WARSAW — Airport manager Nick King told the Aviation Commission at their Sept. 12 meeting that the airport had suffered a lightning strike approximately six weeks ago, leaving the airport without power for around 15 hours.

The strike was hard enough that it blew out a few power cleaners, as well as the weather automated computer system. King was able to save the major components of the system. Damage repairs came in at $979.

In new business, King requested permission to update to old computer equipment. “Our system is very old, it’s aging. We’re reaching seven years on some of our components here. Hard drives are starting to wear out and fail,” said King.

King stated that the update should not exceed $5,000, with the goal to keep costs between $2,000-$2,500. Board President Jay Rigdon told King to go ahead and get the necessary components.

During his manager’s report, King stated that August was a slow month, per usual for the summer months with summer vacations. September has already seen a small increase in flights and King is hopeful that flights will continue to rise through September into the fall.

In other business:

• A new larger refrigerator was purchased to hold catering for corporate flights.
• Capital improvement program meeting Oct. 12 at the Indiana Association of Aviation Conference at Blue Chip Casino, Michigan City. King and engineer Ken Ross will be in attendance. The board is invited.
• The Warsaw Street Department worked on a fuel system issue in one of the airport’s vehicles. King estimated that having the street department do the repair saved the airport $12,000-$13,000.

The next standard meeting will be Oct. 17 and will be meeting 15 minutes early at 5 p.m.