County to repair Timberon Airfield runway

ALAMOGORDO – County Commissioners approved to repair the Timberon Airfield runway at their latest County Commission meeting Thursday.

The Timberon airfield runway has been in need of repairs to be a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved functioning airport.

Otero County Road Superintendent Tom Porter said the small airport had two options to repair the pot holes and lose gravel on the runway, either install a new overlay or fog seal it.

Overlaying the runway would mean resurfacing the existing one, which County Commissioners think is the best option, or fog sealing it that would consist of using a light application of a diluted slow-setting asphalt onto the surface of the aged pavement surface.

Porter said fog sealing it might not be the best option because a 1/5 of the runway has already fallen apart.

“My main concern is the loose gravel on it. I fly in and out of that airport on a daily basis very carefully,” Porter said. “The loose gravel creates a minor hazard.”

County Commission Chairman Lori Bies said she would like to fix the problem by overlaying the runway so that the airport doesn’t have to keep repairing the damages and so it would be in compliance for safety reasons.

“I really feel we need to do this in its entirety. I believe with that the runway has the ability to drop helicopters there if we need to for fires,” Bies said. “Especially being in fire season we would have the ability to use it in case we have another situation up in Timberon. Those people have been through enough.”

Otero County Manager Pamela Heltner said the county has never maintained the airport since she’s been working for the county.

Bies added that the county may take funds from her county fund if needed to repair the runway.