RE: Airport Ag Ops SurveyJim:
1. The ag sprayers that use our airport don't abide by traffic
pattern rules, and it is dangerous because they come and go never above
300'. How can we get them to obey local noise abatement procedures?
2. We designate a portion of the airfield that they can park their
supply equipment and it is away from the normal traffic. Should there
be a requirement for containment berms for the material they use?
3. We charge the operator a commercial fee for each month they use
the airfield. The $150 per month is more of a nuisance fee for us to
put up with the phone calls about the noise.
4. If the airport is not a federally obligated airport, they could
deny use of the airport to anyone they wish. Right?
5. Hours of operations are a real problem, we know they want to
spray during calm early morning hours or calm late afternoon hours.
6. Another problem is that they normally bring their own fuel so
the airfield does not make any money off selling fuel. You could
restrict self fueling.
7. If they don't want to comply, they can be driven off hard stand
runways and forced to operate off dirt strips, which they can do.
I think our role at MTCAA should be to advise our members (Airport
Manager/Operators) of their options given their circumstances. Each
airport has a different set of unique situations.
Fred A. Leistiko
Airport Manager
City of Kalispell
P.O. Box 1997
Kalispell, MT 59903
406-250-3065
From: Greil, Jim [mailto:jgreil@mt.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 10:58 AM
To: 'Bailey Egan'; 'tcub@montanadsl.net'; 'robbzn@msn.com';
'chris@edwardslawfirm.org'; 'bhunt@3rivers.net'; 'lark@lewistown.net';
Leistiko, Fred; 'rmbalinc@ttc-cmc.net'; 'chuck.manning@gmail.com';
'tedschye@yahoo.com'; 'teri@msoairport.org'; 'john@execairmontana.com';
'ecolleenc@yahoo.com'; 'pluflyinc@mcn.net'; 'k-lee@nemontel.net';
'jwadekamper@helenairport.com'; Dahl, Maureen; Engebrecht, Steve; Galen,
Andrew; Gates, Gary; Stelling, Dave; Guay, Rebecca; Ashland / Forsyth -
Robert Lee - Rosebud County Commissioners; Baker - Roger Meggers -
airport manager; Big Sandy / Harlem - Gail Stensland - airport contact;
Big Timber - Robert Bryan - airport manager; Boulder - Jefferson County;
Bridger - Merrill Pfeifer; Broadus - Karen Amende; Chester - Steve
Layton - airport manager; Chinook / Harlem / Hogeland / Turner - Bill
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Airport board; Colstrip - Bailey Egan - airport manager; Columbus -
Allen Rickman - airpotr manager; Conrad - Steve Becker - airport
manager; Culberson - Gordon Oelkers - Chairman Culbertson airport board;
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manager; Denton - Fergus Co. Commissioners; Dillon / Wisdom / Wise River
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manager; Ennis - Don McCune - airport manager; Eureka - Craig Eaton -
airport manager; Ferndale / Whitefish - Cindi Martin - airport manager;
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board; Fort Peck - Ladonna - Valley Co. airport contact; Gardiner /
Wilsall - Park Co. Commissioners; Geraldine - Ken Evans - airprot
contact; Glasgow - Leland Blatter - airport manager; Glendive - Leon
Baker - airport manager; Hamilton - Page Gough - airport manager; Wells,
Candy; Harlowton - Dwight Thompson - airport manager; Havre - Bill Arvin
- airport manager; Hinsdale / Opheim - Valley County Commissioners;
Hysham - Glen White - airport manager; Jordan - Rod Weeding - airport
manager; Fred Leistiko; Laurel - John Smith - airpot manager; Lewistown
- Jerry Moline - airport manager; Libby - Lincoln County Commissioners;
Lincoln - Jerry Cain; Livingston - Kerry LaDuke - Livingston Airport
Board; Malta - Dixon Hitch - airport manager; Miles City - Brad Schmidt
- airport manager; Philipsburg / Drummond - Granite County
Commissioners; Plentywood - Sheridan Co. Commissioners; Polson / Ronan -
Lake Co. Commissioners; Poplar - Dallas O'Conor - airport manager; Red
Lodge - Carbon County Commissioners; Roundup - Jake Barthule - airport
manager; Saint Ignatius - Mike Kuefler - airport contact; Scobey -
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Jerry Larson - airport manager; Sidney / Fairview - Bill Henderson -
airport manager; Solf, Lisa; Kelly, Amanda; Stevensville - Don Misevic -
airport manager; Sunburst - Toole County Commissioners; Superior - Judy
Stang - Mineral Co.; Terry - Willis Bartholomay - Airport Commission;
Thompson Falls / Plains / Hot Springs - Carol Brooker - Sanders County;
Three Forks - David Boyd - airport manager; Broadwater Commissioners;
Madison County Commissioners; Valier - Pondera County Commission; White
Sulphur Springs - Bill Galt - airport board; Winifred - Ralph Rogers -
airport manager; Wolf Point - Rick Isle - airport manager; Billings -
Kevin Ploehn; Billings - Kim Annin; Billings - Mark Gabel; Billings -
Mike Glancy; Billings - Shane Ketterling; Billings - Tom Binford;
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- Rick Griffith; Great Falls - Bruce Sanford; Great Falls - Cinthia
Schultz; Great Falls - Rod Hall; Great Falls - Sharon Tuck; Helena -
Connie Lundin; Helena - Jeff Wadekamper; Helena - Kerry Johnson; Helena
- Ron Mercer; Kalispell - Rob Ratkowski; Missoula - Cris Jensen;
Missoula - Dave Kreis; Missoula - Dennis Chudy; Missoula - Greg
Phillips; Missoula - Kelly Smith; Missoula - Rob Foote; Missoula - Teri
Norcross; Sidney - Russell Houtari; Bean, Anthony
Cc: Alke, Debbie; Bean, Anthony; Rogan, Michael; Greil, Jim
Subject: Airport Ag Ops Survey
Greetings everyone!
For the past several months, our Division has received a large number of
requests from various parties regarding information on how airport
owners and sponsors handle ag spray ops on their airports. In an effort
to assist any interested parties as to how various airports across
Montana handle agricultural aircraft operations on their airport
property or what requirements they may or may not have, our Division is
requesting your help in putting together a comprehensive survey. In the
near future, the Montana Aeronautics Division will be mailing out a
survey to all airport sponsors in the state regarding how they each
handle agricultural aircraft operations on their airports. In an effort
to collect the most relevant information possible, we would like to know
if you have any specific questions that you would like us to include in
the survey. Once we collect your potential survey questions, we will
mail out the complete survey to all Montana airports. When we receive
the surveys back, we will collect, organize and summarize the
information that is sent to us. We will then team up the MTCAA to help
mail, distribute and disseminate the results back to all interested
parties, similar to our airport rates and charges survey that we produce
each year.
Please send us any specific questions or items that you would like to
see us address in our survey no later than Friday, July 30th. You may
email me back with your potential questions, or you can mail your
comments to: MDT Aeronautics Division, P.O. Box 200507, Helena, MT.
59620-0507. If you have any other questions that I might be able to
help with, please feel free to contact me at any time. I look forward
to hearing from you soon. Thanks
Jim Greil, Chief
Airports/Airways Bureau
MDT Aeronautics Division
406-444-2506 406-444-2519 [Fax]
jgreil@mt.gov
"Substance Rather Than Semblance"