b'GENERAL AVIATIONRSV 57In addition, a fuel tank that was in an awkward location was moved to provide easier access for pilots.Funding WinAfter the new Airport Layout Plan was completed, the team worked feverishly to submit a funding application by Octobera process that included obtaining environmental approvals and developing a conceptual terminal design to establish a cost estimate. We did it all in four monthsapproximately three times faster than it normally would take, Olson recalls. There were a lot of moving pieces; it was all very fast-paced.But we had the FAA district office in Chicago and state of Illinois in our corner, he continues. Both were very influential in getting our application prepared and cheerleading for Crawford than half a mile wide, according to theexplains. We had a clean slate to buildCounty. We held weekly coordination National Weather Service. off of the existing aprons. meetings with them to make sure all the required reviews got done.But the tornados timing was fortuitousMay and other Airport Authority board in one respect: The FAA had recentlymembers eventually saw the upside,Even so, the odds of receiving funding announced $5 billion of funding availabletoo. We werent in love with how thewere against RSV because the program to airports nationwide for terminaloffice, some of the hangars and the fuelwas primarily aimed at larger airports. But improvements. tank were positioned, she relates. SoOlson knew the rural Illinois airport had a since we had a blank slate, we decidedvery compelling storyline. While the tornado was devastating to the community, the federal fundingto reconfigure things to make it easier forIt really pulled at peoples opportunity emerged at just the right timeplanes to get around the apron. heartstrings, he says.and positioned usBut there was a catch: To qualify forOlsons instincts were correct, and to rebuild efficientlythe federal funding, RSV had to submit athe funding application was approved in and create long-termrevised Airport Layout Plan reflecting theOctober 2023. The airport received $3.8 improvements fornew facility configurations. Hanson andmillion through the FAAs Terminal Project the airport and theAirport Authority members developed aFund, with the remaining $1.8 million community, saysnew plan, aided by an $80,000 planningfor the new terminal and an attached Jeff Olson, aviationgrant from the Illinois Department of2,550-square-foot hangar coming from discipline manager atJEFF OLSON Transportation.the FAA Airport Improvement Program Hanson ProfessionalThe new layout included a row ofand the state of Illinois. Services Inc., the airports engineering firmnesting T hangars (10 in all) and a row for about 25 years. A new terminal at RSVof box hangars for 10 airplanes whereStep-by-Step Comeback was a perfect application for those funds. two rows of T hangars once stood. AIn the meantime, the Airport Authority, Because everything at the airport wasnew corporate/maintenance hangarcommunity volunteers and a contractor levelled, the project team could redesignwas added on the north side of theworked for several months clearing facilities and improve convenience forterminal apron. And the terminal, whichmounds of debris from the airfield. pilots, Olson adds is attached to another new hangar, wasLarge metal pieces were cut up and located about 100 feet away from theremoved, trash was collected and put into If there was one silver lining behinddumpsters, and a local township used those buildings disappearing overnight, itapron and further north. Moving the terminal from its previous location in therubble from destroyed concrete blockswas the opportunity to take a really freshfor riprap.look at where buildings should go in ordermiddle of the apron improves the flow of to improve on what was there before, heaircraft, Olson explains. AirportImprovement.comJanuary | February 2026'