For the week of  September 12 - 18, 2001

New TLS at airport will aid winter landings

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By GREG MOORE
Express Staff Writer

Having passed environmental review, a precision navigation system should be installed at Friedman Memorial Airport this winter, allowing for more bad-weather landings.

The Transponder Landing System will aid area tourism and is predicted to reduce airport noise.

"I think this is the single best safety and noise-related item I’ve ever seen proposed for this airport," said Wayne Warner, owner of Sun Valley Aviation, during a public hearing on the subject Sept. 4.

Held at the old Blaine County Courthouse in Hailey, the hearing was to take comments on an environmental assessment, primarily of potential noise impacts, of the proposed installation. Approval appeared unanimous among the 19 pilots and air-charter owners—all men—in attendance.

Installation at Friedman will be part of a nationwide program funded by the FAA to test the recently developed system’s effectiveness at six airports with approach and weather problems.

"The things (that make) for a good ski area make for a crummy place to put an airport," said Cindy Felis, environmental program manager for the Federal Aviation Administration in Seattle, at Tuesday’s hearing. "Hailey is the perfect showcase for this."

She said TLS systems are functioning at only two airports worldwide—one in the Philippines and the other in Wisconsin. A TLS system has been installed, but not yet approved for use, at the airport serving both Pullman, Wash., and Moscow, Idaho.

Felis said she would draft a finding of no significant environmental impact this week, concluding the environmental assessment and clearing the way for installation to proceed. Airport manager Rick Baird said the system should be in place by December, though FAA flight checks will delay its use until later in the winter.

Currently, pilots of private planes and Skywest Airlines planes landing at Friedman can home in on a signal emitted from a beacon 11.5 miles south of the airport, but under FAA rules, must be able to see the runway from at least five miles away and from 2,500 feet above to continue their approach. In bad weather, Horizon Air planes use a microwave navigation system to land from the north, and must be able to see the runway from at least 1.5 miles away and 1,900 feet above, Baird said.

He said the TLS will allow pilots to come within 2.5 miles and 890 vertical feet before they must see the runway.

Felis said the increase in successful landings by private planes will mean fewer missed approaches and repeated attempts, reducing noise for nearby residents. She said the slightly increased approach angle required by the TLS will also help in that regard.

She acknowledged that the increase in bad-weather landings by commercial planes, which land in Twin Falls without the TLS, will increase noise levels.

An amalgamation of the words "transmit" and "respond," the transponder landing system will be placed on a concrete pad with a 6- to 8-foot-high antenna, to the side of the runway. Baird said it will not require additional equipment in planes.

The system will cost $750,000 to install, to be paid by the federal government. Maintenance will cost between $5,000 and $80,000 annually, to be paid by local funds, Baird said.

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