Staff Writer

SANFORD — Sanford Regional Airport Manager Dana Parry stopped the red Ford Focus, looked carefully up into the skies and then at the runway as he spoke into the radio. He was letting possible incoming pilots know there would be a car on the runway for a brief period ”“ the little red compact with the emergency light on top.

The car inched forward, and then quickly gained speed, the speedometer hovering between 50 and 60 miles per hour, the white markings on the grooved black asphalt runway whizzing by in a dizzying fashion.

To his passenger, it sounded and felt like an aircraft about to lift into the air, but cars don’t do that in real life.

Airplanes, however, do. And with the recent reconstruction of runway 7-25, plus a host of other airport improvements, Sanford Regional Airport is primed and ready to handle more and larger aircraft and more business, said Parry.

Runway 7-25, the primary runway, is longer and stronger at 6,388 feet, gaining about 400 feet overall, and it has been shifted back about 160 feet from Route 109 to comply with FAA safety standards, said Parry.

As well, the all-weather runway is grooved, making it safer for large or fast aircraft in rain or slush. A new 2,000-foot taxiway that connects to runway 7-25 makes “back taxiing” ”“ or taxiing down the runway and making a turn before positioning to take off ”“ a thing of the past. Also, for the first time in Sanford Regional Airport’s history, taxiways Charlie and Delta are lighted. There’s a new ramp and accompanying taxiway on the south side of the airport, near the former site of an old navy hangar, primed and ready for future economic expansion.

And sometime in the future an old World War II-era taxiway may be refurbished.

Pilot Mark Damuth, general manager of Southern Maine Aviation, the airport’s fixed base operator, said he likes the improvements.

“With improved signage, lights and new taxiways, it definitely helps at night. It does make a difference,” he said. And the elimination of the need to back taxi means a pilot doesn’t have to worry that another pilot may be trying to make an approach at the same time, he added.

Altogether, safety improvements at the airport cost $7.4 million, 95 percent of which was paid by the Federal Aviation Administration, with the rest split between the town and the state. Another $1.4 million for the new southwest ramp and taxiway was a 50-50 split between the federal Economic Development Administration and the town.

The new ramp had been associated with a project by Oxford Aviation, which planned a jet division, but the deal never materialized. The EDA approved a scaled-back version of the ramp as a way to boost economic development. Any business that locates there must be aviation-related, Parry said. The new ramp and taxiway is a feature a lot of airports would like to be able to offer, Parry said.

Coinciding with the improvements is the pledge by the private Industrial Development Corporation to fund a study to determine the best ways to market York County’s largest general aviation airport.

“No one’s really done a business plan at the airport,” said IDC president Robert Hardison. “We’ve all said it would be nice if we had freight (business) or a company that refurbishes and maintains aircraft, but it has all been discussion,” hence the marketing study.

There’s more. Jim Knowles, the owner of Southern Maine Aviation, plans to invest about $400,000 through a sister company calls MAS Hangars, LLC, to construct a new, four-hangar complex complete with offices along Airport Road near the terminal. That is in addition to 27 new hangars completed since 2005, 22 of them by MAS.

For years referred to as Sanford’s “diamond in the rough,” local authorities say the airport is looking pretty and polished these days.

Sanford Regional Airport is home to about 100 aircraft. Its general aviation designation means it handles all but commercial airliners and military aircraft, said Parry.

“We have a lot of corporate flying, recreational flying and tourism,” said Parry, who said he refers to SFM ”“ the airport’s call letters ”“ as the Gateway to Maine.

The 1,115-acre airport, with the long 6,388-foot runway and a smaller 2,000-foot runway, is a popular place to land and take off. The fact that two former presidents ”“ George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush ”“ and their families flew in here during their presidencies en route to Walker’s Point, doesn’t hurt its popularity.

The former presidents, in fact, still land in Sanford, though with considerably less fanfare than during their presidencies. The airport is also popular with other summer folk who have cottages along the coast.

Sanford Regional Airport was formed as Sanford Airport Corporation in 1929 and has its roots with the Goodall textile family, according to The Bicentennial History of Sanford by Capt. Albert Prosser. The airport was later leased to the town so Works Progress Administration funds could be obtained to improve it.

Flying Clubs were established by 1939 and by 1940, the airport was given to the town. The U.S. Navy leased the airport in 1942, built the two runways and in 1943 it was commissioned as Naval Air Facility Sanford. According to Prosser, the Navy used it chiefly to practice carrier landings, using Corsair airplanes.

Various portions of the airport were closed during the recent construction, but all that is complete, and on Tuesday, the new improvements will be dedicated.

Parry, the airport manager, summered in the area as a youth and started taking flying lessons with his father. He first soloed here as a pilot at 16 years old, on Jan. 7, 1970.

He and Assistant Airport Manager Sherry Lord have kept a watchful eye on the construction.

“It’s finally open and it’s beautiful,” said Parry.

— Contact Staff Writer Tammy Wells at 324-4444 or at twells@journaltribune.com.