jim inhofe anyone?

 This is the type of crap that very few people are against cutting.  Yet the pork lives on.

maudibjr: This is the type of crap that very few people are against cutting.  Yet the pork lives on.

But... but... jobs.

FTA: ""There's an airplane!" Wesley Chaney, the state park's head golf pro, said one afternoon this month."

If we close these airports, the rich may not be able to fly to their golf games or hunting cabins!
Constituency indeed.

HotIgneous Intruder: FTA: ""There's an airplane!" Wesley Chaney, the state park's head golf pro, said one afternoon this month."

They need someplace for those unmarked planes to land.

Silly subby, it's not socialism when red states benefit from government spending!

HotIgneous Intruder: FTA: ""There's an airplane!" Wesley Chaney, the state park's head golf pro, said one afternoon this month."

Why does a state park have a head golf pro? Perhaps they should look into that also

This pales, I tell you PALES in comparison to the   John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport in Pennsylvania  Commonly known as the "Airport for Nobody"

This jewel cost over $150,000,000


http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Politics/story?id=7412160&page=1

Congress persons are the problem.

St. Louis has one of those too. The Spirit of St. Louis airport. Built for nobody. Wonder how much that takes in.

You can always find someone with their hand deep in the pork barrel. They are obvious because they scream the loudest when their gravy train ends.

Airport near hear is in the middle of a $20 million construction project. An airport with zero scheduled flights.

UNAUTHORIZED FINGER: You NEVER go to Oklahoma!

One never goes full Oklahoma... never!

I was going to defend this for Lifeflight operations, especially because my son benefited from a Lifeflight last year, but looking on Google Maps I can see three other airports are really close to this one.  There is no good reason for this place to even exist.

At least they didn't revamp the airport complete and make it look just like a nightclub.
That would be exciting... and confusing.

To be fair, Lake Murray is gorgeous.  You should totally all visit it.

by plane.

To keep this from being a waste of your tax dollars.

maudibjr: This is the type of crap that very few people are against cutting.  Yet the pork lives on.

And the kicker is, I live close to an airport that takes on college aviation students, and they're about to lose their air traffic controllers due to the sequester.  For a rural(ish) airport, it's pretty busy.  And yet...

earthworm2.0: St. Louis has one of those too. The Spirit of St. Louis airport. Built for nobody. Wonder how much that takes in.

Don't forget MidAmerica over by Scott AFB.  It was supposed to help handle some of Lambert's congestion.

thornhill: So the issue is that Congressmen and Senators feel that every city in their state should have an airport.

Having lived in small town (200k) where all of the flights from its regional airport are connecting flights that go through Atlanta (two hour drive), Charlotte, N.C. or Memphis, even when factoring in gas and parking, it was often cheaper to just drive to Atlanta, and even took less time because a lot of the flights forced you to have a 2 hour layover. And there were also a larger regional airports about an hour drive away that did have a few direct flights to places like New York, Philly, etc. So if you cut the subsidy to this local airport, it would disappear, the closest airport would then be an hour away, but that airport would likely absorb most of the fliers from my city and be able to add more flights and routes.

I wonder if a train would be practical there.   I live between the Cincinnati Airport and Dayton Airport, and have been stuck in Cincinnati for a 2 hour layover to fly to Dayton  only to turn around and drive half way back.

The only Ohio Airport on that map was South Bass Island.  They should have an airport for winter/emergency travel but I don't know how much of that should be federal money rather than island property tax.  If I were more entrepreneurial, I'd open an airport for 150k a year.

TheGogmagog: thornhill: So the issue is that Congressmen and Senators feel that every city in their state should have an airport.

Having lived in small town (200k) where all of the flights from its regional airport are connecting flights that go through Atlanta (two hour drive), Charlotte, N.C. or Memphis, even when factoring in gas and parking, it was often cheaper to just drive to Atlanta, and even took less time because a lot of the flights forced you to have a 2 hour layover. And there were also a larger regional airports about an hour drive away that did have a few direct flights to places like New York, Philly, etc. So if you cut the subsidy to this local airport, it would disappear, the closest airport would then be an hour away, but that airport would likely absorb most of the fliers from my city and be able to add more flights and routes.

I wonder if a train would be practical there.   I live between the Cincinnati Airport and Dayton Airport, and have been stuck in Cincinnati for a 2 hour layover to fly to Dayton  only to turn around and drive half way back.

The only Ohio Airport on that map was South Bass Island.  They should have an airport for winter/emergency travel but I don't know how much of that should be federal money rather than island property tax.  If I were more entrepreneurial, I'd open an airport for 150k a year.

Absolutely, no question.

In fact, the region would probably be better served with rail between area cities than a regional airport.

Uh huh. But we just can't handle these govt budget cuts in 2 days. It will destroy the economy

"There's an airplane!" Wesley Chaney, the state park's head golf pro, said one afternoon this month.

"That's a bird," Richard Keithley, another parks employee, told him.

It's Superman!

SonOfSpam: "There's an airplane!" Wesley Chaney, the state park's head golf pro, said one afternoon this month.

"That's a bird," Richard Keithley, another parks employee, told him.

It's Superman!

Niether bird, nor plane, nor even frog....

While flying my Uncle's  Cessna into the "airport" at Fountainhead State Park on Lake Eufaula a large group of deer suddenly bolted onto the runway right in front of us, we had to abort (I think a wheel clocked one of them anyway) - it was pretty scary.

/nice golf course
//has since been sold to the Cherokee tribe

Oklahoma gets pork for airports, and for some meteorology stuff, and for some geology stuff.

Meanwhile, everyone else gets pork for everything else in the universe.

I'm happy to reduce pork to zero everywhere.

Huh -- the airport in Jordan, Montana had over 2000 landings in 2012 -- so why is the article saying no one uses these airports?

as a worker in Canada's aviation industry, let me say this.

I WISH we had the amount of airports that the US has.  Paved strips with good navaids may not be traffic hogs, but they are great alternates, and they save gas and money for airlines, which results in less polution for the environment.  A properly maintained 6000ft strip is highly useful.

Compare to Canada, where federal funding was dropped for many strips, our navaids are being decomissioned, runways are in horrible shape (planes stuck in mud) and the non-goverment staff are useless because they don't do their jobs.  The runways in remote locations don't get plowed, they don't have good equipement to plow it or improve the friction coefficient (super important in aircraft operations.)

So yeah, cutting funding for what is, probably, the BEST air navigation and facilities system in the world is stupid.  Don't do it.

Seige101: HotIgneous Intruder: FTA: ""There's an airplane!" Wesley Chaney, the state park's head golf pro, said one afternoon this month."

Why does a state park have a head golf pro? Perhaps they should look into that also

Here in America it isn't unusual for state parks to have golf courses.

Okieboy: While flying my Uncle's  Cessna into the "airport" at Fountainhead State Park on Lake Eufaula a large group of deer suddenly bolted onto the runway right in front of us, we had to abort (I think a wheel clocked one of them anyway) - it was pretty scary.

/nice golf course
//has since been sold to the Cherokee tribe

So they only let Piper aircraft land there now?

_{not proud of what I just did there}

don't know about federal funding but there is a ton of private airstrips all over the place.  A lot out in the middle of nowhere so the above comment about needing a place to land unmarked planes isn't the half of it.
other than the airports that are existing AFB like Tinker, Sill, Vance, and the former Clinton/Sherman the majority of these airports whether municipal or not can't handle too much traffic.  For example, when Carl Albert ("Giant" from Little Dixie or something like that) passed away they had his funeral in McAlester.  Well, Clinton couldn't attend so Gore came to represent the White House.  Instead of flying in a regular jet like a leer, they brought in Air Force 2.  Runway wasn't built for for those specifications.  I believe they had to pass a bond issue a year or so later to get the main runway fixed.