In this chapter,
(1) “aeronautics” means the science and art of flight including but not limited to transportation by aircraft; the operation, construction, repair, or maintenance of aircraft power plants and accessories, including the repair, packing, and maintenance of parachutes; the design, establishment, construction, extension, operation, improvement, repair, or maintenance of airports or other air navigation facilities; and instruction in flying or related ground subjects;
(2) “aircraft” means a contrivance used or designed for navigation of flight in the air;
(3) “airman” means an individual engaging as the person in command or as pilot, mechanic, or member of the crew, in the navigation of aircraft while under way; an individual directly in charge of the inspection, maintenance, overhauling, or repair of aircraft, aircraft engines, propellers, or appliances; and an individual serving in the capacity of aircraft dispatcher, or air-traffic control-tower operator; or an individual employed by a manufacturer of aircraft, aircraft engines, propellers, or appliances to perform duties as inspector or mechanic in that connection; or an individual performing inspection or mechanical duties in connection with aircraft owned or operated by the individual in the state of Alaska;
(4) “air navigation facility” means a facility used, available, or designed for use in aid of air navigation, including structures, mechanisms, lights, beacons, markers, communicating systems, or other instrumentalities or devices used or useful as an aid, or constituting an advantage or convenience to the safe taking-off, navigation and landing of aircraft, or the safe and efficient operation or maintenance of an airport, and any combination of any or all of the facilities;
(5) “airport” means an area of land or water that is used or intended for use for the landing and take-off of aircraft, and any appurtenant areas that are used or intended for use for airport buildings or other airport facilities or rights-of-way, together with airport buildings and facilities located thereon;
(6) “airport hazard” means a structure, object of natural growth, or use of land that obstructs the airspace required for the flight of aircraft in landing or taking off at an airport or is otherwise hazardous to the landing or taking off;
(7) “cargo” means goods carried by an airline that are carried under an agreement between the shipper and the airline other than a passenger ticket, that are accepted, carried, and handled separately from passenger baggage, and that are delivered to a location other than a baggage claim area; “cargo” does not include goods carried by an airline as baggage, whether belly-loaded or hand-carried and whether accompanied or unaccompanied by a passenger;
(8) “civil aircraft” means any aircraft other than a public aircraft;
(9) “commissioner” means the commissioner of transportation and public facilities of the state;
(10) “cost of change, relocation, or removal” means the entire cost incurred by the utility properly attributed to the change, relocation, or removal of a facility, less the costs for improvements or upgrading over and above the cost of a functionally equal facility; if a facility is to be relocated and replaced with new equipment, there shall also be subtracted from the entire cost the salvage value derived from the old facility;
(11) “department” means the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities;
(12) “encroachment” includes a tower, pole, poleline, pipe, pipeline, driveway, private road, fence, billboard, stand, or building, or structure or object of any kind that is or has been placed in, on, under, or over a portion of an airport;
(13) “international airport” means an international airport owned and operated by the state;
(14) “operation of aircraft” means the use, navigation, or piloting of aircraft in the airspace over this state or upon an airport inside this state; “operate aircraft” means to use, navigate, or pilot aircraft in the airspace over this state or upon an airport inside this state;
(15) “public aircraft” means an aircraft used exclusively in the governmental service of the United States or the state government;
(16) “utility” includes a corporation, company, individual, or association of individuals, or a lessee, trustee, or court-appointed receiver, that owns, operates, manages, or controls a line, plant, pipeline, or system for furnishing, producing, generating, transmitting, or distributing power, electricity, communications, telecommunications, water, gas, oil, petroleum products, coal or other mineral slurry, steam, heat, light, chemicals, air, sewage, drainage not connected with airport drainage, irrigation, or similar products including publicly owned fire and police signal systems and street lighting systems that directly or indirectly serve the public or a segment of the public; “utility” also includes a corporation, company, individual, or association of individuals, or a lessee, trustee, or court-appointed receiver that owns, operates, manages, or controls a system for furnishing transportation of goods or persons by means of a railway, tramway, cableway, conveyor, flume, canal, tunnel, pipeline, or a similar means;
(17) “utility facility” includes poles, plants, lines, trenches, bridges, utilidors, tunnels, pipelines, and any other system for furnishing, producing, generating, transmitting, or distributing power, electricity, communications, telecommunications, water, gas, oil, petroleum products, coal or other mineral slurry, steam, heat, light, chemicals, air, sewage, drainage not connected with an airport drainage system, irrigation, or another substance; “utility facility” also includes a system for furnishing transportation of goods or persons by means of a railway, tramway, cableway, conveyor, flume, canal, tunnel, pipeline, or a similar means.