Airport

With its grass runway and rustic air, Haysfield Airport off Sheppard Lane near Clarksville is a low-tech, laid-back facility in the shadow of airspace crowded with commercial jets speeding to and from three major airports.But the 2,000-foot-long, slightly sloping airfield gets fliers off the ground -- and back again -- in a kinder, gentler way, they say.First, there's the takeoff:"You just go out and make sure nobody's in the way and just do it. It's kind of like pulling out into the highway," says Dick Kreis, who rents single-engine airplanes and coordinates flight instruction at the airport.

BWI Airport officials have agreed after years of wrangling to allow a politically connected Prince George's County businessman to participate in a program for minorities at the airport, according to audit findings obtained by The Baltimore Sun on Thursday. Sandy Roberts, who runs Olympic News, one of the biggest retail operations at BWI, had not previously been counted among the minority-owned businesses at the airport because officials said he was not running the company himself. Airport officials said souvenir giant Hudson News, which recruited Roberts as a minority partner, was behind the operation.

Most people spend as little time as possible at the airport.But Chuck Merkel of Sykesville goes there on purpose.And he doesn't even get paid.Mr. Merkel volunteers at the information desks at Piers C and D at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.He is one of 50 volunteers for People Aiding Travelers and the Homeless, or PATH, who will be honored at a luncheon Thursday sponsored by the Maryland Aviation Administration and the United Way of Central Maryland.The mission of PATH, formerly known as the Travelers Aid Society, is to help people in transit or transition, especially travelers, new residents and the homeless.

Anne Arundel and Howard counties will start work on a plan to acquire Tipton Army Airfield at Fort Meade and turn it into a privately run airport.A report by LPA Inc. of Philadelphia released yesterday to Anne Arundel County Executive Robert R. Neall and Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker concluded the airport could be successfully operated as a general aviation airport.The Federal Aviation Administration favors creating another civilian airport in the region to reduce the number of privately owned planes using Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

A New Windsor contractor will install two 12,000-gallon fuel tanks at the Carroll County Regional Airport, doubling the facility's storage capacity and allowing for increased sales of jet fuel. The county commissioners awarded a $128,900 contract yesterday, the lowest of four bids, to Subsurface Technology. The contract requires the installation and connection to existing pumps and outfitting each tank with sensors and a leak-detection system. "It is nice that they are local," Commissioner Julia Walsh Gouge said of the contractor.

The Maryland Aviation Administration (MAA) has scheduled a public hearing on the proposed updated Airport Noise Zone and Noise Abatement Plan for Baltimore-Washington International Airport on Tuesday at Glen Burnie High School.Maps of the updated noise zone and related information about the Noise Abatement Plan will be available for review beginning at 6 p.m. Representatives of the MAA and the Federal Aviation Administration will be on hand to answer questions, and formal testimony will begin at 7 p.m.Under the most recent proposal by the MAA, the number of homes eligible for the airport's noise assistance program will increase.

When Tipton Army Airfield reopens as a civilian airport Oct. 1, aviation consultants have projected that it could become one of the busiest in the state during the next decade.Airport project manager Sam Minnitte said the airport would be comparable in size to the Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg, which is the fourth busiest in the state with about 270 planes based there and 107,000 landings and take-offs each year.That prediction drew concerns from about 35 aviators and residents, who fly out of or live near Tipton, at a public briefing last night at Meade Senior High School.

NEW YORK -- The threat of a terrorist attack against Kennedy International Airport had the airport operating yesterday under the most stringent security measures since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, with each passenger without a ticket treated like an unwanted guest and each untended car or suitcase like a potential bomb.Law enforcement officials were investigating the threat, which a State Department official said had come from inside the United States and which prompted the airport to barricade parking lots and question passengers.

DENVER -- The image that most people recall of Denver International Airport is of high-speed rail cars flipping luggage into the air and sending the shredded contents raining onto steel tracks.Denver officials assure that problem has been fixed and promise that future passengers will get their bags in one piece.But when the airport finally opens tomorrow -- 16 months behind schedule and nearly $3 billion over early cost estimates -- it will be anything but the multihub technological marvel they once guaranteed would generate jobs and revenue for 100 years without spending local tax dollars.

ANNAPOLIS -- Lockheed Corp. wants to buy, lease or manage Baltimore-Washington International Airport, offering the state of Maryland an opportunity to reduce debt, save money and perhaps make a profit.Representatives of Lockheed Air Terminal, a subsidiary of the giant aircraft manufacturer, met for lunch in the governor's mansion yesterday with Gov. William Donald Schaefer; House Speaker R. Clayton Mitchell Jr., D-Kent; and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Prince George's."It's the right way to go -- provided the state can work out a good deal," Mr. Mitchell said yesterday.