The nation's largest aviation membership organization has leaped into the fray about a new Wood River Valley airport by endorsing the present Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey as A-OK and appealing that it not be abandoned.
In a letter to Friedman Memorial Airport Authority chair Martha Burke, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association wrote that "the current airport fully meets (the) needs in terms of safety, capacity and convenience" of general aviation pilots using Friedman.
AOPA Vice President Roger Cohen added:
"They (pilots) recognize that relocation to any new site will cause significant disruption and could raise any number of potential obstacles to providing pilots access to efficient and cost-effective general aviation services."
He also said, "we urge the authority to continue to make all necessary investment to keep Friedman operating safely and efficiently, and to continue studying the future aviation needs" of the Wood River Valley.
AOPA's 403,000 members generally own or pilot smaller aircraft in the 12,500-pound and under category.
Although Cohen's letter cited 80 percent of Friedman's air traffic as being general aviation aircraft, only about 30 percent, according to airport manager Rick Baird, is smaller, light aircraft, while most non-airline traffic is larger corporate and private jets.
Friedman's web site lists 152 aircraft based at the airport—101 single-engine, 38 multi-engine, eight jets, 2 helicopters, 1 glider and 2 ultra lights. The field averages 291 flight operations per day, with 2 percent involving commercial airline flights.
Since the creation of a citizens airport site selection committee last summer, general aviation pilots have suggested that Friedman Memorial should be retained for general aviation, even if a distant new airport for air carriers is built.
The Federal Aviation Administration has indicated it would not provide funds for two airports.
Members of the authority, including Hailey Mayor Susan McBryant, have said no separate revenue source has been discussed or is presently available to operate Friedman without federal funds.
At her last meeting in January before being succeeded by Blaine County Commissioner Tom Bowman, then-chair Mary Ann Mix said that if Friedman were retained as a general aviation airport, the FAA would require the authority to sell 90 acres funded by the FAA for Friedman expansion, then use the proceeds toward a new airport.
Selling the land, Mix said, might well reduce the present 6,952-foot runway to about 4,800 feet, safe for most light aircraft but marginal for larger corporate jets.
Meanwhile, Baird reported to the authority at last week's monthly meeting that neither Horizon or SkyWest airlines had submitted required paper work to the FAA in support of the Transponder Landing System (TLS) already installed at Friedman but awaiting FAA calibration and certification.
"We're trying to ascertain why" the airlines have not sent in paperwork, Baird said. Without airline interest, Baird indicated the TLS system to allow inclement weather operations might well be doomed.
Baird said as the FAA has shown less interest in TLS, it has shown corresponding increased interest in a new navigation system, Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), that requires aircraft to have a Global Positioning device in the cockpit to make landing approaches during restricted visibility and lower cloud ceilings.
Friedman's new Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) is partially installed. Pilots can tune into AWOS for updated weather conditions at Friedman before landing.
Baird told the authority that more ramp space for parking aircraft will be created when two hangars on the west side of the field will be leveled. The airport has experienced a ramp shortage since Sun Valley Aviation's facility at the northeast corner was closed as part of its transfer to the southwest corner of the airport.
