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Small School District Fights To Keep CSCOPE 6/18/13
New Helicopter Hangar for Pecos County 8/30/12
jsamp@cbs7.com
August 30, 2012
Ft. Stockton, TX - Pecos County’s helicopter now has a hangar, commissioners say it is to better serve their area.
The hangar is about 3,400 sq. ft. including the office area, restroom, equipment storage room and hangar area for helicopter.
“The facility was designed after visiting several other facilities in Texas and I talked with different helicopter mechanics about what they wish they had so I could include their needs in our facility,” said Pecos County Commissioner George Riggs said.
Located next to the hangar is a fuel tank for re-fueling the helicopter on the pad.
Riggs says helicopters only have a certain weight that they are able to fly with. Currently they only keep enough fuel on board to fly over to our hospital and pick up a patient to take to Midland or Odessa. If they have to fly to Alpine they have to fly over to the airport and take on enough fuel to make the full trip.
Now they will be able to add fuel as needed, saving about 20-30 minutes on getting to the patient and taking them where they need to.
“Hopefully this will save lives,” Riggs said, “The hangar was needed so that they didn’t have to take it somewhere else for maintenance thus being away from our community.”
Commissioners say the hangar cost about $480,000.