I am in support of maintaining the Kalispell City Airport and hope that the Kalispell City Council will choose to keep the airport where it is and update the facility using the FAA funds to make a safer and more user-friendly facility.
The airplane wreck in early February really should not change anything. The pilot applied skill and knowledge to save his passengers and did not injure anyone on the ground. Unlucky circumstances had a fortunate outcome. Within Flathead County from 2007 through 2010 there where a total of 11,602 auto accidents with 98 fatalities, 2,894 reported injuries and 5,126 reports of resulting property damage, while there were a total of eight accidents involving aircraft, 0 fatalities, two reported injuries (pilots) and zero cases of property damage.
I understand the fear that is felt by some about the safety of the airport, but flying is far safer than driving downtown’s Main Street or any of our community roads. On our roads we have only a yellow line and three to four feet of thin air separation. When flying we are typically miles away from another aircraft, and there are no deer to hit, no drunks, cell phone users, dangerous intersections, slippery roads or text messaging teenagers to worry about.
Kalispell City Airport offers unique opportunities because of its location to conveniences, like hotels, food and services. Glacier Park International Airport is not a replacement for Kalispell City Airport. GPI is a more corporate, airliner environment that services this community well but is not a good option for small private aircraft. Our smaller municipal airfield serves our community in a way that GPI cannot.
Moving the airport is also a poor idea. The cost is far greater than simply upgrading our current airfield. Some folks just want the airfield moved further away from themselves. The airfield has been in its location for 83 years. The community has grown up around it – it was not pushed on them.
Non-pilots may not realize the measures that are taken to provide safety for pilots, passengers, property and people on the ground. All pilots must go through extensive training, regular medical exams and recertification. Airplanes like their pilots must go through regular recertification in the form of annual mechanical exams. Pilots that fly for hire or aircraft that are used as rentals or commercially have even far greater standards to observe.
Noise has been a concern for some. Are the roads around the airport any quieter than the aircraft noise? As I sit in my office, which is right under the flight path for landing on runway 13, all I hear is road noise. My family and I used to live in downtown Kalispell. My house was right under the flight pattern and I can tell you that I did not hear aircraft noise over the road noise. We did not complain about road noise to the city council, write letters, or put up signs, because the road was set up long before we moved into our downtown house.
Kalispell’s airport is a historical site that we need to preserve. It is an asset to Kalispell, its residents and to our community’s future.
John Paul Noyes lives in Kalispell