Safety Lapses at East Texas Regional Airport Lead to Federal Fine

LONGVIEW — An East Texas airport is fined after an investigation found safety lapses. KETK reports Gregg County paid a $44,000 fine after a 19-month federal investigation at East Texas Regional Airport. The Longview News-Journal reports investigators found humps and a hole in the safety area of the airport’s 10,000-foot runway. Other issues were lapses in live fire training and an incomplete rescue and fire staff back in the summer of 2011.

Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt described the FAA’s concerns as administrative. “At no time was that airport ever considered unsafe in terms of any of the flights coming in,” he said. Airport Manager Roy Miller was hired at the end of December as part of the county’s response to FAA findings that prompted the airport to be placed on a federal watch list of airports subject to unannounced inspections.