Dear Editor:

Here is a copy of a letter I recently sent to Town of Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff in regards to the local airport.

I think the information is very relevant to the people of Osoyoos.

I recently listened to your radio interview regarding the Osoyoos Airport and felt that you needed some more input.

I’m sure some of the points I bring up you’ll have heard before, but I think you need to hear them again and to listen carefully.  Once that airport is gone it will be gone forever.

Let me start with the need for industrial land.  There are lots of airports, Boundary Bay and Pitt Meadows to name a couple, which have both industrial activities and airport activities working together.

There is no reason that parts of the airport can’t have industrial use you just need to plan and build accordingly.

Call the Boundary Bay airport manager to find out how well he feels the two are working together.

I have used your airport three times and the main problem I ran into was tie downs. I carry my own and use them but it would have been nice to use a more secure system.

Putting these into place isn’t that big or expensive depending on what you do. Some people may say you need to spend lots of money to put “Pads” in but in reality most transient flyers would be happy with a secure cable system like they have at the Courtney Airport or with two poured concrete blocks at each location.

This small thing will attract more flyers.

If you take out the airport some of your local businesses will lose an economic benefit.

For example, on two of our trips we arranged for a taxi, which is now in jeopardy of losing that business, and ate at one of the restaurants by the beach near Main Street.

The gains that go to one group of the voting base in Osoyoos will be lost by another. In the radio report you mentioned having an airport close by in the United States.  I wanted to point out there are many pilots that don’t fly into the United States because of the onerous homeland security cross border reporting system.

Those pilots will not use those airports to come to Osoyoos.

As for other airports, the further away they are the less likely we are to pay the extra cab fares.

In reality, I wouldn’t pay the extra amount to go to and from Oliver.  I would find a nice restaurant in Oliver and spend my money there.

Other communities have looked into closing their airports and decided not to make that drastic move.

I think having these discussions around closing the airport and bringing the spotlight onto the issue will, in the long run, help to fix it.  Those people who would normally drive by the airport and think nothing of it will recognize what is happening and see the airport in a different light.

There’s also the issue about what would happen if someone is seriously injured in your community and would need emergency air evacuation.

Who knows, this could even become an election issue if handled improperly.

There are lots of people you could contact for more information about airports that have looked into closing.

For instance, the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association would be able to give you examples and, I am sure, good advice.

They have seen similar situation all across Canada.

And finally, what I would put down as the biggest point?  Once you close that airport you’ll never get it back.

Jim Niessen

President of

Canadian Owners and Pilots Association