ONTONAGON – Ontonagon County residents are asked for input into what could be a life-or-death situation.

A public meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. May 5 at the Ontonagon County Airport to hear residents’ ideas about the facility, the Ontonagon County Board of Commissioners heard Monday from its airport committee.

Air ambulances and recreational pilots currently use the airport, but only in fair weather, said Dan Sullivan, who attends airport committee meetings since he leases land there.

The airport needs some key improvements to enable more air traffic, including ambulance service.

Charter pilots rarely use airports like Ontonagon’s because pilots need detailed weather information before flying with an instrument flight plan. An instrument flight plans allows the pilot to make plans in advance. Pilots using the airport now depend on clear skies and must use a visual flight plan. Sullivan is a commercial pilot for Delta Airlines. He intends to build a large hangar at the airport soon.

“Air charter (flight) operators cannot use this airport 90 to 95 percent of the time,” Sullivan said. “Right now the airport is invisible.”

One of the most important and most expensive investments necessary to increasing activity would be installing an Automatic Weather Observation Service. AWOS, which most airports use, is essentially a large tower with many weather sensors which allows pilots to gather extensive weather information at destination airports.

In addition to the temperature and dew point, AWOS can transmit the cloud height, essential information for pilots.

“It’s not cheap, but would be an asset,” Ontonagon County Commissioner John Cane said.

“If we were to get reported weather, it definitely makes your airport more usable,” Sullivan said.

AWOS would cost approximately $100,000 to $150,000, most of which would be covered by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The airport is located near the lake just south of M-64 – between Ontonagon and the Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park.

“It’s not a direct tourism benefit,” said Ontonagon County Commissioner Gray Webber. “We’re one of the few who doesn’t have it.”

The Ontonagon airport is between the Houghton County Memorial and Gogebic-Iron County airports, leaving a gap in weather information available to pilots traveling along the lakeshore.

“There’s a big hole between Houghton and Ironwood,” Sullivan said.

In addition to the AWOS system, Ontonagon’s airport committee identified the need to improve the runway and existing facilities. The runway needs to be lengthened and facilities, including the terminal building, must be upgraded to remain functional.

“The building is structurally solid,” Webber said.

Sullivan agreed, adding such a facility in a small town is unusual, and a major asset to the community.

While Sullivan recently moved to Ontonagon, he has a lot of family in the area. In fact, his great great grandfather was Thomas Stripe, Ontonagon’s first lighthouse keeper.