Palmer airport lease OK'd

October 18, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - The Palmer City Council welcomed Anchorage-based Security Aviation to the Valley as it voted 5-0 at Tuesday's regular meeting to allow the company to assume an airport lease used by the Warren Woods hangar.

Council member Tony Pippel was absent.

Not only would Security Aviation's helicopters help with search and rescue, wildfire fighting and transporting patients, but those operations would employ roughly 16 people, said Gary Cost, the company's assistant director of operations.

Eight pilots and eight medical staff would be hired and some of those employees could be Valley residents or buy homes in the Valley to respond to emergencies in a timely manner, he said.

In September, Security Aviation purchased the Warren Woods hangar, and now will lease the city-owned property at the airport.

In its request to house 10 Aero Vodochody L39 jet fighters and up to five helicopters in a hangar at the Palmer Municipal Airport, Security Aviation revealed its noise-abatement plan. That includes not using the runway between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. and avoiding flights over residential areas.

&#8220I appreciate the attention to noise reduction,” Mayor John Combs said.

Currently, the company owns three helicopters, Cost said.

The company would operate under a community-based model. In other words, Security Aviation would not be contracted to just one medical facility, which would allow emergency patients to be flown to Seattle when necessary, Cost said.

Cost said he lives near the airport and would oversee operations in the Valley.

The outfit will also assist the military with fight simulation, an activity that would take place in remote sites. The airport would be used for takeoffs and landings for the L39s, which would rendezvous with military aircraft, he said.

&#8220That's commendable to augment the military. It's Alaska's version of ‘Top Gun,'” council member Jim Wood said.

&#8220I think that's pushing the envelope, but if you like it, I'll buy it,” Cost replied.

Newly elected council member Larry Hill agreed it would be nice to have more helicopters in the Valley for emergencies, especially if other helicopters are tied up when a crisis occurs.

&#8220The Guard is nice, but if they're on the Kenai, we have no backup,” he said, adding that with this arrangement, a burn victim could be flown to the well-known burn center in Houston.

As part of the agreement with the city, Security Aviation will create a plan to keep the runway free from ice by either sanding it or using a de-icer. During the winter, city crews keep the runway, taxiways and aprons free from snow.

Contact Dawn De Busk at 352-2252, or dawn.debusk@ frontiersman.com.