Obviously frustrated and impatient after 15 years of stalling on an all-weather landing system, the Friedman Memorial Airport Authority declined Tuesday to appeal for $850,000 in federal funds to test the field's Transponder Landing System, which is installed but not certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The airport began the quest for the $1 million TLS in 1994, but the FAA has avoided certifying it. Airport Manager Rick Baird told the governing board during its regular monthly meeting, as he has in the past, that the FAA has lost interest in supporting TLS and now prefers other technologies.
In a strenuous appeal to keep TLS alive, Stu Penny, vice president of TLS manufacturer Advanced Navigation and Positioning Corp., asked the authority to seek funds that in effect would force the FAA to test the TLS for certification.
However, the board declined, with several members expressing fears that the $850,000 might be taken from other federal allocations destined for Friedman for other purposes. Penny disagreed, saying funds could come from congressional appropriations, rather than the FAA.
Board member Len Harlig wondered aloud if repeatedly trying to activate the TLS system fulfilled a definition of insanity: "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
Authority member Tom Bowman, a member of the Blaine County Commission, pointed out that no other civil airport has TLS.
However, Ron Fairfax, a board member and aircraft owner, cast the lone supporting vote for the funding request, saying "we've hung in there this long" with TLS.
In the end, the board declined Penny's request, but told him to return if his firm could develop interest in TLS in other states.
· In other action, the board continued for another six months a contract with Gallatin Public Affairs of Boise, whose chief executive, Marc Johnson, reported it had spent $25,875 for a wide range of public relations and media information activities, plus coordinating meetings with Idaho government officials.
