Dibble provided design, bidding, and construction phase services for the replacement of the existing airport weather observation system (AWOS) III with an AWOS III P/T on the existing AWOS foundations at Glendale Municipal Airport (GEU). Located in the city of Glendale near Luke Air Force Base and northwest of downtown Phoenix, GEU offers general aviation and corporate jet traffic for pilots, business entrepreneurs, and others. As a general aviation reliever airport for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, GEU is one of the Phoenix area’s primary general aviation pilot training facilities and offers a gateway for tourists to explore sports and entertainment offerings in the West Valley.

An AWOS is a key piece of equipment at an airport, as it advises pilots of current weather conditions at the airport. GEU’s existing AWOS had been installed in 2002 and was unreliable. The ceilometer was no longer operational, resulting in incomplete weather reporting to pilots. As part of this project, the existing AWOS tower was painted prior to the installation of the new equipment and power cable that were replaced in the existing conduit. The new AWOS equipment offers new capabilities such as thunderstorm detection, while reusing the existing infrastructure.

Additionally, the project involved replacing the primary wind cone and two supplemental wind cones on their existing foundations, with new power cable installed in the existing conduit. Further, the existing wind cones were determined to be too low at GEU’s last runway safety action team (RSAT) inspection. The wind cone poles had been raised by a temporary means and required replacement with standard wind cone poles to match their existing height.

Project Lifecycle