On March 4, Bend Airport Manager Gary Judd and representatives from the FAA, Century West Engineering Corporation and Deschutes County addressed the public at an open-forum meeting at the Bend Municipal Court to begin outlining and discussing the environmental assessment for the proposed heliport on the northeast section of the Airport.
In 1942, when the forefathers of Bend turned over a 120 acres of farmland to the City so it could be turned into an airstrip for training wartime pilots, chances are, no one knew that 70-plus years later, it would become an aviation hub for Central Oregon.
Currently, more than 200 aircraft are based at the Bend Municipal Airport which is located on approximately 415 acres, five miles northeast of Bend. Out of the 97,928 take-offs at the Airport in 2013, 39,840 – or about 40 percent – were made by helicopters. This number is expected to grow by five percent in 2015.
Updated in September 2013, the Airport Master Plan includes specific guidance on necessary improvements to maintain safety and efficiency. One of these suggestions is a helicopter landing area or a heliport.
“It will be open to the aviation public and businesses that have a need to utilize a facility with landing and parking designed specifically for helicopters,” explains Airport Manager. Gary Judd.
However, before construction even begins, an environmental assessment specific to Federal Aviation Administration must be completed that examines the proposed site on the east side of the Airport.
On March 4, Judd and representatives from the FAA, Century West Engineering Corporation and Deschutes County addressed the public at an open-forum meeting at the Bend Municipal Court to begin outlining and discussing the environmental assessment for the proposed heliport on the northeast section of the Airport.
About 40 residents attended the meeting and many voiced their concerns, mostly about the noise from the helicopters.
“There is no peace at all,” noted a homeowner from south of the Airport. He claimed the noise caused disruptions every three to five minutes on the weekends.
Another resident, Anne Pelham brought a large piece of padded plywood that she used to attempt to shield the noise from her bedroom. Other attendees voiced concerns about the absence of red-tailed hawks and bald eagles from the area due to the low altitudes the helicopters are operating at.
The Airport does employ a “Fly Friendly Program” pertaining to pilots with reminders about the noise sensitive area on the northeast side of the Airport and proper protocol when in the traffic patterns but residents are saying helicopter pilots are disregarding these suggestions.
“It’s a matter of quality of life,” said Pelham.
“We do work with them (the pilots) constantly. We can’t control the source of the noise,” Judd said at the meeting.
Century West will begin preparing an initial draft of the environmental assessment sometime in July, after which there will be a public review and hearing. The final product will include responses to the public’s concerns.
“The project itself will employ consultants, contractors and engineers. The airport has experienced slow but steady grown and the Helicopter Operations Area will allow the airport to serve the demand as it grows,” Judd explains.
When the heliport is finished, it will attract more transient helicopter business. This increase will support jobs for line service and administration as Leading Edge, which operates the largest flight school at the Bend Airport.
Leading Edge, which was established in 1989, offers both airplane and helicopter training and has over 130 students. “We also support the U.S. Forest Service, department of interior, Oregon department of forestry and Oregon department of fish and wildlife from our Bend location,” explains Leading Edge President Brad Fraley.
Leading Edge currently employs 53 people and paid employees approximately $1.6 million in 2013. In the last two years they hired a CEO who relocated from Idaho, a chief pilot and director of marketing, both from Utah and a chief flight instructor from Nevada.
Faley adds, “Our flight instructors have been hired from all over the country – Washington, Michigan and California. In addition to the employees of Leading Edge, we also have 130 students. The majority of our students move to Oregon from other states. Each student as a minimum typically spends $70,000 just in flight school charges over the two years acquiring an AAS degree. This is does not include housing, college tuition, all other living expenses.
” It is estimated that over the two year course of study each student will pump approximately $350,000 in the local economy – $22 million dollars annually.”With over 100 students enrolled in the helicopter programs a majority of these students are veterans. “We have a proven track record of training our students so they can be successful in a new career,” says Faley. “We have graduates working literally all over the world performing missions like fire fighting and emergency medical transportation.”
Addressing the noise concerns of the neighbors Jessica Parker, marketing director for Leading Edge, said, “We operate following the prescribed and FAA approved flight patterns at the Bend Airport. These flight patterns do not include hovering or circling over any residence.
“We also work with individual neighbors to avoid areas that are shown as especially noise sensitive. When weather allows we depart the Bend airport and conduct some of our training operations at other local airports like Redmond and Prineville.”The next public meeting concerning the progress of the Bend Municipal Airport’s proposed heliport has yet to be scheduled.
Bend Airport: Gary Judd, gjudd@ci.bend.or.us
