Aeronautical Study Public Comment from Scott RichardsonJanuary 16, 2025
Ashley Wilson
Ashley.m.wilsonna faa.gov
Federal Aviation Administration
Southwest Regional Office
Obstruction Evaluation Group 10101
Hillwood Parkway
Fort Worth, TX 76177
Subject: Aeronautical Study Number 2024-ANM-6336-OE (Kalispell City Airport, S27)
Ms. Wilson,
I am strongly in opposition to the tower project proposed south of runway 13 at the Kalispell City Airport
(S27). For over a decade, area pilots have worked successfully to remove two towers southeast of the
airport to improve safety; now someone is irresponsibly requesting to reintroduce another hazard.
Some things that may influence your decision follow:
1) Runway 13 is the preferred no wind runway as it allows airplanes to takeoff away from the city.
2) Although the majority of the traffic is VFR, I personally will depart on an IFR flight plan TO THE
SOUTH ON RUNWAY 13 when there are conditions of low visibility such as today: KGPI 161755Z
OOOOOKT 1/8SM FZFG VV001 M02/M03A2996 RMKAO2 SLP182I1002 I6007 T1017102811017
21044 57024. That tower would not allow IFR departures for me and other IFR pilots as I believe this is
the favored IFR runway.
3) S27 is one of the busiest airports in the state. Our last airport study put us at over 40,000 operations a
year which at the time placed the activity on par with the busiest airports in Montana.
I have no idea why the engineering firm proposing this cannot consider other much safer options in the
vicinity. There are options for them that do not include glide path and/or airspace penetrations. They
need to go back to the drawing board and figure this out so as to not affect safety of operations at this
airport. I own and lease tower space and have been responsible for many communications tower
construction projects over the years; this location would NEVER be on my radar as a possibility for a
tower due to its proximity to the airport.
Please reject this so that we may all sleep well at night.
Thank you for your attention to this!
/Scott Richardson
N4094H
406-756-4638 x 100