Installation of an automated weather observation system is underway at the Luzerne County-owned Wyoming Valley Airport in Forty Fort and Wyoming in addition to a larger project that will include replacement of these 1930s hangars.
File Photo
Luzerne County is proceeding with installation of an automated weather observation system at the county-owned Wyoming Valley Airport in Forty Fort and Wyoming.
The weather observation project has been approved for Bilateral Infrastructure Law funding through the Federal Aviation Administration and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Bureau of Aviation, county officials said. County council had unanimously voted in February to seek the outside funding.
New Castle, Pennsylvania-based Bruce-Merrilees Electric Co. was awarded a $408,750 contract in July to install the system, according to a recent contract posting on the county manager’s section at luzernecounty.org.
The project must be completed by June 30, 2026, and the county will be fully reimbursed with grant funds, the contract paperwork says.
The FAA-certified system will add a real-time, automated weather station to report critical meteorological conditions to pilots landing and departing at the airport, such as wind speed and direction, temperature, dew point, altimeter settings, density altitude, visibility and precipitation, the county’s administration has said.
This system also can share data with the national weather network, contributing to more accurate local forecasts in addition to increasing the overall safety of airspace around the airport, it said.
Separate from this project, council earmarked $7 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for capital improvements at the 110-acre airport, including new hangars and fuel tanks — projects that have not yet been bid out.
Delta Airport Consultants Inc. is handling engineering and planning for these projects.
County Manager Romilda Crocamo said Thursday that Delta is intensely focused on deadlines because all American Rescue projects must be completed by the end of 2026 in compliance with federal regulations.
The county is undergoing the zoning and permitting process necessary for fuel tank replacement and the use of more space for hangars at the complex, she said.
The airport is near the flood plain and contains wetlands, she said.
“We have to be very careful,” Crocamo said. “But when the project is finished, it will be worth the effort.”
New hangars were included because the current ones are deteriorating and too small for today’s airplanes, officials have said.
Valley Aviation Inc., the airport’s longtime fixed base operator, has said it routinely receives inquiries from pilots and companies interested in parking their planes there if space becomes available.
The county acquired the airport in the 1940s.
In addition to serving commercial and recreational pilots, the airport is used by medevac helicopters and state police aircraft that regularly land there to fuel up without delays they encounter elsewhere. The airport also has a busy pilot training program that addresses a pilot shortage, officials have said.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
