Genesee County Airport

Snowy owls have become Batavia's latest tourist attraction. Birders are driving out to the Genesee County Airport from miles around to see the majestic raptors.

"It's very special to come out and see such an unusual bird," said Leslie Phillips, a Rochester resident who read about the "irruption" of snowy owls in Batavia through an e-mail discussion list for birders.

Irruptions are the irregular southern migrations exhibited by bird species that typically winter in Canada and the extreme northern United States, according to Cornell University's Project Feederwatch.

She was among six or seven birders who were on State Street Road this afternoon with scopes and binoculars watching the owls perched on snow banks or fence posts.

David Genesky, a conservationist who specializes in raptors, spent much of the day trapping the owls on behalf of a national snowy owl research program.

By 5 p.m. he had caught eight and believed there were at least two more in the airport area. (CORRECTION: It's eight for the season, three on Tuesday.)

Genesky collected a feather, for a DNA sample, and weighed each bird before banding it and releasing it. The whole process took about five minutes per bird.

"Personally, I just want to make sure the species is OK," Genesky said. "There's a lot of talk about global warming and climate change and how it would effect their nesting areas, and for me personally, that's what I'm concerned about."

Genesky said the collection of snowy owls at the airport is a great opportunity for the public to see one of the great birds of the wild up close.

"They've been as steady as can be for the last month," Genesky said. "People have come from miles away and gotten good looks at them."

Sharon Leising hasn't had to travel far this winter to see the owls. She lives on State Street Road, and when she heard about the trapping project today, she had to meet up with Genesky and learn about what he was doing. She was at the Emergency Training Center when Genesky brought one of the birds in for cataloging (inset photo; photo courtesy Sharon Leising).

"This is so exciting, to have something like this happen in our area," Leising said. "They're such beautiful birds."

Typically, snowy owls make their homes in the Arctic and don't often congregate in such numbers in the northeast.

"This year is probably is biggest number in 40 years," Genesky said. "It's very rare to get this many birds in the Northeastern United States.  The Western states have fewer birds. They seem to have concentrated here."

Genesky said the local snowy owl population seems to be in good shape.

"Believe me, these birds are all healthy," he said. "They're not starving."

While there may be as many as a dozen snowy owls in the airport area, that number will thin soon to one or two as the birds establish their territories for the rest of the winter. Grenesky said anybody interested in seeing the birds should get out to the airport soon.

Leslie Phillips

There's a plan in place to build a new terminal building at the Genesee County Airport. There's just no money to pay for it.

The feds have provided grants for the architectural work -- $200,000 so far, with another $200,000 in planning the work required. And the feds will pay for demolition of the current terminal building, which sits partially within the Federal Aviation Administration's required safety zone near a runway.

The feds right now are not paying for new terminal construction.

The new terminal and associated hangar will cost about $6.5 million.

County Highway Superintendant Tim Hens discussed the status of the terminal project at today's Public Service Committee meeting.

There may be some grant money available soon to help cover the cost, but if grant money doesn't come through, the current plans may need to be put on a shelf, Hens said, until funding is found.

At the meeting today, county legislators expressed full support for replacing the current, aging terminal, but how to pay for it is the vexing problem.

The county could issue a construction bond, but that would mean interest payments, so legislators peppered Hens with suggestions to ask airport users -- including Mercy Flight, the State Police and some local corporations -- to help pay for the new terminal.

Because the terminal is a critical link in economic growth, Legislator Ray Cianfrini wondered if the Genesee County Economic Development Center shouldn't kick in some cash.

"We have a lot of site selectors flying in and business people from around the country," Hens said. "For a lot of these people coming to our county for the first time, their first impression they have of our county is the airport terminal. When you're talking about a site the size of STAMP, big companies like Apple and Intel might fly in here and the terminal is their first impression."

The proposed new terminal would be two levels with space for current tenant Boshart (also leasing the new hangar attached to the new terminal), a cafe, office space, conference room space and space for a new flight school.

Press release:

Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27) announced today that the Genesee County Airport, located in Batavia, will receive two grants from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) totaling more than $1 million. The first grant, for $973,800, will fund the construction necessary to relocate the airport’s apron. An apron is the area of the airport where planes are parked, unloaded, refueled and boarded. This project includes 77,500 square feet of new pavement and the reconstruction of 44,000 square feet of existing pavement.

The second grant, for $63,000, will provide funding for the design of a new taxiway leading to the T-hangar at the airport. 

“Supporting local governments with the cost of maintaining, repairing and building critical infrastructure is an appropriate use of federal tax dollars,” Collins said. “Local taxpayers send a lot of their hard-earned money to Washington and it is only proper that we get a share of it back to assist with projects that are important to our local communities.”

The Congressman’s office remains available to assist any local government pursuing a federal grant.

The way Bob Miller sees it, before long, if you want to learn to fly, you will need to go to Pennsylvania or Ohio because there will be no flight schools left in New York.

"The state is holding all the cards on this," Miller told members of the Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday.

Within the past year, NYS Taxation and Finance has started auditing the owners of airplanes that are used as rentals for flight school students.

The state is demanding payment, Miller said, of taxes that were once exempt.

According to Miller, he can't legally charge students tax for their flight hours, but when private plane owners rent their planes to flight schools, the state is now demanding the owners pay sales tax on those fees.

As a result private plane owners who have been audited by the state will no longer rent their planes to flight schools.

More than two months ago, plane owners in Lancaster were audited and Miller was forced to close his school there. Now the state has gone after Batavia plane owners and he must shut down his aviation school here.

"It's not a new law," Miller said. "It's a new interpretation. The executive branch is holding all of the private airplane owners hostage to their interpretation of the code."

According to Miller, this hasn't been an issue in New York for 40 years, and certainly not during the 20 years he's been involved in aviation instruction.

"The state is so desperate for sales tax revenue they're going after everything," Miller said.

Currently, according to Miller, investors buy airplanes without sales tax if they are renting the planes to flight schools. If the planes are rented to private pilots who are not students, then the owners must pay sales tax; if the owners take the planes on a flight for their own private use, they must pay a portion of sales tax for the usage, but for 40 years, there's been no sales tax, he said, on student rentals through flight schools.

The state is requiring plane owners to pay for past unpaid sales taxes going up to five years back.

As a result, Miller said, the plane owners are just ceasing rental services to aviation schools in the state.

Miller has a lease for hangars and office space in the Genesee County Airport through 2015 and he's being asked to be let out of the lease because he's now out of business as a result of the state's actions.

Highway Superintendent Tim Hens recommended the Legislature require Miller to pay rent for 90 days, giving the county time to find a new tenant.

Hens said he isn't worried about filling the hangars -- there's a waiting list for hangar space, but he isn't sure the office space in the terminal will be filled, especially since it will be hard to find another filght school under the current circumstances.

The county will lose about $2,400 a month $2,700 per year in revenue with the flight school closed, due to a decrease in aviation fuel sales.

Ninth- and 10th-graders from throughout the GLOW region are invited to the WNY Aviation Adventure Camp, July 7 through 13 at Genesee County Airport.

The cost of the camp is $345, which includes meals and overnight bunking in the camp's hangar at the airport.

The deadline for registration is JUNE 22.

The camp includes:

• Taking the controls from the pilot's seat of an aircraft in flight
• Completing an FAA approved 16-hour private pilot ground course
• Participating in the inspection and repair of aircraft
• View military aircraft at the Buffalo Naval and Serviemen's Park and Museum
• Visiting the Geneseo Air Show
• Going behind the scenes at the Greater Rochester International Airport and receiving a briefing from the TSA
• Touring the USAF's 914th Airlift Wing in Niagara Falls and its fleet of C130 Hercules aircraft.

Participating students will be kept busy from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day with these activities and more, with each evening ending with an aviation-themed movie, such at "Top Gun," "The Memphis Belle," "Apollo 13" and "The Tuskegee Airmen."

For more information, visit the WNY Aviation Adventure Camp Web site.

Photo: Pete Zeliff, left, who is hosting the camp in his hangar with his fleet of aircraft, which includes a brand-new Bell helicopter, and Eve Hens, one of the organizers. Zeliff is holding his 4-year-old grandson, Owen, who won't be at the camp, but wanted to in the picture.

The Federal Aerospace Administration has dangled some grant money in front of local officials for some improvements at the Genesee County Airport. So with time short to accept at least one of the grants, the legislature met in emergency session Wednesday evening to vote on acceptance of the funds.

The grants -- one hasn't officially been offered yet -- move the county a few steps closer to building a new terminal at the airport.

The current terminal is probably more than 50 years old, dating back to a time of grass runways and private ownership.

Even with these grants, however, County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens doesn't see a new terminal on the horizon just yet.

He suspects voters -- and hence elected legislators -- will balk at the $4 million price tag, even though construction of the terminal shouldn't cost local taxpayers a dime.

"Even if the airport can be 100-percent self-sustaining and repay the bond (from airport proceeds), the public still has a perception that times are tough, we're trying to cut taxes and you guys are going to spend $4 million on this," Hens said. "That is a very hard perception to overcome.

"I would love to see it go as soon as next year," Hens added, "but the practical side of me says it won't happen for three to four years."

There are two grants the legislature considered Wednesday.

One, for a new terminal apron, has already been offered by the feds and the county has until Sept. 9 to complete the paperwork to get it.

The second grant is for the design of a new terminal, but Hens said it hasn't officially been offered yet.

"We're in the final month of the fiscal year for the federal government and they have hinted, or wink, wink, we've got more money coming for you for the design of the terminal," Hens said.

"We don't physically have the grant offer in hand yet. But I know that within the next two weeks, based on previous experience, they're going to issue all their grants, figure out their books and say, 'OK, we've got $300,000 left, we can give $200,000 of it to Genesee County."

The grant for the terminal apron is a little more than $1 million and the state will kick in $27,000 for the project and $27,000 in county funds (from sales tax) will be used.

Hens said the current apron -- just west of the current terminal -- is 40 years old, full of potholes and cracks. A new apron will be safer and allow more space for planes to park.

The apron can also be built with a new terminal in mind, including grading and conduits for utilities.

A new terminal, if built, would be closer to West Saile Drive, which would address the chief concern of the FAA: The current terminal is positioned too close to the runway, making it unsafe.

Even so, Hens said, the FAA doesn't typically pay for construction of terminals. It's just not something they do.

So if it's going to be built, it will take a county-sponsored bond to make it happen.

A new terminal would be about the same size as the current terminal, but with a better floor plan. It could allow for food service, a lounge for pilots, a conference room, a counter for car rentals and other services.

Currently, the airport generates more than $100,000 in revenue and an improved terminal could help increase that revenue, Hens said, not to mention that a better insulated, more environmentally friendly building would save expenditures from the airport fund.

"Anything we can do to increase revenue would make it much easier to repay the bond," Hens said.

Even though there are no immediate plans to build a new terminal, legislators thought it wise to accept the $200,000 FAA grant, if offered, with the another $100,000 coming from available airport funds (which can't be transfered to the general fund anyway).

"We want to take advantage of the money if it's there," Legislator Bob Radley said. "We don't want to give back $200,000 of their money."

An airplane has rolled over on the west-end runway at the Genesee County Airport and the pilot is still inside. Unknown injuries. No fire seen.

Mercy medics and Town of Batavia firefighters are responding. The airport is at 4705 E. Saile Drive, Town of Batavia.

UPDATE 8:48 p.m.: No extrication needed. The pilot is conscious and alert but medical attention is required.

UPDATE 8:52 p.m.: Medics will need assistance in getting the pilot out.

UPDATE 8:58 p.m.: A "hydraulic rescue cutter" is needed and will be brought to the scene.

UPDATE 9:03 p.m.: A pumper truck out of Oakfield is asked to stand in at Town of Batavia's fire hall. Mercy Flight is responding to the scene.

UPDATE 9:05 p.m.: The patient has been extricated.

UPDATE 9:10 p.m.: There's a 10 minute ETA for Mercy Flight.

UPDATE 9:12 p.m.: The Mercy Flight pilot says the airfield is in sight and it should arrive in about three minutes. The injured pilot is said to be in stable condition with a head laceration and an "open fracture" on one of his legs.

UPDATE 9:17 p.m.: Mercy Flight has landed.

UPDATE 9:30 p.m.: Mercy Flight is airborne, en route in Strong Memorial Hospital.

UPDATE 9:48 p.m.: Town of Batavia firefighters returning to service and so is Oakfield. The runway and taxiway are being checked, and swept, as per Federal Aerospace Adminstration requirements. State police will be the last to leave and then the runway will be reopened.

UPDATE 9:51 p.m.: The airport runway is clear of debris.

UPDATE: WBTA's Geoff Redick was still on scene when a State Trooper conducted a short press conference. Watch the video here. The pilot is Patrick McCabe, 54, of Caledonia. McCabe suffered a compound fracture to his leg. The trooper said this flight was McCabe's maiden voyage with the plane. The crash occured before take-off for an unknown reason.

Press release

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Kathy Hochul today announced that Genesee County Airport will receive nearly $1.3 million in funding for its apron expansion, which will provide greater and safer aircraft movement, as well as aircraft parking at the airport.

“This is great news for both the Genesee County Airport, as well as all the aircrafts that travel through here,” said Congresswoman Hochul. “This funding will help the airport rehabilitate aprons, as well as enhance and expand the safety of aprons.”

The viability of the airport is important as it houses a State Police helicopter, numerous crop-dusting planes, and a medical helicopter used to transport victims in emergencies.

The airport is also used for training by the Army National Guard.

In order to secure a federal grant for a new helicopter, Mercy Flight apparently needs a long-term lease for its facility at the Genesee County Airport.

During Tuesday's Public Service Committee meeting, Legislator Ray Cianfrini said he's concerned that the proposed terms of the lease are not in the county's best interest.

The proposed lease would cap rent increases at 2 percent per year and Cianfrini is concerned that in the future, the county could be losing out on a good deal of potential revenue.

"It just seems to me that 25 years down the road, this could be a pittance compared to what other people are paying for similar space," Cianfrini said. "I don't ever want to lose Mercy Flight. They're a tremendous asset. But as a lawyer, as a legislator and as a taxpayer, I think it's a horrible lease for Genesee County."

David Wozniak, deputy superintendent of county highways, pointed out that Mercy Flight leases additional space for its ambulance service which isn't tied to the hangar lease. Mercy Flight owns its own hangar, and plans to build a new one, and leases the land it sits on. Also, there's no cap on the price of fuel Mercy Flight buys from the county.

The terms of the lease require a mutual agreement to renew every five years, but because of a discrepancy between the lease language and supporting documents provided to legislators, a vote on the lease was tabled and the matter was referred to the Ways and Means Committee.

Ways and Means meets today at 4 o'clock in the Old Courthouse.

A student pilot apparently forgot to put down the landing gear on his plane today leading to an unintentional crash landing at the Genesee County Airport this afternoon.

While the crash, reported at 12:17 p.m., caused an estimated $40,000 damage to a 2004 Cessna, there were no injuries, fire or fuel spill.

The student pilot, according to a Sheriff's Office release, was 66-year-old Michael E. Pearson, of Pittsford.

His instructor was Robert J. Roberts, 35, of Rochester.

The student and instructor were doing "touch-and-go" training at the airport this afternoon at the time of the accident.

The plane skidded 546 feet down the runway.

The investigation is continuing, conducted by Deputy Lonnie Nati and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Assisting at the scene were Genesee County Emergency Services, Town of Batavia Fire and Mercy EMS.

(initial report)

Michael Dorobilala, a student at Robert Morris, thought his time in a plane flying over Genesee County today was "awesome."

The best part?

"Going down because it gives you a swoosh of excitement and you’re like tingly."

Michael was one of 60 kids to show up at the Genesee County Airport today to get a first-hand experience flying a small airplane. The Young Eagles event was sponsored by Experimental Aircraft Association chapters out of Buffalo and Rochester.

The EAA has been running the Young Eagles worldwide since 1992, when the idea was launched with the goal of getting one million children at the throttles of a small plane by the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight. To date, more than 1.6 million kids from 90 countries have been through the program.

Rochester Chapter President Norm Isler said the EAA wants to not only expose kids to aviation, but to show them a practical use for math and science.

Pilot Mary "Willie" Mattocks said, to her, being able to fly is a privilege, so a program like Young Eagles is a chance to give back.

The flight is more than a tag-along ride. The children actually are given a chance to fly the plane.

"It's a fantastic event for children," said Mattocks, who owns her own Piper Cherokee and has been flying for 20 years. "It gives them an introduction to flying and I think it stays with them for the rest of their lives. They get just such a lot of pleasure out of it."

As for Mattock's assessment of Michael, she wrote in his log book, "Michael will be an awesome pilot. Keep going with the math and science. Straight and level at 2,500 feet. Executed turn at Darien Lake."

The Genesee County Airport will soon have a new tenant -- a flight school with locations in Dunkirk and Lancaster wants to start operations in Batavia.

The Legislature's Public Service Committee approved a lease Monday with Bob Miller Flight Training for five years worth $8,469 annually.

Legislators noted it will be the only flight school in Genesee County and the first at the airport since 2007.

The school will use two offices in the terminal and lease two of the new T-hangars, when they're finished.

During the public service meeting, County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens, noted that somewhere in the neighborhood of $13 million in federal funds have been spent on the airport since 1998.

During that same time, the county's share of airport expense has been about $350,000.

Hens said the airport has produced positive cash flow in all but one year during the past 12 years. The airport, from a county-expense viewpoint, has paid for itself, Hens said.

"I’ve always promoted the airport as being self-sustaining," Hens said. "When you look at the numbers total, it is. That’s not including all of the indirect benefits, the sales tax, the jobs."

Of course, there are critics who say the county airport should be a private business, not a public facility.

Hens sees the airport as just another hub in public transportation.

"Not everybody uses it, but not everybody uses the buses that run through town," Hens said. "Without it, there’s a piece of the community that's either not going to do business or they're not going to travel somewhere.

"We put four or five million dollars a year into our county roads and it doesn’t pay us back anything," Hens added. "But, if you didn't put the $5 million bucks into the roads, it's going to be a bumpy ride to the office and the kids are going to be unsafe riding on the school buses."

An airplane engine is reportedly on fire at the Genesee County Airport.

The plane is on the ground.

Town of Batavia Fire is responding.

It's on the east runway.

UPDATE 9:47 p.m.: Engine 24 to proceed emergency, all other Town of Batavia units, non-emergency. Mercy EMS requested to the scene for victim with burn to his hands.

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A new eight-bay hangar at the Genesee County Airport, with a price tag of about $600,000, received an initial OK from the Public Services Committee this afternoon.

In three resolutions -- one for construction of a required taxiway apron, another for a consultation agreement, and one for creation of a capitol project budget -- the legislative committee put in motion an effort to increase the amount of hangar space for airplanes at the facility.

Tim Hens, county highway superintendent, said the hangars will generate $30,000 in revenue.

"We already have a waiting list," Hens said. "The last set we built, we filled before they were even completed. The hangars will have an 11-year payback."

The committee voted unanimously to award the contract for apron construction -- at $359,704 -- to Stafford's A.D. Call & Sons. Hens noted it's been a long time since a local contractor won a bid with the county of this significance.

The FCC provides the grant money for construction of the apron, which is required to get the grant money to proceed with the design of the hangars.

C&S Companies out of Syracuse was awarded the design contract.

Once the design is completed, the actual construction of the hangars will go out to bid.

Sales-tax revenue has already been set aside to pay for the anticipated $600,000 construction cost, according to County Manager Jay Gsell.

On the same committee agenda today, the committee approved purchase of two new vehicles for the highway department. The winning bidder is Van Bortel Ford in Pittsford. Some committee members expressed an interest in awarding the contract to Le Roy Motors, which offered a bid only $300 higher than Von Brotel. Gsell cautioned the committee that state law prohibits "local preference" in awarding contracts.

A vintage jet based at the Genesee County Airport and once restored and owned by actor John Travolta crashed yesterday due to engine failure.

The 1947 Viper came down just short of the runway at 3:20 p.m. at  Rochester International Airport after the pilot tried to return to the airport five minutes after takeoff.

The pilot, Peter Treichler, 40, of East Aurora, suffered a back injury and is in satisfactory condition, reported the Democrat and Chronicle.

The wooden aircraft hit on its belly. Pieces were scattered 200 feet and the runway was shut down for three hours, causing flight delays and some cancellations.

UPDATE: RNews has a picture of the crashed plane.