Marion County Regional Airport (KMAO) in South Carolina, a popular fueling stop for SUN ‘n FUN-bound pilots, reports a 100LL tank contamination problem that will not be solved in time for this year’s event in Lakeland, Florida, April 2-7, 2019.
An airport NOTAM warns pilots 100LL fuel will not be available until March 28. However, the county administrator and airport manager indicated in early March that a longer delay is expected. The problem is rust in the 10,000-gallon 100LL underground tank.
“We have about 1,400 gallons remaining in the tank and when it was monitored in February it was not blue like it should have been,” said airport manager Margaret Pittman. “It wasn’t water, it was rusty fuel.”
Marion Regional has long been a popular stopping point with in-state pilots and those transiting north and south along the East Coast. According to Pittman, airport manager for the past 33 years, 100LL was selling for $4.35 before the shutdown.
“We try to be competitive and we have many return pilots over the years who say they can get in and out of here quickly and easily,” she added.
Tim Harper, Marion County administrator, said a consulting firm, Talbot, Bright and Ellington, has been asked to make recommendations.
“Because of all the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control regulations, at most airports the fuel is all above ground these days,” said Paul Werts of Talbot, Bright and Ellington. “It is much more beneficial for containment reasons. Above ground is probably cheaper.”
He added a turnkey above-ground installation would cost approximately $160,000.
Harper said paying for repairs or for a new system would be difficult.
“Marion County is a poor county,” he said. “And it has been hit by two floods in the past three years and doesn’t have the financial resources of a large county. We aren’t Charlotte or Atlanta.”
Pittman said she is concerned the fuel shutdown could be long term.
“Six years ago our Jet A fuel was down for a year because of a leak,” she said. “I’ve turned away two people today and SUN ‘n FUN is coming up. A lot of pilots don’t read the NOTAMs.”
KMAO is in South Carolina’s northeast corner, 38 nautical miles from Myrtle Beach on the Atlantic coast. According to airport officials, 10 fixed wing aircraft are hangared on the airfield and about 1,200 flights are logged in and out yearly. An Air Reach Medevac helicopter is also based at the field and is the primary user of the Jet A fuel.
Half a dozen local pilots discussed the fuel shutdown during a recent Civil Air Patrol meeting at the airport, reporting that a CAP aircraft had been grounded at the field on the weekend because it did not have the required CAP minimum fuel to fly to another airfield for refueling. A squadron officer drove to the nearest airport in Florence, South Carolina, with fuel canisters, filled them, and returned to Marion.
Squadron Commander Capt. A.J. Patel, said he was concerned about how long it will take to get a solution to the lack of fuel.
“It affects our missions,” Patel said.
Before the fuel issue was discovered, the county was already faced with rebuilding a bay of three hangars destroyed by high winds during Hurricane Florence in September 2018.
“We also have damaged doors on another hangar bay that have to be repaired,” Pittman said.
The airport hangars were insured, she added.
An additional issue has been flooding of some areas adjacent to the runway in recent years.
“We have also been studying a solution for that because it must be solved before we can add a planned 500′ extension to the 4,504′ runway,” Pittman said.
Margrett we are sympathetic to you loss at KMAO. Some of my friends traveling said they enjoyed the visit there and the fuel prices.