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:

• Meeting with the FAA is scheduled for April 2 in Renton, WA. *
• Attendees on behalf of FMAA will be Airport Manager, Rick Baird and Dave Mitchell from T-O (the airport's engineering firm)

 

Previous Updates:

• 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.

 

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:

• Meeting with the FAA is scheduled for April 2 in Renton, WA. *


Previous Updates:

 

• 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 aircraft (RJs).

 

New Updates:

• The FAA has taken control and possession of the Change Proposal and incorporated additional questions to be assessed in the Safety Management System (SMS) review. Specifically, in addition to the FMAA's question about including commercial RJs with wingspans up to 95' in the LOA, the FAA has included all General Aviation (non-commercial) Approach Category C aircraft. The current LOA does not include General Aviation aircraft.*
• We have previously articulated that an unintended consequence could be that other airfield procedures will be scrutinized in the SMS review. The decision of the FAA to take control and possession of the Change Proposal increases the likelihood of such scrutiny.
• The FAA also articulated that the SMS review should determine the number of RJ operations per year that the airport control tower can handle without severely affecting the capacity of the airfield. They believe this will help FMAA understand when we may outgrow the existing site.*
• Evaluation panel to be established in the next two weeks. 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 subsequent to FAA recommendations for panel participants with particular expertise.

 

Previous Updates:

• Change Proposal submitted week of Feb. 13, 2012 -Safety Management System (SMS) review of the proposed change has begun.
• Goal is that the SMS review 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.
• We expect answers within the next 100 days.

 

General

 

New Updates:

• Discussions are underway to merge Flyfma.com and Flysvra.com. We expect a proposal to be presented at the May FMAA meeting.

 

Previous 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".