Tinian denies FAA ‘disapproval’ of airport ILS

The Tinian Mayor’s Office denied yesterday that the Federal Aviation Administration has disapproved its initial planned purchase of a landing instrument system for Tinian International Airport.

At the same time, the mayor’s office admits that it is now dealing with a different manufacturer, Thales, which sells ILS that is “preferred” by FAA. The local government earlier met with Radiola, a company that sells the Selix ILS system.

The mayor’s office took exception to the statement of Commonwealth Ports Authority consultant Carlos H. Salas last week, who said that the Radiola’s ILS “is not currently supported by FAA.”

“This is false and misleading and indicates to the world a perception of inappropriate or dangerous conditions at the Tinian airport that do not exist,” said Tinian mayor consultant Tom Arkle yesterday.

When reached yesterday, Salas said maintained that Radiola’s ILS product AS2 “is not supported by FAA.”

“When we checked with FAA, they said they used to support that but they no longer support that now,” said Salas.

He said FAA supports the Thales ILS Mark 20. “This is the one that FAA is recommending to get if FAA is going to maintain it,” said Salas.

Salas said he met with the Tinian leadership Friday last week and they agreed to pursue the Thales system.

“CPA is pursuing the Thales system. The Mayor’s Office is helping us. We agreed that we are going to persuade the FAA to do the site visit and the design for the ILS and the cost estimate,” said Salas.

Both FAA-approved

Initial estimate for the purchase of an FAA-approved ILS place the cost at $3.5 million. The exact cost will be determined after the FAA site inspection.

The Tinian Mayor’s Office said in a statement yesterday that both Thales and Selix—the only two manufacturers of ILS in the United States—are both “approved and supported by the FAA.”

Right now, it said that the Tinian local government “has never proposed to install either system but has sought and obtained information from both companies and the FAA regarding the ILS.”

“It’s important to note that much of the information obtained has been directly contradictory to information supplied by CPA over its years of inactivity,” said the mayor’s office. It said that since the inauguration of the Tinian’s new runway, it has been asking CPA to install an ILS.

“CPA, prior to the involvement of this office, had taken no action whatsoever to initiate an ILS for Tinian. The excuse has always been ‘lack of traffic’ and ‘no funding’ at the proposed level of $3.5 to $4 million,” said the mayor’s office.

The West Tinian International Airport opened about two years ago.

CPA officials have said that Tinian’s low traffic does not justify voluntary installation of ILS by FAA. FAA, however, is willing to install and maintain the ILS, but its cost would have to be shouldered by the local government.

“CPA wants an ILS to be installed. FAA wants to install the ILS but since Tinian does not meet the traffic level, it’s not eligible under their program. What the CPA and Tinian have to do is acquire the ILS. FAA will design and install it. They will be paid for it under a reimbursable agreement,” said Salas.

‘Likely to go with Thales’

In an interview yesterday, Arkle said Tinian has not ruled out Radiola but it is likely to go for Thales.

“We can pursue the Radiola/Selix system, but there could be a possibility of the system failing more frequently if the FAA is unable to maintain it reliably. That’s something that we don’t want. We don’t want to take any chances with the safety system,” he said.

“They [FAA] could support and maintain [Selix]. However, they prefer not to. And if the FAA tells you that they prefer not to do something, then probably you’d better go along with it. Otherwise, you may run into future trouble. And for that reason, we have pretty much decided that we will go with the FAA recommendation, even if it costs a little more,” he added.