The S.C. Air National Guard and the Columbia Metropolitan Airport say they’re getting more than a solution to a temporary logistical challenge by moving the guard’s 169th Fighter Wing to the airport.

About 25 F-16s and about 200 pilots and support staff will be stationed at the West Columbia airport while their runway at McEntire Joint National Guard Base in Hopkins is resurfaced, Lt. Col. Mike Ferrario, the base’s operations manager, told media members who came to the airport July 7 to see where the F-16s are operating and watch 10 of them take off.

The relocation is expected to last through roughly the beginning of November, when the resurfacing should be complete.

The fighter wing is based out of the West Cargo Hangar, sharing space with FedEx’s operation. A large cargo plane with the logo of the global shipping company loomed over the tarmac as the fighters warmed up their roaring engines before taxiing to one of the airport’s two runways and speeding into the sky.

That there are two runways is a big part of why the wing has been able to relocate to the airport without any impact to its passenger flight schedule, explained Ferrario and Mike Gula, the airport’s executive director.

Ferrario said the media day was emblematic of a big opportunity the temporary location presents: the chance to educate the public about what the S.C. Air National Guard does.

“We’re always looking to get that exposure so that people realize that there are Air National Guard opportunities,” he explained. “South Carolina in general is always very strong for supporting the military. So our recruiting, compared to a lot of other states, is not an enormous issue, but we always want to keep that exposure going. ... Being out here and having that exposure will likely have a benefit over the next few years.”

Ferrario said that by the nature of McEntyre’s rural location, their operations there just don’t have the same visibility that they do right now in West Columbia. Coupled with the novelty of the temporary relocation, it’s a nice chance to generate interest.

“Most people, they’re shocked when they see us,” he said of the wing’s operations at McEntyre. “So being here at CAE and having a lot more of the community exposed to what we do has been another positive in terms of the questions being asked [and] just in terms of everyone realizing what is here in South Carolina right now.”

The relocation provides a similar opportunity for increased visibility for the airport, which is always seeking new opportunities to remind people to keep them in mind for their travel instead of immediately defaulting to larger nearby airports in Charlotte and Atlanta.

“It’s something that they’ve never seen at this airport,” Gula said.

“We’re about a month out from having some covered area where people can come out and enjoy it and watch the flights take off,” he added. “But in the meantime, they’re welcome to park in the Cell Phone Lot and watch the operation.”

No firm schedule is available for viewing takeoffs due operational security protocols, Ferrario explained.

The operations manager said that about 100 people from the wing are out at the base working during the week, with that number swelling to 200 during weekend training. During the week, the National Guard staff on hand is about three-quarters full time and one-quarter part time, with that ratio flipping during weekend operations.

The pilots taking off in West Columbia fly down to Georgia on training missions, designed to prepare them for possible wartime scenarios if they get called up by the president.

Ferrario said an additional benefit of the relocation is that it’s cut down on commutes for much of the wing’s workforce.

“We have some people who live in Sumter, so that additional travel is a burden, but one they can generally manage,” he said. “We have a lot of other people, though, who live in Lexington, and instead of having to drive all the way to McEntire, this is actually quite beneficial to them.”

Gulla and Ferrario both spoke to the noise the F-16s generate and said they haven’t heard much negative feedback.

The wing has cut back on the number of afterburner takeoffs it does — the afterburners generate the most noise, Ferrario said — and it’s flying the minimum number of nights that it can to mitigate disruptions to the community.

“People appreciate the sound of freedom from the bottom of our aircraft, but we do get some people that are concerned about the noise and we take that seriously,” the operations manager said.