Friday, August 29, 2008

Friedman’s 'fatal flaw' defies remedy

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By PAT MURPHY
Express Staff Writer

Pilots making an approach to Friedman Memorial Airport have this view of the airport runway and surrounding terrain that the Federal Aviation Administration says creates a major safety problem. The tipping point, according to the FAA, is the inability of airliners serving the field to execute a "missed approach" during low cloud ceilings and limited visibility. The "missed approach" requires an airliner to avoid terrain and obstructions and climb back to a safe maneuvering altitude on one engine. Photo by

It might be described as aviation's equivalent of the fabled irresistible force and immovable object—aircraft and the mountainous terrain on three sides of Friedman Memorial Airport.

The horse-shaped valley's rugged landscape is the death knell for any lingering hopes by Friedman advocates that the field could be modified, at a cost of tens of millions of dollars, rather than replaced by a new airport built at a more distant site. In the parlance of the first phase of an Environmental Impact Statement study seeking a new airport location, Friedman has a "fatal flaw."

Except when unusual strong winds dictate that some aircraft land over the city of Hailey to the southeast on runway 13, virtually all other landings are to the northwest on the runway's 310-degree heading.

And therein lies the problem, according to airport manager Rick Baird as well as the Federal Aviation Administration and the consulting firm of Landrum & Brown, which is conducting the EIS.

In inclement weather, the FAA's standard Category 1 approach minimums are a 200-foot cloud ceiling and one-half mile visibility. Baird explained that if the pilots of airliners reach those minimums, their companies require them to break off their landing attempt and execute a "missed approach"—that is, applying full power, retracting landing gear and slowly retracting wing flaps and climbing to a safe altitude above any terrain.

However, Baird said, airline operational manuals require that to be done on a single engine. He said that would involve climb rates and reduced speeds the aircraft can't meet around Friedman while headed northwest.

Baird pointed out that the three potential sites for a new airport that survived the first round of evaluations and were announced earlier this month were required to be free of any terrain obstructions to allow for safe approaches, takeoffs and missed approaches.

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