Emotions have spiked after an airplane crashed into a house in Kalispell on Feb. 4, with an outspoken critic of the city airport calling for northbound operations to stop immediately. Meanwhile, a local engineering firm continues to draft a study of the airport that will help city officials determine its fate.
Jeff Walla at Stelling Engineers said the firm is updating the current draft of the Kalispell City Airport Master Plan after receiving comments from the Federal Aviation Administration, which reviewed the preliminary report unveiled at a city council meeting in December. Walla said the recent crash does not influence the final report.
“It’s not going to affect the conclusions we reach,” he said. “If anything, it becomes more emotional for the people who have to make the final decisions.”
Three people walked away unhurt from a single-engine airplane crash that happened around 1 p.m. on Feb. 4. The plane departed from the city airport south of town and crashed into a home on Golden Eye Court. The homeowner was present but also uninjured.
Kalispell Fire Chief Dave Dedman was off duty at the time but lives nearby and was one of the first responders on scene. He said there were no signs of smoke or fire resulting from the crash, and passengers did not require immediate medical care.
“I would say they’re very lucky,” Dedman said of the survivors.
The latest crash calls to mind previous accidents related to the city airport. There have been eight incidents that could be classified as an accident at or near the municipal airport in the last 20 years, according to the Air Safety Institute of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). None of those crashes led to injuries to residents on the ground. In five of those incidents, no one on board the aircraft was seriously injured. Two accidents led to minor or severe injuries. A crash in 2004 on Fourth Avenue West killed the pilot and passenger.
A critic of Kalispell’s city airport seized on the latest crash and called for city officials to stop planes flying north into the heart of town until the National Transportation Safety Board concludes its investigation into the recent crash.
Scott Davis with Quiet Skies, a local organization that has lobbied for the airport to be moved or shut down, appeared before Kalispell City Council on Feb. 6 and said he had received dozens of calls after the crash. He expressed gratitude that no one was injured, but warned that “it was just a matter of time and it will continue to happen.”
Scott Richardson, a local pilot, presented the AOPA accident data as a defense against Davis’ claims. Richardson pointed out that “planes will crash unfortunately” but the majority of incidents have been minor and taken place on airport grounds. Richardson said, according to the AOPA data, there have not been any injuries or fatalities to residents in the city in at least the last 30 years; only those inside the aircraft have sustained harm.
Councilor Bob Hafferman later declared the council should take action on the airport’s future by April.
“It’s time to make a decision,” he said emphatically. Mayor Tammi Fisher agreed, saying she “would like the airport put to bed” before a full-time city manager is hired in May or June.
Stelling Engineers will finish revisions and resubmit the master plan draft to the FAA for a final round of review and comment in approximately the next two weeks, Walla said. The FAA should return the document by March, at which point Stelling would make final revisions and release the report for another round of public comment.
Stelling received roughly 90 letters or emails concerning the airport, Walla said, and almost 95 percent of the feedback could be divided into two arguments – leave the airport where it is or remove it. The public comments will be summarized in the final master plan along with Stelling Engineering’s recommendation to city council, Walla said.
There are five “preliminary improvement alternatives” for the city airport: upgrade and develop the existing site according to B-II FAA standards and assisted by federal aid; upgrade the current site in a limited capacity that would be ineligible for federal aid; build a new airport on West Spring Creek Road; relocate all operations to Glacier International; or let the airport exist in its current state without any investment, eventually resulting in its closure.