Can they do this? Restrict airport to IFR traffic only?

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 20:11:32 -0400, "Kyle Boatright"
wrote in
::


wrote in message
oups.com...
Can they close an airport to all VFR traffic? This is what they're
doing at Friedman Memorial Airport at Hailey, Idaho [HLE].

Link to the article:
http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?...&ID=2005102705

I'm obstinate enough to make a "precautionary landing due to rough engine"
just to tweak these idiots... Too bad I don't make it to Idaho very often.

If someone found the real story, I'd wager that it comes down to the fact
that IFR aircraft, particularly turbines, put a lot more $$ in FBO pockets
than the typical light aircraft that is VFR only.


The news article had this to say about the reason for banning VFR
flights:

Rick Baird, airport manager, said the field would be closed
Tuesday, July 5, to all VFR (Visual Flight Rules) arriving traffic
between noon and 8:30 p.m. Only aircraft on IFR (Instrument Flight
Rules) flight plans would be allowed during those hours.

That's the day when July 4 holiday visitors would be leaving and
corporate jets of media executives attending the annual Allen &
Co. retreat would be arriving. Baird estimates the airport will
rack up 300 to 400 operations in one day.

A similar ban on VFR arrivals will be in place on July 10 between
7 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. because of the departure of corporate jets at
the end of the Allen & Co. conference. IFR aircraft under radar
control of Salt Lake Air Route Traffic Control Center can be
sequenced to land at Friedman at closer intervals to keep traffic
moving.


Hoover's had this to say about Allen & Company:


http://www.hoovers.com/allen-&-compa...actsheet.xhtml
For Allen & Company, there's no business like financing show
business. The investment bank serves variously as investor,
underwriter, and broker to some of the biggest names in
entertainment, technology, and information. Viewed as something of
a secret society, the firm has had a quiet hand in such hookups as
Seagram (now part of Vivendi Universal) and Universal Studios,
Hasbro and Galoob Toys, and Disney and Capital Cities/ABC. In
2004, the company participated in the much-ballyhooed initial
public offering of Google. The firm's famous annual retreat in Sun
Valley, Idaho, attracts more moguls than a double-black ski run
(Rupert Murdoch, Bill Gates, and Oprah Winfrey have attended).


So it would appear that the monied "beautiful-people" are being
accommodated by the airport. Give the manager a call at:
208-788-4956, and see ask him/her why VFR flights are being
discriminated against.