Wednesday, April 7, 2004

Warning light proposed for mountain

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"If there had been a light on it, Jim (Woodyard) would have flown up and over it."

— R.J. SCHEU, Blaine County Search and Rescue member

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By GREG MOORE
Express Staff Writer

A Blaine County Search and Rescue member is seeking support for installation of an obstruction light on the hilltop where a local pilot crashed and died in November.

R.J. Scheu said he is gathering signatures and soliciting donations to fund the $4,000 solar-powered light he proposes for the top of Lookout Mountain, about two miles southeast of Bellevue.

Scheu is calling the light "Jim’s Light," in honor of Jim Woodyard, a former Hailey resident whose private plane crashed into the 7,500-foot-tall mountain just 39 feet below its summit. Woodyard was flying home from a business trip to Boise on a windy and unusually dark night.

"If there had been a light on it, Jim would have flown up and over it," Scheu said.

He said the mountain poses a particular threat because pilots approaching Friedman Memorial Airport must fly straight at it before making a left turn to head up the Wood River Valley.

The Federal Aviation Administration requires obstruction lights to be placed on towers, but does not do so for natural features.

Scheu said the light would be installed on a pole just tall enough to ensure it did not get buried by snow. Weighing about 150 pounds, the light would be transported to the top of the roadless mountain by helicopter, he said.

The proposed site is on federal land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. BLM Reality Specialist Tara Hagen said the agency would probably take six to nine months to decide whether to grant the necessary right-of-way permit once an application is filed.

Hagen said the BLM would conduct an environmental assessment in response to the application, and that a public comment period would follow the EA’s release. She said the agency would also solicit input from the Blaine County commissioners.

Donations for the proposed light can be made at any Bank of Idaho, or checks can be made payable to "Jim’s Light" and mailed to Blaine County Search and Rescue, Box 98, Hailey, ID 83333.

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