b'32 OSC RAMPNew Engine-Testing Facility Enhances Safety,Functionality and Efficiency at Michigan AirportBY KEN WYSOCKYA new $7 million ground run-upaircraft a year. Workers there perform three enclosure is boosting safety andto five ground run-ups per week, each lasting operating efficiency at Oscoda- anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours. Wurtsmith Airport (OSC), a general aviationPreviously, technicians ran engine airport in northeastern Michigan, along thetests on various ramps at the 2,300-acre Lake Huron shoreline. airport. But that negatively affected traffic FACTS&FIGURESThe roughly five-story structure wasat the one-runway facility because smaller completed in February 2024 by Kalittageneral aviation airplanes had to use the Project: Ground Run-up EnclosureAir LLC, the airports largest tenant andmain taxiway to get from their hangars to Location: Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport in MI employer. The ground run-up enclosurethe main runway.Design Consultant: Blast Deflectors Inc. (GRE) provides the cargo carrier with a safeIt required a lot of coordination with Project Cost: About $7 million place to test jet engines running at full boreKalitta, Brown recalls. Wed also have without endangering personnel and smallerto notify general aviation pilots using Funding: Kalitta Air LLC aircraft that might accidentally come too Footprint: About 2 acres UNICOM.close to a powerful blast of engine exhaust.Dimensions: 48 ft. high; 268 ft. wide in front, 198 ft. wideAs the cargo airline expanded its in back; 315 ft. deepYou dont wantoperations with new hangars and other to be behind a 747infrastructure, less ramp space was Features: U-shaped enclosure with curved rear wall thatat full run-up power, deflects engine exhaust upward; more than 200 vents inavailable for engine testing, and need for a sidewalls & 1 large vent on rear wall that create headwindsays Airport Managernew location became more and more acute.for testing, regardless of what direction wind is blowingJack Brown. It would outside the enclosure; curved edges on top of walls helpblow you into the nextAs we grew, we reduce turbulence inside the enclosure county. ran out of safe, FOD Construction: June 2023-Feb. 2024 JACK BROWN(foreign object debris)-Kalitta currentlyfree spots to run the Concrete Work: B&B General Contracting Inc. owns two dozen 747s and five 777s, and isengine tests, explains Construction Contractor: Spence Brothers Construction awaiting delivery of six more 777s. OSC isSteve Vette, Kalittas Key Benefits: Safer engine testing; eliminates need tohome to its biggest maintenance, repair andline maintenance coordinate tests with arrivals & departures overhaul station, which services about 150STEVE VETTEJuly | August 2024AirportImprovement.com'