The grounded squadron at the Haines airport has shrunk by five planes.

Eric Bennett, whose family owned L.A.B. Flying Service for more than 50 years, said he and others recently spent eight days moving company planes in advance of an airport improvement project slated to begin next spring. L.A.B. shut down in July 2008.

Five of the planes were flown to Juneau’s airport, where they will be kept pending “some touch-up” and be put up for sale, Bennett said.

Nine planes remain in Haines, including two, four-seat Piper Archers, which Bennett said also would be moved to Juneau’s airport, where there is room for them. The Archers are smaller than Piper’s Cherokee 6, the model that makes up most of the rest of the fleet.

Bennett said the issue with moving more planes to Juneau is a lack of space for them at the airport there.

In Haines, the remaining planes have been moved from tie-downs visible from the Wings/Fjord Flying terminal to a spot on the airport’s west end. “We freed up that whole area. We hope that will leave enough space for their project,” Bennett said.

Two planes are in a company hangar the family intends to keep, he said.

“The hangar is our main maintenance facility. That’s going to stay in the family,” he said.

To make way for next spring’s improvement project, the state recently purchased for demolition several other hangars west of the Wings terminal, including one owned by the Bennetts.

Including planes in Haines, Bennett said the family has about 20 aircraft, although some have been parted out and are not flyable. Planes that are for sale are equipped with Capstan safety systems and have engines with low or middle-level hours since factory overhaul, he said.

Bennett said unseasonably clear weather was a boon to the work. “We could work on them outside and we had good weather for bringing them back home. We don’t like to move airplanes without a real high ceiling. We like to get them up there.”

Matt Boron, DOT foreman for Haines, said removal of the planes will make work easier for his plow crews this winter. “It was definitely a pleasant surprise for me,” Boron said.

Author