Construction is underway at St. Louis Downtown Airport (KCPS) on a new ground engine run-up and compass calibration pad.
The busiest general aviation airport in Illinois outside of Chicago, KCPS is located on 1,000 acres in Illinois just across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis.
The project includes new airfield pavement with jet blast deflectors to perform aircraft maintenance tests that require running engines at high power on the ground for several minutes, which generates a lot of noise. The aircraft maintenance companies that will use the new facility conduct more 500 high-power engine run-up tests a year on general aviation aircraft.
According to maintenance experts, the existing locations for these tests at KCPS are no longer sufficient given the powerful engines of today’s modern aircraft, which running at full throttle can cause blast damage more than 1,600 feet away.
The new Engine Run-Up will be 1,850 feet from other parked aircraft and isolated from airport operations. The area will reduce aircraft engine run-up noise by more than 50%, according to airport officials.
The project is expected to be completed in less than a year.
Baxmeyer Construction in Waterloo, Illinois, was awarded the contract for the $5.4 million project, with St. Louis Downtown Airport covering the cost above a $5 million grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT).
According to a recent IDOT study, St. Louis Downtown Airport contributed more than $422 million in economic impact for the region in 2019. It is a major employer in the St. Louis area, providing 1,522 full-time and part-time jobs.