Friday, November 5, 2004

FAA agrees to deliver weather landing aid


By PAT MURPHY
Express Staff Writer

Friedman Memorial Airport officials have been promised?again--that the airport will have a weather landing system by next summer, a vow that this time comes directly from Marion C. Blakey, chief of the Federal Aviation Administrator.

But is this merely another promise to string along the ever-hopeful, ever-patient Friedman Memorial Airport Authority, airport manager Rick Baird and frustrated passengers whose flights are cancelled or diverted because of weather?

If Baird is skeptical, he didn?t show it when he reported the latest development to the airport authority at its monthly meeting on Tuesday.

Exasperated after being promised a weather landing system by the FAA for nine years, Baird finally was authorized by the authority to light a fire under the FAA by contacting members of Idaho?s congressional delegation to put pressure on the FAA.

So, he told the board, he participated in a conference call with FAA administrator Blakey that also included Rep. John Mica, R-Florida, chairman of the House Transportation Committee?s aviation subcommittee; Rep, Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, and Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., chairman of the House Government Reform committee.

During the call, Baird said, Blakey promised that ?Hailey would be a priority? and that a system would be up and working by mid-summer.

But what system?

A Transponder Landing System already has been installed at Friedman Memorial. However, the FAA has yet to certify it for use. That requires running ground and flight calibration and reliability tests, which haven?t been conducted by the FAA.

Moreover, Baird has made no secret that he believes the FAA has suddenly lost interest in TLS, an inexpensive and less complicated system than the Instrument Landing System at large airports.

Instead, Baird says FAA has been flirting with WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System), a satellite-dependant network of 25 ground stations in the United States that aircraft would use for landings in reduced visibility.

But WAAS is not been fully developed nor have funds been allocated for WAAS equipment at Hailey.

Baird said Blakey did not indicate which system would be operating in Hailey. But he said she premised during the call to put the pledge in writing.

Cancellation of outbound and inbound flights to Friedman Memorial or diverting flights to Twin Falls has been the major complaint about service to the Wood River Valley. Installation and operation of the TLS was to have sharply reduced schedule interruptions.

In other airport authority business:

· A $132,000 AWOS (Automated Weather Observing System) will be installed and operational by spring, accord to Baird. The AWOS will allow pilots to receive automated VHF radio briefings about weather conditions before landing at Friedman. Receiving automated briefings by phone also will be a feature of the system. Part of the automated system also will include ATIS (Automated Terminal Information service) that provides special information about wind and runway conditions, airport services and special alerts.

· Work should begin next spring on major Friedman terminal improvements that will juggle space to add more room for waiting passengers in a secure area and more efficient security clearance position.

· Work is being rushed to complete a new parking area that will add 50 new spaces and be open before Christmas.




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