Friedman Memorial Airport Authority's traveling road show to sell the need for a new airport landed Wednesday before the three-member Blaine County Commission, which gave it a far kinder reception than other groups at earlier briefings.
In his 30-slide PowerPoint presentation, Rick Baird, manager of the Hailey airport, had scant little good news to report about the current airport's operations and gave a repeat recitation of the bad news.
With the closing of the northeast corner parking ramp and move of Sun Valley Aviation facilities to the airport's southwest corner, Baird said the airport literally has half the space it had last November to accommodate aircraft.
There will be times this year—such as when the jam of corporate jets for the Allen & Co. media conference and the July 4th holiday coincide—when some corporate aircraft can't find parking space and will be forced to deplane passengers, then leave, Baird said.
He also told the County Commission that operators of large jets otherwise banned because of their sizes are exerting increased pressure on Friedman for landing access.
He cited requests from the owner of a Boeing 757 operated by the Dallas Mavericks pro basketball team and a Frontier Airlines Airbus 319 charter flight to land at Friedman.
Landing was denied: the 757's 124-foot wing span and 255,000 maximum takeoff weight exceed Friedman's handling capacity, as does the Airbus A-319's 111-foot wingspan and 141,000-pound takeoff weight. Friedman has a 95,000-pound weight limit on aircraft.
However, in a salute to the airport staff, Baird said "no other airport in the country" does as much as Friedman's relatively small 220-acre field to accommodate such growing traffic volume pitted against uncertain weather and mountainous terrain.
"But we're pushing the envelope," he said, alluding to Friedman's inability to handle future larger and faster airline aircraft and comply with Federal Aviation Administration standards.
The hour-long briefing was not without subtle drama. Airport authority chair Mary Ann Mix made her first appearance before the County Commission since officially losing her seat to Commissioner Tom Bowman, who was elected in November following his win over Mix in the May Democratic Primary Election. New Commission Chair Sarah Michael openly supported Bowman in the May primary.
Several questions by Michael and answers by Mix were frosty and strained, with Mix facing 90 degrees from the commission table and not looking at Michael.
In one exchange, Michael suggested that land swaps might be arranged to provide federal land for a new airport.
Mix responded that she believed land swaps were specifically prohibited.
But Michael said that "the beauty of legislation" is that such matters can be negotiated.
Although the authority and its consultants are scheduled to rank sites at a Feb. 22 meeting, Baird said he foresees two more years of studies before a final preferred site is submitted to the FAA for approval.
County Commissioner Dennis Wright then asked, "Do we (the County Commission) ratify the (selected) site?"
Mix replied, no, the FAA makes the final decision and "the county has no say-so," other than expressing its views to her and former county commissioner and now authority member Len Harlig.
This seemed to bother Wright, who said later he would inquire further.
Once again, the issue of whether the present Friedman Airport could be retained for general aviation was raised.
Mix said that 90 of the field's 220 acres would have to be sold—they were bought with FAA funds—and the proceeds of about $75 million used for a new airport, whose costs are estimated to be $100 million or more.
Selling the 90 acres, she said, would shrink the present 6,950-foot runway back down to about 4,800 feet.
And to continue operating Friedman, new sources of revenue—such as fees from users—would have to be developed.
Meanwhile, Bowman remained silent, but at the end said he had "whole pages of questions" he wanted to ask, but would do so later.
"What questions," a reporter asked after the meeting?
"Stay tuned," he said.
