|
Improvements to Friedman Memorial Airport (FMA)
- The FAA has told us that FMA has design deficiencies that, if not remedied, could result in the reduction or elimination of air service. As such, the FMAA has instructed airport staff to work with the FAA to explore what fixes can be done to the existing airport. This exploration will likely take the form of an Airport Layout Plan (ALP) planning process.
New Updates: Previous Updates: - Meetings to be scheduled with the FAA.
- We anticipate the meetings will be with managers in the FAA's Northwest Mountain Regional office (Carol Suomi, Stan Allison, and Sandy Simmons). Carol Suomi will determine if other departments of the FAA will be included.
- At a minimum, we anticipate sending the Airport Manager, Dave Mitchell from T-O and other appropriate consultants.
Pursuit of a replacement airport - A replacement airport is likely the best long-term solution for this community. Critical components in the replacement airport process would include the evaluation of operational feasibility, identifying additional or new funding sources, locating a feasible site, and building community support.
New Updates: Previous Updates: - Meetings to be scheduled with the FAA.
- On Feb. 16th, FMAA Chairman, Tom Bowman, Vice Chair, Martha Burke, Interim Communications Director, Candice Pate and Airport Manager, Rick Baird met with representatives of two private corporations, QED's Ron Price and AFCO's Charles Stipancic. QED and AFCO contacted Chairman Bowman to discuss the possibility of a privately funded airport. This was a very preliminary discussion and QED and AFCO have agreed to do some due diligence to understand the feasibility for our community and contact us if they think there are areas that might be of interest to both.
Regional Jets at Friedman Memorial Airport - FMA recently submitted a Change Proposal to the FAA that asks if the letter of agreement (LOA) between the airport and the airport control tower can be modified to include regional jet type aircrafts (RJs).
New Updates: Previous Updates: - Change Proposal submitted week of Feb. 13, 2012 -Safety Management System (SMS) assessment of the proposed change has begun.
- Goal is that the SMS evaluation demonstrates the proposed change to the LOA will have no negative impact on the National Airspace System.
- Possible unintended consequences may be that other airfield procedures will be scrutinized, including the current operation of the Q400.
- Evaluation panel to be established. Anticipated panel members from FMAA will be the Airport Manager, Manager of the Air Traffic Control Tower, and the Manager of Atlantic Aviation, at a minimum. The Airport Manager will be seeking guidance from the Chair and Vice Chair as we understand who the FAA will permit on the panel.
- We expect answers within the next 100 days.
General
New Updates:
- Guiding Principles - On March 5, 2012, the City of Hailey adopted by Resolution 2012-07 their Guiding Principles for the Operation and Relocation and Discontinuation of the Friedman Memorial Airport. Similarly, on February 28, 2012, the Blaine County Board of Commissioners approved the Blaine County Airport Strategic Plan. The FMAA Board agreed at their March 6, 2012 meeting that the two sets of Principles were helpful documents to guide future decision-making by representatives from each body. Each set of Guiding Principles can be found on Flyfma.com.
- Project title - As the FMAA has agreed to explore both improvements to Friedman Memorial Airport and a replacement airport, the previous reference name for these efforts, "Airport Replacement Project", is no longer representative. At the March 6, 2012 Board Meeting, the FMAA agreed the new reference name would be "Airport Solutions".
- Websites - At the March 6, 2012 FMAA meeting, the Board gave a greenlight for Interim Communications Director, Candice Pate, to explore merging Flyfma.com and Flysvra.com to create one online destination that houses information on the existing airport, efforts to improve the existing airport and efforts to explore a replacement airport. She will bring a proposal back to the Board for their review.
Previous Updates |
