by Mari Radtke
In the March 13 issue of “O’Brien County’s Bell-Times-Courier” it was reported that Councilpersons Dennis Werkmeister and Steve Heeren opposed a free, drone runway inspection for a graduate student study. Werkmeister had not yet responded to followup questions by press time. Here are his answers to the follow up questions:
“Why did you vote against having the (airport) inspection
Answer from Dennis Werkmeister on March 10, 2025:
Reasons for voting against the “Motion to Approve a Drone-Based Airport inspection conducted by Iowa State University”.

• Answers based on the written material received in the Council packet on Friday, March 7, 2025.
• Not a robust project with only 6 airports covered in five years.
• Airport and taxiway inspections were conducted in 2018.
• A slurry project was completed in August, 2024, which filled cracks.
• Per their letter, no cost to the Airport or the City. Such projects as these seldom recognize that there is cost involved; i.e. the cost of local administration to handle this request.
• There is also a cost for those individuals who pay taxes. There is no indication that there are private dollars involved in this project so tax dollars are being used. If you pay taxes, there is a cost to the City and to the individual.
  Brian Feltman, Airport Manager said of the drone inspection project, :It is not required.” He said the inspections are done by Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) every three years, according to Mike Marr, Airport Inspector at IDOT Modal Transportation Bureau. Feltman also said his last conversation with Marr indicated that an official inspection would happen in 2025. Feltman explained that the runway “low spots” had been slurried in 2024. He is hoping for budget approval to give the runway a support coating over the entire area for a better surface, but that the regular ag-related customers were very pleased with the upgrades made last year.
  After being asked how many planes use the airport, Feltman put up a camera to find out. Traffic was counted daily until the ag planes came in. The count Feltman finally counted and calculated amounted to an approximate average of one plane every day. He also shared his finding that landings would come and visit nearby amenities like the snack shack at the lake or enjoy the trails.
  Although the Paullina airport is municipal and free to all, Rajrup Mitra, an Iowa State Electrical and Comuter Engineering graduate student at Iowa State University requested permission to do so from the City of Paullina. In his request he described the project for drone-based data collection as part of an “ongoing FAA-funded research” [project]. Mitra went on to describe the project: An ISU team has bee conducting airfield pavement inspection research using drones of rove r5 years. They are trying to find “best practice guidelines” for the drone and camera model, drone data resolution, and data collection altitude. Additionally, this project is evaluationg the possibility of “integrating drones into traditional foot-on-the ground pavement inspection. The group has conducted this study in six other Iowa airports.
  Efforts to reach IDOT officals were not successful at press time.