Dear Editor:
In July, my lifelong friend named Jean Vantreight of Victoria, had made arrangements with a pilot to fly her for a one-day visit to see me here in Osoyoos.
That in itself was exciting.
When she said it was a small, home-built, two-seater aircraft, I was excited and concerned.
That’s because Jean is, like myself, 92 years of age.
The pilot has to cancel that flight due to too much thunder disturbance between Vancouver and Osoyoos.
It was also the holiday long weekend, we were still under a hot spell and were still dealing with the damage caused by the recent wildfires and bad smoke in the air.
Finally, on Friday, Sept. 11, Jean phoned me to say they were leaving the next day.
The pilot made a perfect landing at the Osoyoos Airport and the pilot mentioned that the runway was in “excellent condition.”
In later conversation, the same pilot told us that the Osoyoos Airport is a “gold mine” to this community and he had a few suggestions if plans were being made for improvements.
He suggested it would be a great idea to “start small and get known” through a marketing campaign.
He believed a kiosk is needed at the airport containing information on local hotels, motels, restaurants and taxi service.
Until a bigger scheme can be put in place, a portable toilet is also needed for pilots and passengers that use the current airport facility.
Tiedowns are also definitely needed as he had to find something to block the wheels of his plane when he dropped my friend off.
He said pilots with small planes take many short jaunts for weekends or longer to many destination towns in B.C.
He also commented that word gets around in the pilot community and if these few amenities were in place, Osoyoos, with all it has to offer, would be accessible and many more people would fly into town to use the airport and enjoy our wonderful town.
Thank you for allowing me to write about this and thanks to my dear friend for her recent visit and precious time we spent together.
Iris Tweedy,
Osoyoos, B.C.
