Friday, August 06, 2021

Clyde Esplin: Federal Aviation Administration looks into ’near miss’ at Ontario Municipal Airport (KONO); pilot still able to fly during investigation

ONTARIO, Oregon — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating an incident described as a “near miss” on the runway of the Ontario Municipal Airport on July 19, in which airport officials, including the airport manager and the fixed-base operator owner have said safety was compromised. An initial check-in with the city’s attorney over how to ban the pilot came back as not possible, stating that Clyde Esplin, the pilot in question, was entitled to due process, according to an email update from City Manager Adam Brown on August 3.

“He still owns a hangar at the airport and is entitled to use it to fly his aircraft,” the city manager wrote in an email to the Argus on Tuesday. “We just hope everyone is a little more aware and safety conscious as a result of the incident. We will let [the investigation] run its course.”

Due to the FAA stepping in to investigate the incident, Airport Manager Erik Hartley was unable to comment further on the matter on August 3, however, details about the incident that he sent Brown, and which were subsequently forwarded to Ontario City Council members have recently come to light. Former City Councilor Freddy Rodriguez, who was in his final days of office when learning of the incident, forwarded the information he had received to the newspaper in hopes of finding out what was being done about the incident.

A July 19 email from Hartley to City Attorney Larry Sullivan, in which Brown and HR Manager Peter Hall were cc’d, says that Esplin was given a chance to be used as a fill-in pilot by the Farmer’s Co-Op for its agriculture spraying operations.

“Here is a result of that mistake,” he says, then goes on to describe an attached video in which he says Esplin “can be seen not paying attention and nearly killing a man.”

Hartley told Sullivan there were multiple reports that Esplin was seen making confrontational faces at Frazier, and as a result did not see a refueling aircraft at the pump. After the incident, airport officials say Esplin did not acknowledge the pilots, who could be seen running away from the aircraft as the plane Esplin is flying rapidly approaches, getting closer and closer before hitting the brakes.

“HE IS DONE AT OUR AIRPORT,” Hartley’s email reads. “Section Two gives me the authorization to ban him. I’m at that point.”

Upon receiving Hartley’s email, Brown forwarded it to members of the Ontario City Council.

“Council, You need to see this near miss accident with Clyde Esplin that happened yesterday,” he wrote. “We will probably show it at the airport committee tonight so they, too, are aware of what went on. I’m OK with Erik banning him, but we want to make sure we have legal council approval and Larry is not in town until Friday.”

Brown told the newspaper on Tuesday that it was good they waited for advice from the attorney.

“Our initial reaction was an emotional one, but waiting on the attorney’s opinion was the right thing to do,” he wrote in an email.

Frazier, who has a tentative agreement to sell the fixed-based operation to Caldwell-based Silverhawk Aviation, with closing expected by the end of August.

He said Esplin’s recent behavior has “absolutely nothing” to do with him giving up the fixed-base operation there, clarifying that was based on his age and health-related issues.

However, Frazier noted, “right and wrong around airport safety is something you can’t even put a value on because people’s lives are at stake.”

He added that he has been “pretty vocal about a couple-three incidents over the years.” These have included issues with radio communications and almost colliding with aircraft, and while Frazier doesn’t manage the airport, many pilots who know him because of the fixed-base operation go see him first. As a result, he says, he becomes the “bad guy” in relaying those events to officials.

While Esplin had been potentially already banned from the airport at that time, he did go on to work for Farmers Co-Op.

In the incident on July 19, Frazier said, an aircraft that had just fueled up had taxi’d out to the runway where it was waiting for Esplin to come in. But when Esplin came in, Frazier said, “he had to make a point of coming by with the aircraft and showing me, ‘Look, I’m back on the airport.’”

Initially, Frazier said Esplin “went by the first plane on the wrong side of the plane to make a point.”

“He saw me walking back from fueling up,” Frazier said. “He was going too fast, watching me instead and not seeing the airplane that was sitting right dead ahead. Had they not seen him coming and started yelling and running off toward the sides of the plane, he would have ran right over top of them.”

Frazier estimated he was about 10 seconds away from hitting the plane before he slammed on his brakes “hard enough to lift the tail off the ground.”

As pointed out by Hartley, Frazier said Esplin did not make contact afterward with the pilots he nearly missed.

“He had no remorse about that whatsoever,” Frazier said, adding that Esplin “didn’t even stop and apologize.”

Esplin was one of four candidates who applied to fill the open seat on the Ontario City Council in October, after Dan Capron had left.

Councilor John Kirby who serves on the Airport Committee told Hartley during a council meeting on July 27 that when it comes to the airport “the ag community depends on us.” He furthermore asked whether there was a statement in the master plan that says “we’re ag friendly.”

“It’s very important that we have that,” Kirby said. “The airport is an important cog in the future and development of the city. We’ve got to maintain that friendliness.”

It’s unclear whether the incidents surrounding Esplin were related to those comments.

Hartley told Kirby that there was no interest in driving away agricultural interests. He also noted that those operations weren’t where the bulk of revenue was coming from nowadays, as there were currently only two aerial applicators at the airport.

However, Kirby emphasized, “we can’t turn our back on ag.”



3 comments:

  1. It's a spat!!"

    Esplin was one of four candidates who applied to fill the open seat on the Ontario City Council in October, after Dan Capron had left.

    "Former City Councilor Freddy Rodriguez, who was in his final days of office when learning of the incident, forwarded the information he had received to the newspaper in hopes of finding out what was being done about the incident."

    The newspaper is doing FSDO work?? Sounds irregular!

    Some interesting background:
    July 6, 2021:
    Ontario voters overwhelmingly elected to recall Freddy Rodriguez from the Ontario City Council, according to the complete unofficial results of the City Councilor Recall Election...

    https://www.argusobserver.com/breaking_news/voters-overwhelming-support-recall-of-freddy-rodriguez-from-elected-position/article_49d20a04-dec8-11eb-b913-db7463615b85.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like some small-town bad blood circulating, and perhaps safety being compromised as part of that.

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    2. And "making confrontational faces", too!
      A tongue stuck out look, maybe? (clutches pearls in terror..)

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