Plymouth Municipal Airport is one step closer to having its own weather station. On Tuesday, the Plymouth Aviation Commission accepted a bid from Michiana Contracting to purchase and install an AWOS III weather station for a cost of just under $150,000.
Airport Manager Dave Lattimer says Plymouth is one of the few major airports in the region not to have its own weather station, and pilots must rely on weather conditions at airports over 30 miles away, “As it is today, getting weather from South Bend, there are many times they cannot officially land here because the weather’s worse in South Bend than it is in Plymouth, and so without having current Plymouth weather, they’re not allowed to land here.” That means aircraft are often diverted to other airports.
Lattimer says the airport has been pursuing a weather station for several years now, but efforts to secure funding from the Federal Aviation Administration as well as from the state have been unsuccessful. Then a few months ago, airport officials learned that Michiana Contracting, which is located in Plymouth, has had experience installing weather stations in Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio, and would be able to do the work with money that’s already in the airport’s budget.
Lattimer says the money used to pay for the weather station comes from the City of Plymouth and was originally earmarked for another project. He says that project has now been put on hold, since the weather station has been such a high priority for the airport.
The new equipment will provide pilots with a variety of information, such as temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, dew point, visibility, cloud height, and precipitation. It will relay that data by computer, telephone, and aviation radio.
Lattimer says the improved reliability that would come with the new weather station could lead to greater use of the Plymouth Airport. “We have several businesses that have considered locating their aircraft here on our airport, but because we did not have a weather station, they’ve chosen other locations,” he says. “The business community is one of our big users and so this will improve things for everybody.”
Right now, Michiana and its subcontractors, along with the airport’s engineer, are working to get FAA and FCC licenses for the new equipment. Lattimer hopes installation will start in August or September, and that the new weather station will be functional by the end of the year.
