Anderson, W/Kalispell City AirportCity Council Members,
I would like to comment on the closure of the city airport. I am not a
pilot, but often a passenger on a small plane. I was born and raised in
the flathead, and have always enjoyed the city airport. I feel alot of
the complaints of noise from people about the airport is really silly,
as I've said, I fly out of there alot as a passenger and I have heard
far noisier vehicles than the airplanes. Not only the vehicles, but
motorcycles, the loud music coming from the vehicles and so on. I often
wonder if the people doing the complaining are native Flathead
residents, or people who have moved into the area from larger cities to
get away from those sounds. If so, maybe they should have picked
another location to purchase a home.
As for the safety, we have had very few accidents around the airport
involving small planes. Besides, you are not going to keep the small
planes from flying above those areas anyhow, and I have noticed
different planes such as BigSky flying over the city as well. Or, how
about the jets? I have also been a passenger on them and flew in on
approach to Glacier over Smith Lake and on directly of FVCC to land at
Glacier. They are all flying over a part of the city!
Kalispell City Airport is very conveniently located. It could not be
better located. It is close to hotels, restaurants, the grocery store,
convenience stores. They all profit from the airport as well. People
come in to be flown into the back country for rafting, hiking or
hunting, and they always need something. It is easy and convenient to
run to Rosaurs to grab a last minute item, or to one of the restaurants
for a meal before they go. When my friends and I fly to different
cities, we only fly into the ones that are convenient to downtown, I can
see alot of people avoiding this town if they have to resort to Glacier.
It is too far out and they have to either rent a car for a few hours or
take a taxi, so they will just continue on rather than stop and fuel up
and have a bite of lunch somewhere. And, they will still be flying over
the city! Another factor is the security. It is always a hassle to go
out to Glacier. You have to go through too much security to get
anywhere, and that becomes a hassle.
Kalispell has lost alot of job opportunities in the last couple of years
with the mills closing and alot of other business's, do we really want
to put more people out of work?
Another thing I will never understand, these people who live close to
the airport, they had to be aware it was there before they chose to live
close by or purchase a home in the area. Did they consider the airport
then? I don't recall it being a huge concern before all the
subdivisions were built up around it. Lets remember, the airport was
already there before these subdivisions
I feel it would be a mistake to close the airport, I think it is a
historical part of the city as well as a source of income by making it
convenient for people to stop in and spend some money, and it does
provide some employment that is so badly needed at this time.
Thank you,
Wendy Anderson
Kalispell