Public Works: Airport Division

The Florence Airport (FAA Identifier 6S2) is located at 2001 Airport Way, just off of Kingwood Street. You can watch the planes take off and land from the Singing Pines dog park; the 12^th Street multi-use path; or even from the gravel parking area south of the airport office. The Airport features a 3,000-foot paved and lighted runway and self-serve fuel (100LL and Jet A) for aircraft which is available 24 hours, 7 days a week. Although the airport is small, it does accommodate 8,000 (approximately 154 operations per week) air operations per year including daily UPS overnight service. A landing or take-off is considered as one operation. There is also a comfortable pilot lounge onsite that offers free WiFi, hot coffee, TV, and flight planning aides. The Airport Office is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily, except on major holidays, and is run by the Airport Volunteer Group.

The Airport Volunteer Group (AVG) is an all-volunteer organization that was formed in December 2011 to provide a presence at the Florence Municipal Airport. Primary tasks for these volunteers include being a friendly face to greet pilots and their passengers at the airport, answering the airport office phone, and providing information and directions to local attractions. The volunteers are also the 'eyes and ears' in regards to monitoring airport operations and alerting City staff of potential safety, security, or maintenance issues. 17 volunteers provided 1663.5 hour running the Airport office during 2022.

Although the airport office is run by the AVG there are still quite a few things the City takes care of. We preform daily checks on the operations of all the runway lights and lighted signs, provide maintenance and cleaning of the Airport office area and restrooms, perform routine maintenance on the self-serve airplane fueling station, and check the condition of the fence around airport property. Additionally, City staff preform a visual check for debris on taxiway and runway and during the growing season, trim grasses from around the office building, lights, signs and fence areas, as well as mow all the fields. Staff replace wind socks twice a year, unless damaged sooner by weather, and provide maintenance on the ever-important Automated Weather Observation System (AWOS).

The AWOS provides weather information to pilots, the National Weather Service, and the FAA. The local television stations (KEZI, KVAL and KMTR) also utilize the weather information from this site when reporting weather for Florence. We were lucky enough to receive a grant to have our AWOS system updated in 2021. The previous AWOS (the airport’s first) was constructed in 2001 and has been replaced with a new AWOS 3-PT. The new station will provide altimeter, wind, temperature, dew point, density altitude, visibility, cloud/ceiling data, precipitation sensor (rain, sleet, snow), and thunderstorm/lightning reporting capabilities. The weather information can been be seen on NOAA Aviation Weather Center website by following the link: http://www.aviationweather.gov/metar/data?ids=K6S2&format=decoded&hours=0&taf=off&layout=on&date=0.

During late summer 2023 Public Works will continue its pavement maintenance program by slurry sealing the runway and taxiway. The apron area will receive additional crack sealing and a fog seal treatment, with the taxi-lanes at the airport receiving some much-needed pavement repairs. The goal of any pavement maintenance program is to provide a safe and operable pavement system at the lowest practical cost. During the first several years of a pavement’s life, the deterioration in pavement condition over time is relatively low. However, at a certain point in time, the deterioration of the pavement increases, resulting in an accelerated drop in pavement condition. For every $1 spent on preventative maintenance such as slurry and fog seals, is equivalent to $4 to $5 spent at the end of pavement life. This is a second step in the rehabilitation process following the crack sealing that we did on the airport last year. For more on that project, see September 2022 newsletter.

Would you like to Volunteer?

There are no residency requirements to be a volunteer and no experience or knowledge of aircraft or airports is needed. The AVG is always looking for friendly, outgoing personalities to be part of the group. Typically, volunteers serve one day a month as our honorary “airport manager of the day”.

For more information about the AVG and volunteer opportunities contact

Florence Public Works    541-997-4106     publicworks@ci.florence.or.us

Steve Saubert                   541-999-8095    

Tom Ball                             541-285-8381