Airport manager Kevin Gebhart works on a turboprop crop-duster at the Burley airport Nov. 16.
BURLEY | More than 4,400 flights take off or land at the Burley airport each year, according to cameras that recorded activity at the airport for GDA Engineers.
More than 35 local businesses use the airport.
An air cargo UPS flight comes in 500 times a year. Six agricultural spraying aircraft are based there, though they don't fly in and out of the airport with chemicals; during the busy season it is not uncommon for operators to fly 40 to 50 times a day. Student pilots use the airport for about 1,000 flights yearly. Life Flight air ambulance based an Agusta helicopter at the airport in March and projects 1,000 operations annually.
Firefighting use of the Burley airport is based on need, with hundreds of flights in some fire seasons and nearly zero in others. The military uses the airport about 10 times a year. And the airport handles flights diverted from Twin Falls and Sun Valley.
Other users include Civil Air Patrol, the state of Idaho, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Idaho National Guard.
What do the users have to say about the airport's future? Even here, there isn't consensus.
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| Gebhart |
Kevin Gebhart
Airport manager, Flight Doctor owner.
Gebhart is the fixed-base operator at the airport, providing aircraft maintenance, fuel and a lobby for pilots and passengers.
“You are the first person to meet people coming into the community, and you are the one to get up at 3 a.m. to fuel the Life Flight helicopter,” Gebhart said.
Decisions about the Burley airport will directly impact his livelihood — and his customers.
“They depend on us. When a crop-duster is broken down mid-season, hours make a difference,” Gebhart said. “There is a lot of trust between a pilot and their mechanic. They put their life in your hands when they take off.”
Cassia County farmer and pilot Mike Wheeler uses Flight Doctor routinely. “Where would my ag planes go for mechanical service if they closed?” he said.
If the city closes the airport, Gebhart said, “it would have such an economic impact on the community that most people don’t even understand. They don’t know how much it affects their lives.”
Gebhart believes there are many locations suitable for a new airport and hopes someone with poor farmland or water rights will decide it's time to sell.
At a new airport, the Federal Aviation Administration would fund only an east-west runway. The current airport also has a north-south one, and many pilots have expressed concern over losing the second runway if the airport is moved.
“It’s really rare anymore to have more than one runway to choose from,” Gebhart said.
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| Thain |
Greg Thain
Pilot, farmer, dairy owner.
There will be greater safety risks for pilots if the airport is moved and there is only one runway, Thain said.
Thain also owns a hangar at the airport. Hangar owners are concerned about recouping their investments.
“I really think moving the airport to a remote location will be an invitation to vandalism and theft,” he said.
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| Hunsaker |
Jack Hunsaker
Pilot, Double L Manufacturing co-owner.
With another company, Hunsaker co-owns a twin-engine airplane that is used for business. He also has a two-seater plane that he flies for recreation.
Last month he logged 35 hours in flight.
“I use it a lot for business,” Hunsaker said. “If we lose the Burley airport it would really impact our business.”
Combined, the two companies employ 350 people.
Hunsaker — president of the Burley Airport Users Association, a pilots group that formed to have a more prominent voice in the airport issue — said the group would rather see the airport stay at its current location.
"I think the city positioned itself so there was no choice but to close it down or move it. Unless we come up with a way to extend the runway we don’t have much choice,” said Hunsaker, who said the city wants to commercially develop the property. “I think the city wanted it to be a no-choice kind of thing.”
But he would not be opposed to the formation of an airport authority, and if the airport is moved he would like local pilots to have a say in the location.
Burley would need to initiate creation of an airport authority, he said. “If people would just look at what the value of the airport is to the area, it could be done.”
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| Shamblin |
Tim Shamblin
Pilot, owner of Aero Applications Inc.
Airport closure would have a huge economic impact, said Shamblin, president of the Pacific NorthWest Aerial Applicators Alliance.
His business would base somewhere else, but for the larger community the economic harm of airport closure would be parallel to the closure of the Heyburn Simplot plant, Shamblin said.
“A lot of people here don’t realize how many people go through that airport,” he said.
If the airport is moved away from the city, Shamblin fears it wouldn't get regular maintenance, like the winter snowplowing it receives now. And the existing airport's short runways “would be nothing compared to trying to land a plane in 30-40 mph crosswinds” at a new airport with just one runway.
Shamblin said extending a runway into the community is a viable option. “It would probably cost less money, too, than moving it.”
“I think the only way to get this done is to create an airport authority and give everyone a say because Burley doesn’t want the airport now,” Shamblin said.
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| Heins |
Jeff Heins
Rupert Animal Clinic co-owner, Civil Air Patrol pilot.
Heins uses the airport to get supplies for his business. He also flies search and rescue missions for Civil Air Patrol.
“It’s a real benefit during a search for us to be able to get airborne quickly,” Heins said. If the airport closes he will have to fly out of Pocatello or Twin Falls, both an hour away.
Heins calls an airport authority a viable option, but he's doubtful local leaders can pull it off.
“Burley has handled this poorly in the past and antagonized people in the county,” Heins said. “It makes a lot of sense, but I don’t know if we can retrace all those steps. A lot of bridges have been burned.”
Heins said the Burley Airport Users Association has identified two potential airport sites but hasn't publicly disclosed the locations.
Airport Users
Mini-Cassia businesses that use the Burley airport include:
- Love’s Travel Stop and Country Store
- Pasco Farms-Frank Tiegs
- Butte Irrigation
- Land View Fertilizer, Simplot
- Double L Manufacturing
- Redox, ATC Communication
- Kodiak America
- Sprinkler Shop
- Arrowhead Potato
- Digital Transitions Aerial Photography
- Thain Dairy
- Critchfield Flying Service
- Mettler Construction
- Harris Trucking
- Deer Valley Trucking
- Dot Transportation
- Les Schwab
- King’s, Smith’s Food & Drug
- McCain Foods
- Lynch Oil, Pickett Equipment
- Kim Hansen Chevrolet
- AgriSource
- Pacific Ethanol
- J&B Airlift
- Ag Air, Aero Applications
- Ram Air
- Red Baron Ag
- Jet Stream Aviation.
Source: Burley Airport Users Association
Original article can be found here: http://magicvalley.com
Timeline: Burley Airport Controversy
1905 — Oregon Short Line Railroad completes its line through Burley near the future airport site.
1914 — U.S. 30, adjacent to the future airport, becomes part of the designated highway system.
1930 — Burley Municipal Airport is dedicated.
1972 — Voters shoot down the idea of building a regional Magic Valley airport in Jerome County north of Interstate 84.
1995 — A flight instructor and Burley businessman are killed after crashing east of the Cassia County Fairgrounds after takeoff from the Burley airport. This and later crashes raise concerns about the community's safety.
1995 — City intensifies its exploration of moving the airport due to runway lengths and lack of safety areas. A committee is formed of representatives from several cities, Minidoka County and Cassia County.
1997 — City completes its first master plan for airport's future. Land-use issues at the selected replacement sites halt progress.
2002 — The airport is rededicated as Burley J.R. “Jack” Simplot Airport.
2007 — Airport site selection north of Interstate 84 and west of Idaho 27 is announced. The site prompts much public criticism.
2008 — Mini-Cassia Economic Development Commission steps in as a mediator, saying local cities and the two counties could take part in an airport authority, a taxing body, to choose a viable site for all of Mini-Cassia. The idea dies on the vine.
2008 — The city of Heyburn annexes property that is part of a planned airport relocation project, thwarting Burley’s second attempt.
2009 — An airplane crashes two blocks from Overland Avenue after takeoff from the Burley airport.
July 2011 — Burley restarts talks on a new airport.
August 2011 — Four die after a plane crashes into railroad tracks after takeoff.
November 2011 — An airport advisory committee convenes to select viable sites but steps back from a field of four potential sites after almost unanimous opposition by landowners.
September 2012 — Burley identifies six potential airport sites.
September 2012 — The Burley Airport Users Association forms so local pilots can have a stronger voice in the airport's fate.
December 2013 — Burley selects a new firm, GDA Engineers, for its master airport planning.
January 2014 — Burley narrows potential sites to two. This time, two sites are selected farther out, on poor farmland near the I-84 and I-86 interchange and on a parcel owned mainly by the Bureau of Land Management, adjacent to West Baseline Road and 950 West.
July 2014 — Federal Aviation Administration tells the community the airport doesn’t meet standards and could lose funding.
August 2014 — FAA outlines airport shortcomings to officials.
March 2015 — Life Flight Network opens a helicopter base at the airport to provide emergency medical transportation.
October 2015 — A city meeting is held to discuss the FAA’s work to re-identify Burley runway lengths to accommodate buffer zones. The new official lengths are now shorter, further restricting use by some planes. The FAA has spent more than $1 million to study the Burley airport in the past 20 years and says this will be the last study it funds. Study engineers look to the public to recommend airport sites.
Source: http://magicvalley.com
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