Central Ohio airport worried about solar panels creating dangers for pilots 

MT. VERNON, Ohio (WCMH) -- Renewable energy projects are expanding in Ohio, but not everyone is welcoming them. 

A small airport in central Ohio is worried a solar project may hurt its pilots and it has to do with glare; it can be distracting, especially to new pilots in small airplanes.  

NBC4 Investigates got a look from above at a solar farm near Bellefontaine. We could see glare off the panels, and that’s what the Knox County Airport Board is worried about with the project that is proposed to be built nearby. 

“The last thing you need is more distractions or risk when you’re learning to fly,” Knox County Airport Board Chairman Joe Ziegman said.   

Student pilots use the Knox County airport where many learn to fly, and with an expansion on the horizon, the goal is to introduce more kids to aviation. 

“It changed what I wanted to do for a living,” Ziegman said. 

It’s busy year-round.  

“Thirty to 40% of our activity are our student pilot activity,” Ziegman said. 

Now the board is worried that could change. 

“There is a solar development, proposed solar development in the area and the proximity to the airport, and the reason it concerns us is really all centered around flight safety,” Ziegman said. 

The safety issues: glare and turbulence. 

Ziegman has seen this issue in other areas, such as when he flew over a solar field in Florida. 

“If you can go up to a certain altitude, you can avoid the direct glare rays,” Ziegman said. “You can't avoid it here; it's essentially an east-west runway and so it’s going to track the sun morning until night.”  

The airport board passed a resolution against the project and brought these concerns to Open Road Renewables, the company that applied to build the project which will power the equivalent of 14,000 homes and businesses. Those behind the project said the concerns are outdated. 

“FAA has looked very closely at the issue of glare and now going back over ten years and so some of the concerns that the local Knox County airport was raising were based on old data and old studies that the FAA had done,” VP Development of Open Road Renewables Craig Adair said.  

A 2015 FAA study found glare did impact pilots. However, in 2021, it put out new guidance that said airports building solar projects on their own property do not have to carry out a study but instead file a form stating there will not be any visual impact. That guidance is for larger airports, with air traffic control towers, not small airports, like Knox County.  

You can see glare off the panels we flew over in Bellefontaine.   

For now, those flying in and out of Knox County will have to wait to see if this will impact them, if the Open Road Renewable project moves forward. Right now, the developers are waiting on a decision from the Ohio Power Siting Board. 

Open Road Renewables has acknowledged the concerns. 

“We worked with the local community and have agreed to make some changes to how the solar panels are operated, essentially changing the tilt of the panels at certain times of day and certain parts of the project area to reduce some of the glare that could potentially come from the panels,” Adair said. 

If there is an impact and student pilots look elsewhere, those at the Knox County airport fear it will cost them.  

“It will have a financial impact to the airport, numbers of take-offs and landings operations drive federal, state and local funding," Ziegman said. “We just want to keep the place safe and keep our pilots safe.” 

NBC4 Investigates reached out to other small airports that have solar fields either on or around them. A spokesperson with Wyandot Airport near Upper Sandusky sent a statement saying:   

“Here at Wyandot County Airport, we have had unforeseen issues with the solar field. The first and lesser issue is the glare from the panels. At certain times of the year and dependent of time of day the glare is as bright as a laser shining into your eyes while you are on final approach. I say lesser because the sun must be just right for this.  

The major and more important issue is the sudden thermals the panels create. Our runway is oriented north south with panels on both sides of the southern end. Prevailing winds are commonly out of the west. This means on sunny days the thermal updrafts created by the panels are moving with the winds across the runway. Pilots whether student or seasoned, can be taken by surprise by these events if they have never been to an airport with solar panels near it. The thermal provides sudden lift pushing the aircraft upward then as the aircraft flies out of it, it has a sudden drop due to the loss of the excess lift. If not accounted for it can cause a crash in the final stages of the flight.

As a flight instructor, we teach students about the effects of wake turbulence which is a similar concept to what the solar panels are causing and how that can move with wind and even linger for several minutes. But nothing is taught about the dangers of the solar panels.  

As to the topic of disruption to the airport, not enough transient pilots know about the effects of the panels to see a disruption in that sense. As a flight instructor, I rarely fly out of our airport with a student if the wind is not down the runway. actually drive to Crawford County Airport to instruct. This is known by several instructors in the area. I would say in conclusion that even though the danger the solar panels pose are not an every day problem, they one day pose a real risk of getting a pilot killed.” 

 However, at Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport in Lucas County, it’s the opposite. They’ve had solar panels for 16 years and say there has never been a negative impact.   
Col. Chad Holesko, commander with the 180th Fighter Wing, sent a statement saying:  

“The 180th Fighter Wing completed construction of a nearly 10 acre, 1.6-megawatt solar array field, in September 2008. In the 16 years since completion, the solar panels have not had any negative impact on the wing’s flying operations or aircrew. To-date, the 180FW has not received any communication from civilian aviation crews regarding any impact to civilian flying operations.” 

Open Road Renewables said that if the Knox County project is finished and issues come up, they will be addressed.