The airport has been a busy place since Friday. That afternoon and every day since we have been preparing the runway for the slurry job, which starts tomorrow. John Bower has worked especially hard and very long days to get as much done as possible.
We had to make sure the runway and all other asphalt surfaces were clear of weeds, loose debris, and dust. Just running the sweeper across all surfaces took many, many hours. Then all of the potholes and shallow spots on the runway were filled to be flush with the surrounding areas. Bigrig trucks were driven back and forth across every filled spot to compact the material. Then John ran the sweeper across all the surfaces a second time to remove all excess fill material. It was quite a task!
Our airport was lucky to have three generous volunteers help out with the prep work this week. On Tuesday ORAA member Naomi painted closure signs to position at each driveway and she brought us a picnic lunch donated by Trinks Cafe. She even baked us a cherry pie for dessert! Eric, another ORAA member, worked really hard on Tuesday. He threw gravel and sand with the rest of the crew for hours on end. Today we had volunteer Ken pick up where Eric left off. We are so grateful for all this help. Thank you, volunteers!
As we were wrapping up the pothole work and getting ready for the final sweeping, we saw all the slurry contractor’s trucks roll into the airport. It looks like everything is all set for the resealing work tomorrow!
Remember that the airport is officially closed to all traffic (vehicular and aircraft) on Thursday, July 17 for the asphalt work. Cars are welcome back on Friday but the runway will remain closed until we have applied the required runway markings. Our goal is to paint Friday and Saturday.
A NOTAM has been posted.
Ocean Ridge Airport 