Braden Airpark Wings Not Clipped Yet

Braden Airpark, on the sales block by the Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority, received a reprieve Thursday.

The Forks Township site on Sullivan Trail will remain open for 120 days as the airport authority decides whether to close it and sell it to reduce mounting debt.

Forks Township Supervisors Chairman Erik Chuss attended Thursday's airport meeting along with other avid area pilots and members of Lehigh Valley General Aviation to plead the airport's case.

"It's a good thing to gather all the information and explore all the options before making a decision," Chuss said. "They really should have done this six months to a year ago. They were rash in their movement to close it."

Chuss said that area pilots like Bob Brown and Bob Kutzler and Mike Rosenfeld, president of Lehigh Valley General Aviation, spoke about the airpark's attributes in promoting aviation and stated that options like a sale to a private investor should be explored.

On Sunday, the airport drew high turnout from a Young Eagles program hosted by the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 70. Free plane rides were offered and planes were flying all over Forks Township.

While Braden Airpark will remain open at least for now, it doesn't have an operator since Moyer Aviation departed for the Poconos in May.

"It's not technically closed," Chuss said. "But without Moyer, there's no flight training or maintenance. There's a lot of libaility on the airport. It should have an operator there generating revenue for the LNAA."

Forks Township officials have specifically requested that LNAA representatives appear before the Board of Supervisors to explain their stance on Braden Airpark before a decision is rendered.

The authority owes $16 million by 2015 due to court-ordered payments, and the airport lacks the funding to pay off the expenses. The airport is across the street from Merchants Bank and near Weis Markets on Sullivan Trail.