Each day that the weather cooperates, residents of Matinicus drive to the gravel airstrip on the north end of the island, where pilots and islanders unload groceries and prescriptions, furnace parts and birthday cakes, mail bags and UPS boxes, medical oxygen and plumbing fittings from the small Cessna airplanes operated by Penobscot Island Air.
They also pick up passengers-perhaps small children returning from a weekend on the mainland, perhaps the new school teacher, or health care practitioners, diesel mechanics, carpenters-anybody from the “satellite TV guy” to the funeral director who may be needed on the island.
The roughly 1,500-foot-long strip has allowed for commercial air service to Matinicus for half a century. Soon, the primitive Matinicus airstrip is expected to receive some much-needed improvements.
The Knox County Island Airports Consortium, an organization formed to advocate for continued air transport and air freight service to several Penobscot Bay islands, will be the recipient of some $400,000 in state funding approved by voters through the November 2009 transportation bond issue.
Improvements to the Matinicus airstrip, to include gravel and other material for fill and surfacing, ditching, culverts, tree trimming, grading and installation of electrical conduit, is expected to cost approximately $173,000. Vinalhaven anticipates using about $63,000 for maintenance, including resurfacing, brush cutting, and improvements to drainage.
According to Marjorie Stratton, Vinalhaven town manager and chair of the consortium, commercial air service is a “vital connection” for island residents. The consortium, formed after a previous air service owner abruptly suspended operations in December of 2004, brought together appointed representatives from Matinicus, Vinalhaven, North Haven, Swans Island, and Islesboro, as well as the Island Institute, to make a case to state legislators for support of essential island air service.
The consortium met with the state Legislature’s Transportation Committee led by Sen. Dennis Damon (D-District 28), with Department of Transportation Commissioner David Cole, and with the Maine Airport Manager’s Association. In 2008, the consortium asked the state Legislature and the governor for some funding to be included in the next transportation bond issue.
Vance and Sari Bunker, representatives of Matinicus to the consortium, said that safety concerns are an important reason for the improvements. Most members of the Matinicus community rely on the air service in some way. Without the option of air transport, and without a properly maintained airstrip, life on Matinicus would be significantly more difficult. “This is a huge portion of our transportation infrastructure,” remarked one islander. “It’s a sustainability issue,” commented another.
Local airports, such as Knox County Regional, which serve at least 10,000 flying customers each year are entitled to $1 million in Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) funding. According to Kevin Waters of Penobscot Island Air (PIA), 8,777 persons flew to or from the islands in 2009, making the island clientele the lion’s share of Knox County’s trips, but the island airstrips themselves are not eligible for the FAA dollars. Recently, the state of Maine has recognized this imbalance and had agreed to direct some funding, when available, to island airstrip upgrades.
A meeting on Thursday, March 24 with the consortium and the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) is scheduled, at which, according to Stratton, “the agreement will be drawn up,” and logistics will be discussed. At that meeting, a time frame for the project should become clear.
As of this writing, neither Stratton nor Bunker were able to indicate when work would begin, but Stratton is optimistic that it would be soon. “I assume it’s going to move forward; the money is there.”
According to Kevin Waters of PIA, the airstrip improvements planned for Matinicus will bring the gravel airstrip up to MDOT standards. A new surface layer of crushed stone dust, reclaimed asphalt or some other material will be superior to what is used now (the airstrip will not be paved). Trees will be cleared and the area at both ends of the airstrip will be widened.
The proposed addition of electric lighting on the Matinicus airstrip would prove very beneficial when night landings are needed in cases of medical emergency. At present, night landings require the assistance of persons who set out kerosene lights along the runway; this technology is obsolete, and the dependence on a ground crew is less than ideal as the winter population has decreased substantially in recent years.
Medical evacuations from Matinicus are infrequent, and calls necessitating critical care helicopter transport even more so, but with no passenger vessel on the island much of the year, islanders rely on the fixed-wing charter air service for occasional emergency transportation. Many non-critical but painful or distressing medical concerns do not warrant a LifeFlight helicopter response, but still cannot be treated on the island. However, all forms of emergency transport from Matinicus are weather dependant, according to island emergency medical technicians. Matinicus receives no daily state ferry service and has no year-round passenger boat.
North Haven and Swans may also propose airstrip maintenance projects. The funding structure requires a 20 percent input from the local municipality, with the remaining 80 percent coming from the state.
The Matinicus airstrip is on privately-owned property, and permission to land must be granted by the landowners. The property’s owners do not own aircraft and cannot maintain the strip by themselves. The state has indicated that a private airstrip which serves such a public purpose is eligible for this funding.
Eva Murray is a freelance writer who lives on Matinicus.