I reached out to George and he was nice enough to schedule a tour of our airport and talk about the tornado, and what the future of the Jonesboro Municipal Airport looks like. We started by hopping in his truck and driving around our airport looking at the runways, hangars, and unfortunately where some of the bare concrete pads left behind by the tornado that hit our town not so long ago.
We talked about how the airport makes money. How they rent out hangars to local businesses and aircraft owners. We discussed how they use the unused land required for runway clearance to grow crops. We also met with a representative of Fly Southern who currently serves our airport with flights to St. Louis and Nashville.
Kier and George Jackson pose in front of the Fly Southern banner.
We talked about the rebuild, and some of the setbacks coming from following a guideline as strict rules even when it makes little sense, and may prove to be detrimental in the long run. Things like requiring a sprinkler system in a hangar when the only source of ignition is jet fuel. This requires hundreds of thousands of dollars to be spent on something that will likely never be used, and if it ever is would likely only serve to make the situation worse.
We also talked about the future of Jonesboro’s airport. Working for grants to build new hangars, and thicken our runway. Our runway actually has plenty of length to land just about any aircraft we want, but if we wanted to use our airport for things like airmail, and cargo, we’d need to strengthen our runways considerably. Doing so, however, opens Jonesboro up for a lot more opportunity, new jobs in industry, and possibly even faster shipping times. It can also help us by supporting more commuter flights which keeps folks living in Jonesboro despite working elsewhere in the state or country.
I think these things are important to understand, which is why I continue to work diligently to learn as much as I can about Jonesboro and every aspect of our city. I will work harder than any other candidate out there, and I know that for a fact, because I’m already doing it.
