Propelled by pressure from airport site selection committee members, Friedman Memorial Airport officials have fired off more than two dozen questions to the Federal Aviation Administration for answers about the Hailey field's future.
Airport authority chair Martha Burke, who signed the letter, appealed to the FAA for answers before the Feb. 22 meeting of the citizens site committee. It was addressed to J. Wade Bryant, manager, Seattle Airports District Office, Renton, Wash.
Three groups provided questions: the airport authority, the Blaine County Commission and directors of the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau. All have representatives on the 25-member site committee.
Formed last summer, the citizens site committee is about half way through its work in analyzing and paring down an original list of 16 possible new airport sites distant from the present Hailey airport, Burke wrote.
But testy questions have been raised by some members about whether Friedman could remain operating with an FAA waiver allowing deviation from safety standards required for larger airliners now using the field.
In her letter, Burke reviewed events preceding the current site search, including FAA approval of a $1 million site study and major funding for hiring consultants Mead & Hunt and Toothman-Orton.
"We are hopeful," Burke wrote, "a preferred alternative location will be defined by May 2005. This location then will be compared to continued operation of the existing location. A final decision as to our course of action for establishing a C-III airport is expected in Fall 2005."
Friedman's designation as a C-III facility is what has ignited controversy over whether to build a new airport and where.
Friedman's current certification is a B-III field. But wider wingspan and faster landing speed of Horizon Airlines' 78-passenger Bombardier Q-400 turboprop has pushed Friedman into a C-III category, requiring a runway longer than the present 6,952 feet and more separation between taxiway and runway.
C-III compliance at the present airport, according to estimates by airport manager Rick Baird and consultants, would cost $30 million to $40 million, including relocating a segment of state highway 75, condemning homes in adjoining Woodside and acquiring more private land south of the field.
Among questions submitted by Burke in behalf of the Sun Valley/Ketchum chamber were whether the FAA would issue permanent safety deviations and approval for larger aircraft to operate at Friedman, who instructed the airport authority and when to seek a new airport site.
Questions submitted to the FAA from the county commission included a request for "a clear paper trail" of FAA positions on the present airport and a new site, as well as what funding would be available for a new facility and whether a 90 percent federal share would be involved.
For its part, the authority asked the lion's share of questions—12 in all.
Boiled down to essentials, the authority's questions also ask about safety compliance and waivers at Friedman; what will be required of the authority if no new site is satisfactory; would C-III compliance still be required if the Q-400 ceases operations; whether Friedman is allowed to operate out of compliance because of "diligent efforts" to find a solution; what would the FAA policy be on Friedman accepting 70-passenger regional jets.
Two questions that seemed to touch on the essence of criticism of a distant new airport—retaining Friedman despite FAA objections—were also asked:
First, would Friedman lose future FAA funding if the community declined to improve the present airport and seek a new site and, second, would the airport be required to sell 90 acres of Friedman expansion financed with FAA funds if the current field is retained?
Without FAA funds, the authority would need a new revenue source to operate. And if the 90 acres involved in extending the runway several years ago were sold, the runway would shrink to about 4,800 feet, according to Baird. That length would be marginal for airliners, but satisfactory for smaller general aviation aircraft.
Wood River Valley business and resort interests are uneasy about new airport sites mentioned in the current study because distance might cut into passenger volume and discourage airlines from operating here.
Through the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, general aviation interests also have expressed concern about a new site that would require small aircraft to move.
Any new airport, by the most optimistic estimates of consultants, would be 10 years or more off at a cost of $100 million for an operating field's basics.
Three site areas are being considered—so-called sites 8, 9 and 10 near the Blaine-Lincoln counties line east of Highway 75, and east of Fairfield site 12 along U.S. Highway 20, just east of the Blaine-Camas counties line, and site 13, also on U.S. 20 just inside Camas County.
