Horace Williams Airport not yet ready to land

For more than 35 years, Robert Epting has been flying in and out of Horace Williams Airport. And for much of the time he’s been using it, he said, Chapel Hill residents and University officials have been underestimating their local airport’s worth.

“The value of that airport for our community is often overlooked and misstated,” said Epting, a lawyer and former UNC professor.

Since 2002, UNC officials have been attempting to close the airport in order to make way for the University’s Carolina North satellite campus. One of the most recent attempts to close the airport came in an early version of the 2013 N.C. General Assembly budget, which would have closed Horace Williams on Aug. 1.

The newest version of the budget, released Sunday, did not include a provision to mandate the closing. But that doesn’t guarantee the airport will remain open indefinitely.

University spokeswoman Susan Hudson said no date has been set for the construction of Carolina North, as funding for the project has not been finalized. She said ultimately, the University will need the land the airport currently occupies.

“We have been able to do some infrastructure work at Carolina North,” she said in an email.

“But we will need to close the airport to start construction on the first building there because most of the development area for Carolina North is located on or near the runway.”

Nearly 90 years of flight

First opened in 1928, the airport was bought by UNC and named for former philosophy professor Henry Horace Williams after he died in 1940. During World War II, it served as a Navy pre-flight training school and saw former presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush pass through, along with baseball player Ted Williams.

John Hunter, an instructor with the Wings of Carolina Flying Club since 1974, said in the 1980s there were reduced zoning laws in Chapel Hill, which led to a large increase in development on the north side of town around the airport.

“People built like crazy out there,” he said.

He said one citizens’ group, Citizens for Airport Planning, was so opposed to the airport’s operation that members attempted to steal the club’s membership list.

Until 2011, the airport was used by UNC Hospitals’ Medical Air Operations. Those operations have since been moved to Raleigh-Durham International Airport in advance of a potential Horace Williams closing.

Epting said he hopes the airport is remembered as a vital piece of Chapel Hill’s history.

“It ought not (to) be forgotten in the long run,” he said, saying he thought it was unusual for a university town with an airport to close it in order to make way for future development.

Pilots contest closure

Amidst ongoing efforts to shut down the airport, several pilots still argue it is useful to the community.

“Most universities regard having an airport as a tremendous asset,” said Chapel Hill resident and pilot George Scheer.

Scheer grew up in Chapel Hill and learned to fly at the airport from family friends. He later became an instructor with the Chapel Hill Flying Club, until it relocated to Sanford-Lee County Airport in 2001 and was renamed the Wings of Carolina Flying Club.

“Horace Williams has been a big part of my life for many years,” he said. “It’s a place that welcomes visitors.”

Scheer said the town and the University have changed positions on what should be done with the land, but they had no specific use for it until recently.

“The University has been very ambivalent about that airport,” he said.

Hunter said he thought political pressure has led to the airport’s demise.

“The University caved in years ago to shutting off options and making it less attractive,” he said.

Yet some town officials say it is time for the the airport to go.

Chapel Hill Town Council member Jim Ward said the community has been talking about closing it for 35 years. He said he thinks by doing so, Carolina North will be able to move forward, and there will be fewer safety risks.

In 2010, a plane crash at Horace Williams killed one man and injured two others.

“Every once in a while, planes fall out of the sky,” he said.

But Ward said he recognizes that the airport serves an important function and hopes that it is relocated.

“It’s a conversation I’m willing to have,” he said.