The Federal Aviation Administration sent a letter last week in response to Arcola Mayor Tom Tuffly’s claim that Houston Southwest Airport seemed to be out of compliance with the safety standards set forth by the FAA. Tuffly demanded the FAA shut down the airport if these standards were not met. The FAA says the airport is A-OK and in compliance, according to the letter.

The letter explains that the FAA established newer standards that have been implemented. Tuffly was basing his theory on older standards previously set forth by the FAA that pertained to McKeever Road.

Tuffly questioned whether the Houston Southwest Airport could operate legally due to what he deemed a conflict with the runway protection zone on McKeever Road.

Mike Nicely, manager with the FAA Southwest Region based in Fort Worth, said that Houston Southwest Airport is within federal safety guidelines. No conflict exists between the runway protection zone and McKeever Road, he said.

The airport is privately owned by Steve Griffith and lies within Arcola city limits. It has been the subject of an ongoing controversy because McKeever Road, a major thoroughfare in Arcola, has been considered to be too close to one end of the runway.

Nicely said that in 2004 he had encouraged Fort Bend County Judge Bob Hebert to make improvements to adjacent roads, including McKeever and South Post Oak, because the county was considering purchasing Houston Southwest.

“As part of process, the county developed an airport master plan and airport layout plan. Those plans called for improvements to make the airport capable of accommodating a full range of general aviation corporate aircraft,” Nicely said, adding that the standards for the type of reliever airport considered by the county are different than those governing the airport today.

At that time, the FAA encouraged the county to realign South Post Oak Road and McKeever Road to allow for expansion of the runway.

The county later abandoned the purchase plan, primarily due to citizen’s objections.

“Based on the existing critical aircraft, which is the largest aircraft or class of aircraft that makes regular use of the airport, the runway falls within the existing airport property,” Nicely explained.

Nicely emphasized that the role of general aviation airports in the Houston area is critical to the smooth operation of the larger airports, which handle large jetliners. The smaller airports give general aviation aircraft an alternative to the two large airports in the greater Houston area, Bush and Hobby. This helps the large airports serve the needs of passenger and cargo airplanes and reduces air traffic and congestion at the larger facilities.

“Developing a new publicly-owned airport to complement and supplement Sugar Land Regional Airport in the west or southwest portion of the Houston metropolitan area is very unlikely,” Nicely noted, adding that efforts to build such airports usually meet with public objections and are abandoned by those seeking to establish new facilities.