Friedman approves new landing system

With help from a private $250,000 donation, Friedman Memorial Airport will install a more precise navigational system this fall.

The Transponder Landing System (TLS) is expected to eliminate a majority of the weather-related aircraft diversions to other airports that plague winter travelers the Sun Valley ski resort community.

The airport authority approved purchase and installation of the system during its Sept. 1 meeting, in a 3 to 2 vote following lengthy debate about the system’s financing.

The system has a price tag of $800,000, which will be paid over a one-year period to the manufacturer, Advanced Navigation and Positioning Corporation (ANPC) in Hood River, Ore. The price includes maintenance of the system for five years, after which the maintenance fee will run $5,000 to $15,000 annually.

Installation of the system will be paid by a $250,000 donation from a private entity that has requested to remain anonymous for now.

"This is based on the provison that we would refund that money to the private interest based on a schedule, probably one year after installation," said airport manager Rick Baird. "The donors have no interest in [earning] interest and no obligation in liability--they simply want to see it up and running."

According to airport officials, the TLS holds several advantages over the current Global Positioning System (GPS). The TLS uses radio signals from the ground, and directs pilots left, right, up, and down; it is much more precise than the GPS, which uses signals from satellites.

Officials said the TLS enables a pilot to land when there is a cloud ceiling as low as 400 feet with up to one-mile visibility; the GPS cannot direct a pilot through cloud cover, and can’t be used with cloud cover lower than 2,500 feet, and less than five-mile visibility.

Because aircraft can make a higher approach into Friedman with the TLS, operations are expected to be much quieter.

According to Baird, the TLS system will eliminate a majority of the busing between Friedman and the Twin Falls airport caused by diverted flights in inclement weather. The system may also result in commercial air carriers adding more flights or regional jet service to Friedman.

Baird said a majority of commercial aircraft are already equipped to work with the TLS, which doesn’t require additional equipment as the GPS does.

"This is the solution to our reliability problem," he said.

The Friedman staff is looking at several options for financing the system. It is working with the Idaho congressional delegation on a national transportation bill that would fund TLS installation for small airports; Friedman hopes to be one of them. The appropriation is included in the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill.

"Congress wants to see if the TLS will do for rural communities what ANPC is enterprising it will do," Baird said.

If the line item doesn’t make it through Congress, Friedman hopes to develop a financing plan of its own.

"We know general aviation and the resort community will support it so we’re halfway there," said authority chairman Tom Blanchard. "We don’t know if airlines will, and that’s a political game."

If the authority is unable to fund the purchase, the equipment will be returned to ANPC, and ANPC will refund $200,000 of the $250,000 installation fee.

"So, the worst case scenario for the authority is that we get the plan in place and we can’t get the funding from the Federal Aviation Administration or finance it ourselves is that we’d have an obligation of $50,000," said authority member Len Harlig.

Even so, Harlig and authority member Mary Ann Mix voted against the proposal.

"I don’t know what it is," Mix said. "If you could show me there’s 100 airplanes out there where they’ve flown this and its always worked then that’s enough evidence to get rid of this feeling in my gut."

Harlig’s concern centered on a successful finance plan.

"I would be more comfortable doing this knowing we had the money rather than doing it on the come, as they say in Las Vegas," he said.

Member Martha Burke was hesitant, but voted favorably.

"We can test this out," she said. "It is a guinea pig feeling, though, and I don’t want to make a mistake. But this is technology. It’s an advance."

The motion passed at the meeting directed the authority to negotiate with the private donor that the system be used for two winters before repayment is due; that the authority not be held liable beyond $50,000 of the installation fee if it doesn’t come up with a financial package; and that Baird contact the Idaho congressional delegation about obtaining federal funding.

Baird said the TLS is certified by the FAA for private use, and the authority will later decide how extensive to permit use of the system among private planes.