Airfield

County Executive John G. Gary signed an agreement yesterday creating a Tipton Airfield citizens' advisory committee to help get the civilian airport up and running.The agreement with Howard County represents another step in the march toward total civilian control of the Army airfield at Fort Meade, Mr. Gary said."I'm very excited that we have Howard County as a partner," Mr. Gary said in a printed statement, adding that he believes it could attract business and jobs to both counties.The seven-member advisory committee will work with a similar panel from Howard County, making recommendations to the airfield's operating manager.

Baltimore/Washington International Airport said on Thursday that scheduled airfield improvements will prompt closures on both of its primary commercial runways this weekend. Officials said that Runway 10 - 28 is scheduled to be closed from Friday at 11 p.m. to Sunday at 4 p.m. Runway 15R - 33L is scheduled to be closed on Saturday from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m., and on Sunday, from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m., officials said. During the short-term closures of the two runways, BWI Marshall will utilize Runway 4 - 22 for most commercial operations, officials said.

The county executives of Anne Arundel and Howard counties plan to sign a letter of agreement April 25, pledging to operate Tipton Airfield at Fort Meade as a civilian facility Oct. 1, officials said last night.News of the impending signing came during an informational meeting in Columbia in which officials from both counties, Fort Meade, and the federal and Maryland aviation authorities answered questions about coverting the facility from military to civilian use.Officials said the counties plan to solicit bids June 1 for a so-called "fixed base operator" that would provide services at the airfield once it opens to the public.

The push for joint civilian-military use of an airfield at Aberdeen Proving Ground is close to being cleared for takeoff. As a feasibility study nears completion, officials are exploring development options for the oft-derailed project, which the county bowed out of four years ago and which has drawn criticism from the community and some base officials. For nearly 20 years, the Army has considered the prospect of opening Phillips Army Airfield - its 10,000-foot runway is one of the longest on the East Coast - to civilian and commercial traffic.

Although Gov. William Donald Schaefer broached the idea last week of moving the state's prison boot camp to Tipton Army Airfield near Fort Meade, very little has been done to seriously pursue the possibility.Army officials in charge of disposing of the airfield, part of a 9,000-acre surplus parcel, by September 1995 say they have not been officially contacted by state officials.They have been contacted by county officials interested in turning the facility into a privately run airport.Questions remain about the 470-acre airport, including the extent of contamination by hazardous waste and buried, unexploded ordnance.

THE CONVERSION of Tipton Airfield to a civilian airport, and taxes and assessments will be the topics at the Greater Odenton Improvement Association meeting tomorrow night.The group will meet at 7:30 p.m at the Odenton Volunteer Fire Hall on Route 175.Sam Minnitte, acting chief of staff for County Executive John G. Gary, and John Lucas, the Tipton airport manager, will give an update on the transfer of the Army airfield to a joint Anne Arundel-Howard airport authority.Also, William Smouse, of the state Department of Assessments and Taxation, will speak on property tax assessments, and John Hammond, county finance officer, will answer questions on the property tax rate.

Members of the Howard County Council asked last night for a legal opinion regarding the county's liability once it joins Anne Arundel County in operating Tipton Airfield at Fort Meade as a civilian facility.The problem is not what Howard and Anne Arundel plan to put on the site once they begin managing the airport, but what the Army may have left there."Given the Army's history with unexploded bombs from World War II, I am concerned about future liability," Councilman C. Vernon Gray, 2nd District Democrat, said.

Planes but not gliders will fly again at Woodbine Airfield.The county's longest zoning battle -- which has dragged through six presidencies, numerous attorneys and weeks of testimony -- ended another round yesterday with the Board of Zoning Appeals granting Michael R. Harrison permission to run an airport on his South Carroll farm.Since the 1970s, neighbors of the grass airstrip northeast of Mount Airy have fought to close the airfield, noting numerous fatalities and accidents involving sky-diving, gliders and aircraft.

Planes but not gliders will fly again at Woodbine Airfield.The county's longest zoning battle -- which has dragged through six presidencies, numerous attorneys and weeks of testimony -- ended another round yesterday with the Board of Zoning Appeals granting Michael R. Harrison permission to run an airport on his South Carroll farm.Since the 1970s, neighbors of the grass airstrip northeast of Mount Airy have fought to close the airfield, noting numerous fatalities and accidents involving sky-diving, gliders and aircraft.

The first of possibly hundreds of explosives buried at Tipton Army Airfield were detonated this week as workers began a tedious, painstaking cleanup of the area that is expected to take at least six months and make the site safe for civilian operation.The workers, employees of Human Factors Applications Inc., started digging Wednesday and found several fuses and an unexploded hand grenade.They blew up those devices with a small cylinder-shaped explosive, said Richard Johnson, project manager for Human Factors.

The push for joint civilian-military use of an airfield at Aberdeen Proving Ground is close to being cleared for takeoff. As a feasibility study nears completion, officials are exploring development options for the oft-derailed project, which the county bowed out of four years ago and which has drawn criticism from the community and some base officials. For nearly 20 years, the Army has considered the prospect of opening Phillips Army Airfield - its 10,000-foot runway is one of the longest on the East Coast - to civilian and commercial traffic.

Pilots such as Eric Flamino love to jump into their small planes and fly, to the Eastern Shore, to locales along the Eastern Seaboard. They go for weekend jaunts or a bite to eat before coming back to where they started, Tipton Airport. Flamino, who lives in Piney Orchard, recently flew to Rehoboth Beach, Del., to catch up with a friend over breakfast. "It's a great way to keep in touch," said Flamino, president of the Tipton Airport Pilots' Association. "And you get to see a beautiful sunny morning crossing over the bay."

EDGARTOWN, Mass. -- A European celebrity flew into Martha's Vineyard the other weekend, thrilling jaded locals and luring crowds from the mainland. They came by plane and car, bus and taxi, ferry and bike to stand for hours along a rural beach road, hoping to catch a glimpse. No one like him had ever set foot in North America before, much less the Vineyard. In fact, this particular fellow was flying from Europe to his winter place in Africa and blew in just by chance. His native habitat is Eastern Europe and Russia.

The pilots at Suburban Airport nearly lost their runway once - when the federal government grounded operations at the Laurel airfield for 100 days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Now, with the nearly 54-acre airport about to be sold to a developer, they fear they are about to lose it again - this time for good. The Polm Cos., a Millersville-based developer, wants to build 641 townhouses and condominiums on the spit of land off Brock Bridge Road in the westernmost corner of Anne Arundel County.

The pilots at Suburban Airport nearly lost their runway once -- when the federal government grounded operations at the Laurel airfield for 100 days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Now, with the nearly 54-acre airport about to be sold to a developer, they fear they are about to lose it again -- this time for good. The Polm Cos., a Millersville-based developer, wants to build 641 townhouses and condominiums on the spit of land off Brock Bridge Road in the westernmost corner of Anne Arundel County.

NEAR ISKANDARIYAH, Iraq - Brig. Gen. Edward Sinclair, touring what amounts to a small city he is building on a former military airfield here, hopped out of his Humvee and marched over to a truck parked near a battery of howitzer guns pointed skyward. "It's General Sinclair," he announced. "Get your butt out here so I can talk to you." As soon as Lt. Marshall Clay poked his head out, Sinclair asked, "Who told you to set up here?" The battalion, said Clay, tentatively. Sinclair shook his head no. Clay had set up operations on what was going to be the parking place for a general's helicopter.

WASHINGTON - Under cover of drizzle, dust and darkness, Iraqi troops were reported to be repositioning south of Baghdad yesterday, as U.S. ground forces were massing for a major battle near the gates to the capital. American paratroopers seized an airfield in northern Iraq, expanding the battlefield into the portion of the country containing rich oil fields and Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. In and around Baghdad, the U.S.-led air campaign again pounded targets that included Iraqi missile sites positioned in residential neighborhoods.

IN THE SKIES OVER NORTHERN IRAQ - More than 1,000 U.S. Army paratroops opened the war's northern front in dramatic fashion yesterday when they jumped out of low-flying jets in the dark of night and seized an airfield in Iraq's Kurdish-controlled region. The bold, carefully planned mission by the 173rd Airborne Brigade was the 29th combat jump in U.S. history and one of the largest paratroop drops since World War II. The paratroops, many of them Army Rangers, flew directly from Aviano Air Force Base in northern Italy, near their base in Vicenza.