Anderson/Kalispell City AirportKalispell City Council Members,
I would like to comment on the possibility of the closure of the
airport. I completed my private pilots training out of the city
airport. During training, we often went to Glacier Airport to
familiarize ourselves with a little busier airport, communicating with a
tower and so on. The only nerve racking experience I had duriing all my
training was at the Glacier Airport. Although this event ended without
any mishap, it could have ended very messy! Glacier is not as busy as
alot of other airports, but it is busy enough to have some close calls
with the jets and the small aircraft.
I currently fly out of the city airport, hangar my airplane there, and
spend quite a few dollars at the facitility. I personally feel the
airport environment there is very safe, and will just become safer with
the improvements they wish to accomplish.
I prefer the city airport because of its location. I can run have lunch
at a variety of places, grab something at the grocery store if I need
it. I do not fly to other airports that are located further out of town
because of the inconvenience of a rental car or taxi. This airport has
been around a long time, alot longer than the subdivisions surrounding
it, there have been very few accidents at the airport. If it was such a
unsafe area, why did the city allow the subdivisions to be built so
close to it? We all knew it was there.
I feel if you allow this airport to close, you will be setting a
precidence for all the other people who move in here from out of state,
or are residents here now, to start wining and complaining about other
business's they do not like and try and get them shut down or moved
rather than themselves deciding to live at another location. How safe
is Scotty's? A busy bar located right along the main highway, serving
alcohol to people who are going to get right out on that highway and
drive? And who is going to foot the bill for closing the airport?
Thank you for your time.
Larry Anderson