Considering what was seen throughout Salina after the storms that swept through the area on July 31, Salina Regional Airport got off relatively unscathed.
This is what officials from the Salina Airport Authority said about the damage at the airport.
Maynard Cunningham, the authority’s director of facilities and construction, said like the rest of the city, trees and branches have fallen, but fortunately it hasn’t caused too many problems.
“There were some trees that fell along the airfield and some of our properties here in the industrial park,” Cunningham said. “We cleaned up some branches and trees.”
However, the greatest damage to the airport was seen in a few buildings, including some hangars and the MJ Kennedy Air Terminal building.
Difficulty reaching some damage to the siding at Salina Airport
Cunningham said the damage was most noticeable on the exterior siding.
“We had some damage to the siding of some buildings,” Cunningham said. “It was nothing serious, but one of them happens to be Hangar 959, right at the top of the north end of the runway.”
He said the damage was high up in the 21-meter-high hangar, making repairs even more difficult.
“Our maintenance people will need some time up there to prepare materials and make repairs,” Cunningham said.
Roof damage at MJ Kennedy Terminal
The greatest damage to the airport occurred in the terminal building.
“Most of the second floor roof was damaged,” Cunningham said. “The membrane was partially torn and ripped off the second floor roof.”
Fortunately, he was able to say that the airport was able to quickly reach Salina-based Ryan Roofing.
“We were able to get a contractor to come out and fix it within 24 hours and cover the costs for us,” Cunningham said. “We didn’t expect to get it done so quickly.”
He also stated that there was damage to the gutter and that repairs were still pending as of August 7.
Salina Airport employees are grateful that the storm’s impact was not worse
Cunningham said that, by and large, the airport was lucky given what was happening throughout the city.
“Apart from the roof of the terminal, there was only minor damage to the exterior of some of the buildings. In reality, all it takes is replacing a few screws and fasteners to put the exterior cladding back in place,” he said.
He said he noticed damage throughout the community while driving through the area near the airport and industrial center.
“I’ve spoken of even more serious damage to some other buildings that we don’t own (in the industrial park) or that aren’t on our property,” Cunningham said.
He also said that despite power outages spreading across the city, including the airport, the storm had little impact on the airport’s flight schedules.
“There was coordination with the tower (air traffic control) on runway lighting and things like that,” Cunningham said.
According to information from the tracking website FlightAware, United Flight 5023 from Denver on July 31 was unaffected by the storm and arrived at the gate in Salina 13 minutes earlier than scheduled at 11:33 p.m.
