ultrasonix
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BAZ, City of New Braunfels Airport, city trying to close FBO. Claims tainted fuel
The city of New Braunfels TX BAZ is trying to close New Braunfels Aero Service a family business that has existed for 40 years. They have used safety claims to shut down their fuel farm, had overzelous fire inspections and harassed tenents of NB Aero. The restaurant has closed but the pancake breakfast is still being held on the 2nd Saturday of each month. The latest attack was a claim that NB Aero was selling contaminated Avgas and the city getting a Temporary Restraining Order against them. They also seized their fuel truck. Independent analysis has proven this claim false but the city refuses to release their analysis results. Last week the airport director descended upon NB Aero with a group of inspectors and called 911 when the local plane spotter dared take pictures of the event. The following day he returned again with 8 large vehicles and blocked NB Aero's ramp again claiming a spot inspection.
Please keep this thread going and put your thoughts about these antics online so we can show them to our to our city council and let others know what awaits them at BAZ.
By Greg Bowen The Herald-Zeitung Herald-Zeitung | 1
NEW BRAUNFELS — District Judge Charles Ramsay on Thursday extended for 14 days a temporary restraining order preventing New Braunfels Aero Services from selling aviation fuel at the city airport.
The restraining order, originally granted March 8 after being filed by the City of New Braunfels, was extended at the request of the city and without opposition by New Braunfels Aero.
By Greg Bowen New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung Herald-Zeitung | 2 comments
NEW BRAUNFELS — City officials have ordered New Braunfels Aero Services to drain the tanks and to make repairs at its airplane fuel depot at New Braunfels Municipal Airport, saying inadequate maintenance has created conditions dangerous “to human life and public welfare.”
But company owner Sam Adams contends the fuel depot is safe — with only a small electrical repair needed in a fuel-tank overflow alarm system.
Adams said the city’s action is nothing more than additional harassment in a continuing effort to drive him out of businesses and claim all of the fuel sales at the airport.
City Manager Mike Morrison said the issue is safety.
“All we want is for those tanks to be properly maintained so they are safe,” Morrison said. “There’s nothing optional about safety. If this circumstance existed anywhere else in the city, the same action would have been taken. It’s not safe and therefore it needs to be fixed.”
Pilots at New Braunfels Municipal Airport have had two options for fill-ups: They can buy fuel from the city or from NB Aero. Adams, whose family has run NB Aero for four decades, said his fuel sales total more than $1 million per year.
“They’re just trying to put me out of the fuel business,” he said Tuesday. “It’s harassment pure and simple. They want the fuel sales.”
Under the watchful eyes of city inspectors, Adams was filling his mobile tankers with the last of the fuel from the depot on Tuesday afternoon. He said he had only about three tankers-full of fuel left.
The NB Aero fuel depot isn’t a self-serve station where pilots can fuel their own airplanes. Instead, NB Aero fills its mobile tankers at the fuel depot and then shuttles the fuel to aircraft on the runway.
The remaining supply wasn’t expected to last the week.
City Building Official Robert Kinsey inspected the fuel depot — officially known as a fuel farm — on Jan. 31 and determined it was unsafe, according to a Feb. 1 “notice of unsafe condition” letter from Kinsey to Mike Morrison.
The city owns the fuel farm and leases it to NB Aero.
“The structure and equipment is unsafe ... dangerous conditions to human life and public welfare in the inadequate maintenance of the fueling station, makes it necessary to take action,” Kinsey’s letter said.
Kinsey told Morrison the city has to remove all fuel and has until Feb. 15 to make repairs.
Morrison responded with a Feb. 3 letter to Adams, saying NB Aero is responsible for maintenance and repair of the fuel farm under its 2008 lease agreement with the city.
Morrison told Adams that NB Aero could drain its fuel tanks into the mobile tankers it uses to dispense fuel to pilots. Morrison also notified Adams that once the tanks are drained, the city would inspect their interiors.
Kinsey cited 10 problems at the fuel farm, including exposed electrical wiring, an area of washed-out dirt alongside the concrete slab covering the underground tanks, the need for maintenance to prevent rusting on piping, and the need for warning signs and protective poles, or bollards.
Adams said he agreed that exposed electrical wiring on the overfill alarm needs to be taken care of. A wiring conduit has come detached at a junction box, exposing a few inches of wiring. “It’ll take an electrician about 30 minutes to fix it,” he said.
“Other than the wiring issue, there’s nothing unsafe,” he said.
He said the matter is in the hands of his attorney, Larry Berkman of New Braunfels, father of Major League Baseball slugger Lance Berkman.
Adams and his sister, Cheryl Kloss, operate the airplane fueling station, a cafe, airplane hangars, a flying school and other flight-related ventures at New Braunfels Municipal Airport. Their sub-tenants run other aviation-related businesses.
Adams said the loss of fuel sales could put him out of business.
“The fuel is what makes everything work. You have to do all of it — the flight school, maintenance, the cafe. But the fuel is what holds it all together,” he said.
Adams told the Herald-Zeitung last month that the city is trying to close down his business by refusing to renew his 10-acre, 10-building lease — even though the city signed a settlement agreement, following a court battle, saying it would consent to the renewal.
He charged that the city and its inspectors have been engaging in a campaign of intimidation against him and his sub-tenants, trying to find code violations that can be used as reasons to claim he’s defaulted on lease terms.
Help Save our FBO
The city of New Braunfels TX BAZ is trying to close New Braunfels Aero Service a family business that has existed for 40 years. They have used safety claims to shut down their fuel farm, had overzelous fire inspections and harassed tenents of NB Aero. The restaurant has closed but the pancake breakfast is still being held on the 2nd Saturday of each month. The latest attack was a claim that NB Aero was selling contaminated Avgas and the city getting a Temporary Restraining Order against them. They also seized their fuel truck. Independent analysis has proven this claim false but the city refuses to release their analysis results. Last week the airport director descended upon NB Aero with a group of inspectors and called 911 when the local plane spotter dared take pictures of the event. The following day he returned again with 8 large vehicles and blocked NB Aero's ramp again claiming a spot inspection.
Please keep this thread going and put your thoughts about these antics online so we can show them to our to our city council and let others know what awaits them at BAZ.
By Greg Bowen The Herald-Zeitung Herald-Zeitung | 1
NEW BRAUNFELS — District Judge Charles Ramsay on Thursday extended for 14 days a temporary restraining order preventing New Braunfels Aero Services from selling aviation fuel at the city airport.
The restraining order, originally granted March 8 after being filed by the City of New Braunfels, was extended at the request of the city and without opposition by New Braunfels Aero.
By Greg Bowen New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung Herald-Zeitung | 2 comments
NEW BRAUNFELS — City officials have ordered New Braunfels Aero Services to drain the tanks and to make repairs at its airplane fuel depot at New Braunfels Municipal Airport, saying inadequate maintenance has created conditions dangerous “to human life and public welfare.”
But company owner Sam Adams contends the fuel depot is safe — with only a small electrical repair needed in a fuel-tank overflow alarm system.
Adams said the city’s action is nothing more than additional harassment in a continuing effort to drive him out of businesses and claim all of the fuel sales at the airport.
City Manager Mike Morrison said the issue is safety.
“All we want is for those tanks to be properly maintained so they are safe,” Morrison said. “There’s nothing optional about safety. If this circumstance existed anywhere else in the city, the same action would have been taken. It’s not safe and therefore it needs to be fixed.”
Pilots at New Braunfels Municipal Airport have had two options for fill-ups: They can buy fuel from the city or from NB Aero. Adams, whose family has run NB Aero for four decades, said his fuel sales total more than $1 million per year.
“They’re just trying to put me out of the fuel business,” he said Tuesday. “It’s harassment pure and simple. They want the fuel sales.”
Under the watchful eyes of city inspectors, Adams was filling his mobile tankers with the last of the fuel from the depot on Tuesday afternoon. He said he had only about three tankers-full of fuel left.
The NB Aero fuel depot isn’t a self-serve station where pilots can fuel their own airplanes. Instead, NB Aero fills its mobile tankers at the fuel depot and then shuttles the fuel to aircraft on the runway.
The remaining supply wasn’t expected to last the week.
City Building Official Robert Kinsey inspected the fuel depot — officially known as a fuel farm — on Jan. 31 and determined it was unsafe, according to a Feb. 1 “notice of unsafe condition” letter from Kinsey to Mike Morrison.
The city owns the fuel farm and leases it to NB Aero.
“The structure and equipment is unsafe ... dangerous conditions to human life and public welfare in the inadequate maintenance of the fueling station, makes it necessary to take action,” Kinsey’s letter said.
Kinsey told Morrison the city has to remove all fuel and has until Feb. 15 to make repairs.
Morrison responded with a Feb. 3 letter to Adams, saying NB Aero is responsible for maintenance and repair of the fuel farm under its 2008 lease agreement with the city.
Morrison told Adams that NB Aero could drain its fuel tanks into the mobile tankers it uses to dispense fuel to pilots. Morrison also notified Adams that once the tanks are drained, the city would inspect their interiors.
Kinsey cited 10 problems at the fuel farm, including exposed electrical wiring, an area of washed-out dirt alongside the concrete slab covering the underground tanks, the need for maintenance to prevent rusting on piping, and the need for warning signs and protective poles, or bollards.
Adams said he agreed that exposed electrical wiring on the overfill alarm needs to be taken care of. A wiring conduit has come detached at a junction box, exposing a few inches of wiring. “It’ll take an electrician about 30 minutes to fix it,” he said.
“Other than the wiring issue, there’s nothing unsafe,” he said.
He said the matter is in the hands of his attorney, Larry Berkman of New Braunfels, father of Major League Baseball slugger Lance Berkman.
Adams and his sister, Cheryl Kloss, operate the airplane fueling station, a cafe, airplane hangars, a flying school and other flight-related ventures at New Braunfels Municipal Airport. Their sub-tenants run other aviation-related businesses.
Adams said the loss of fuel sales could put him out of business.
“The fuel is what makes everything work. You have to do all of it — the flight school, maintenance, the cafe. But the fuel is what holds it all together,” he said.
Adams told the Herald-Zeitung last month that the city is trying to close down his business by refusing to renew his 10-acre, 10-building lease — even though the city signed a settlement agreement, following a court battle, saying it would consent to the renewal.
He charged that the city and its inspectors have been engaging in a campaign of intimidation against him and his sub-tenants, trying to find code violations that can be used as reasons to claim he’s defaulted on lease terms.
Help Save our FBO
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