFIELD AIRPORTAIRPORT AIRPORT FACILITY REQUIREMENTS Chapter Three To properly plan for the future of those facilities that are related to the Mesa-Falcon Field Airport, it is necessary arrival, departure, and ground movement to translate forecast aviation demand of aircraft. The components include: into the specific types and quantities of • Runways facilities that can adequately serve this identified demand. In this chapter, • Taxiways existing components of the airport are • Navigational Approach Aids evaluated so that the capacities of the • Airfield Lighting, Marking, and overall system are identified. Once Signage identified, the existing capacity is compared to the forecast activity levels Landside facilities are needed for the to determine where deficiencies interface between air and ground currently exist or may be expected to transportation modes. This includes materialize in the future. Once components for general aviation needs deficiencies in a component are such as: identified, a more specific determination of the approximate sizing and timing of • General Aviation Terminal the new facilities can be made. • Aircraft Hangars • Aircraft Parking Aprons As indicated earlier, airport facilities include both airfield and landside • Auto Parking and Access components. Airfield facilities include • Airport Support Facilities 3-1 The objective of this effort is to identi- provide flexibility and potentially ex- fy, in general terms, the adequacy of tend this plan’s useful life should avia- the existing airport facilities and out- tion trends slow over time. line what new facilities may be needed and when they may be needed to ac- The most important reason for utiliz- commodate forecast demands. Having ing milestones is to allow the airport established these facility require- to develop facilities according to need ments, alternatives for providing these generated by actual demand levels. facilities will be evaluated in Chapter The demand-based schedule provides Four to determine the most practical, flexibility in development, as the cost-effective, and efficient direction schedule can be slowed or expedited for future development. according to actual demand at any given time over the planning period. The resulting plan provides airport PLANNING HORIZONS officials with a financially responsible and needs-based program. Table 3A Cost-effective, safe, efficient, and or- presents the planning horizon miles- derly development of an airport should tones for each activity demand catego- rely more on actual demand at an air- ry. The planning milestones of short, port than a time-based forecast figure. intermediate, and long term generally Thus, in order to develop a Master correlate to the five, ten, and twenty- Plan that is demand-based rather year periods used in the previous than time-based, a series of planning chapter. horizon milestones have been estab- lished that take into consideration the The Mesa-Falcon Field Airport airport reasonable range of aviation demand traffic control tower (ATCT) is not projections. manned 24 hours per day, so the exist- ing operational count is not all- It is important to consider that over inclusive of operations at the airport. time, the actual activity at the airport Certain elements of the planning ana- may be higher or lower than what the lyses, however, require that all the annualized forecast portrays. By airport activity be considered. For planning according to activity miles- these evaluations, it is necessary to tones, the resulting plan can accom- estimate and adjust for operations modate unexpected shifts or changes that occur when the tower is closed. in the aviation demand. It is impor- The Mesa-Falcon Field ATCT hours tant to plan for these milestones so are from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The that airport officials can respond to operations were increased by three unexpected changes in a timely fa- percent for nighttime adjustment and shion. As a result, these milestones included in the table. 3-2 TABLE 3A Planning Horizon Activity Summary Mesa-Falcon Field Airport Short Intermediate Long Term Term Term 2007 (0-5 years) (6-10 years) (11-20 years) Itinerant Operations General Aviation 134,773 150,000 170,000 195,000 Air Taxi 6,912 8,900 10,800 16,000 Military 1,746 4,000 4,000 4,000 Total Itinerant 143,431 162,900 184,800 215,000 Local Operations General Aviation 170,026 190,000 210,000 235,000 Military 672 1,000 1,000 1,000 Total Local 170,698 191,000 211,000 236,000 Nighttime 3% Adjustment 9,424 10,600 11,900 13,500 TOTAL OPERATIONS 323,553 364,500 407,700 464,500 TOTAL BASED AIRCRAFT 892 1,150 1,300 1,500 AIRFIELD PLANNING The FAA has established a coding sys- CRITERIA tem to relate airport design criteria to the operational and physical characte- The selection of appropriate Federal ristics of aircraft expected to use the Aviation Administration (FAA) design airport. This airport reference code standards for the development and lo- (ARC) has two components. The first cation of airport facilities is based component, depicted by a letter, is the primarily upon the characteristics of aircraft approach category and relates the aircraft which are currently using to aircraft approach speed (operational or are expected to use the airport. The characteristic); the second component, critical design aircraft is used to de- depicted by a Roman numeral, is the fine the design parameters for the air- airplane design group and relates to port. The critical design aircraft is de- aircraft wingspan (physical characte- fined as the most demanding category ristic). Generally, aircraft approach of aircraft, or family of aircraft, which speed applies to runways and runway- conducts at least 500 operations per related facilities, while aircraft year at the airport. Planning for fu- wingspan primarily relates to separa- ture aircraft use is of particular im- tion criteria involving taxiways, tax- portance since design standards are ilanes, and landside facilities. used to plan many airside and land- side components. These future stan- According to FAA Advisory Circular dards must be considered now to en- (AC) 150/5300-13, Airport Design, sure that short term development does Change 11, an aircraft’s approach cat- not preclude the long range potential egory is based upon 1.3 times its stall needs of the airport. speed in landing configuration at that aircraft’s maximum certificated 3-3 weight. The five approach categories Field Airport through the planning pe- used in airport planning are as fol- riod. Operations by aircraft in ARCs lows: C-I through D-II are also somewhat limited by available runway length at Category A: Speed less than 91 knots. the airport. Category B: Speed 91 knots or more, but less than 121 knots. The FAA recommends designing air- Category C: Speed 121 knots or more, port functional elements to meet the but less than 141 knots. requirements for the most demanding Category D: Speed 141 knots or more, ARC for that airport. The majority of but less than 166 knots. aircraft currently operating at the air- Category E: Speed greater than 166 port are small single engine aircraft knots. weighing less than 12,500 pounds. The airport also has a significant vo- The airplane design group (ADG) is lume of corporate aircraft ranging based upon either the aircraft’s from the smaller Cessna Citation fam- wingspan or tail height, whichever is ily to the Challenger 600, which can greater. For example, an aircraft may weigh more than 50,000 pounds. fall in ADG II for wingspan at 70 feet, but ADG III for tail height at 33 feet. In order to determine airfield design This aircraft would be classified under requirements, the critical aircraft and ADG III. The six ADGs used in air- critical ARC should first be deter- port planning are as follows: mined, and then appropriate airport design criteria can be applied. This Tail Height Wingspan process begins with a review of air- ADG (feet) (feet) craft currently using the airport and I <20 <49 those expected to use the airport II 20 - <30 49 - <79 through the long term planning pe- III 30 - <45 79 - <118 IV 45 - <60 118 - <171 riod. V 60 - <66 171 - <214 VI 66 - <80 214 - <262 Source: AC 150/5300-13, Change 11 CURRENT CRITICAL AIRCRAFT (March 2007) The critical design aircraft is defined as the most demanding category of Exhibit 3A summarizes representa- aircraft which conduct 500 or more op- tive aircraft by ARC. As shown on the erations at the airport each year. In exhibit, the airport does not currently, some cases, more than one specific nor is it expected to, regularly serve make and model of aircraft comprises aircraft in ARCs C-III, D-III, C-IV, D- the airport’s critical design aircraft. IV, or D-V. These are large transport For example, one category of aircraft aircraft commonly used by commercial may be the most critical in terms of air carriers and air cargo carriers, approach speed, while another is most which do not currently use, nor are critical in terms of wingspan. Smaller they expected to use, Mesa-Falcon general aviation piston-powered air- 3-4 • Beech Baron 55 A-I • Beech Bonanza C-I, D-I • Cessna 150 • Beech 400 06MP17-3A-1/21/09 • Cessna 172 • Lear 25, 31, 35, 45, • Cessna Citation 55, 60 Mustang • Israeli Westwind • Eclipse 500 • HS 125-400, 700 • Piper Archer • Piper Seneca less than • Cessna Citation III, 12,500 lbs. • Beech Baron 58 B-IB-I less than C-II, D-II VI, VIII, X 12,500 lbs. • Beech King Air 100 • Gulfstream II, III, IV • Cessna 402 • Canadair 600 • Cessna 421 • ERJ-135, 140, 145 • Piper Navajo • CRJ-200, 700, 900 • Piper Cheyenne • Embraer Regional Jet • Swearingen Metroliner • Lockheed JetStar • Cessna Citation I • Super King Air 350 less than 12,500 lbs.