By Andrew Moore / The Bulletin
Published: February 11. 2009 4:00AM PSTEpic Aircraft manager Dave Hice, standing in front of one of the company’s composite airplanes under construction at its plant at Bend Municipal Airport, explains the company’s manufacturing processes to a group of local civic and business leaders who toured Epic’s plant Tuesday as part of the Bend Airport Economic Summit. Deschutes County Commissioner Alan Unger stands behind Hice.
Several of Bend’s aviation business leaders believe a control tower at Bend Municipal Airport would improve safety and encourage economic development, while others believe it’s unnecessary, potentially costly and might even drive away business, according to discussion among business and civic leaders at the Bend Airport Economic Summit held Tuesday at the airport.
The general aviation airport — home to three aircraft manufacturers and a number of aviation-related businesses — is currently considered “un-towered” airspace by the FAA.
Tower supporters, including Cessna Aircraft Co., believe it will help improve safety at the increasingly busy airport.
“It’s dangerous without one,” said Mark Withrow, the manager of Cessna’s Bend plant. “There have been near misses, and you don’t want to wait until after one (to build a tower). This is something we do want to see in the future — we won’t force it — but if you build it, you’ll have more growth.”
Roger Lee, the executive director of Economic Development for Central Oregon, which hosted the summit, and other business leaders believe a control tower would help retain companies as well as attract new ones.
But others, including Greg Cole, the president of Windward Performance LLC — which manufactures composite sailplanes at the airport — believe a control tower could transform the airport, leading to more safety and security improvements that would forever alter the airport.
Cole, while admitting that growth has changed the airport over the past few years, said he located his business at the airport because it didn’t have a control tower.
“First, it’s a tower, and then, it’s security fences and then the runway gets longer and then the tower starts bringing in bigger planes and all those hassles,” said Cole.
Dave Hice, the manager of Epic Aircraft, later said in an interview with The Bulletin that Epic also put its facility at the Bend airport because it lacked a tower.
“I think we need to take care of the rest of the airport,” said Hice, referring to upgrades that are called for in the city’s master plan for the airport. “The tower is such a long-term item. And I’m not interested in paying for it. If that’s the case, we’ll go find another un-towered field.”
Supporters of the tower believe a tower could be operated using funds from the Federal Aviation Administration as long as the airport is able to sustain a certain number of takeoffs and landings. Construction would be up to the city.
Cole is concerned the airport’s business community would be on the hook financially to operate the tower were the takeoff and landings required for FAA funding not met.
Gwil Evans, an owner of Professional Air, the airport’s fixed-base operator — which contracts with the city to provide fuel and other services to fliers — said a tower also would help reduce noise complaints by instructing incoming fliers on which areas around the airport to avoid.
In addition, Evans said the busy airport needs a tower to coordinate the many different flight needs of the airport’s manufacturers, recreational fliers and the helicopter flight school run by Leading Edge Aviation.
“On some days, the airport looks like a hornet’s nest,” Evans said.
The Bend City Council, which owns and operates the airport, could call for the construction of a control tower when it updates the airport’s master plan.
The master plan — which outlines plans for the airport’s growth — needs to be updated per FAA guidelines every five years, said City Manager Eric King. The plan was last updated in 2002, he said, adding that an update is on hold until the city can decide how to pay for it.
The master plan already calls for updating some of the airport’s infrastructure, including a compass rose — a large painting of a compass on the airport’s tarmac to help aircraft calibrate their compasses — and a new taxiway on the east side of the airport to help improve safety for Cessna and Epic, both based on the airport’s east side.
The airport’s future
The summit was attended by a number of local civic leaders, including the Deschutes County Commission, several members of the Bend City Council and representatives from the offices of U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River.
Other Bend airport-based aviation companies in attendance along with Cessna and Epic were Precise Flight Inc., Electronics International Inc. and AeroFacilities LLC.
Lee said in opening remarks that the summit was a chance for civic leaders to understand what is needed to help propel the airport into the future. He added that the airport contributes more than 1,600 jobs and $578 million in direct and indirect economic impact to the region, according to a December 2007 study commissioned by the Oregon Department of Aviation.
By comparison, Lee said tourism annually contributes more than $600 million directly and indirectly to the region but employs nearly four times as many people as the local aviation industry, illustrating the higher pay for aviation workers.
Lee said the airport is a significant economic engine for Central Oregon and that its growth in the last several years has been dramatic.
“It goes to the idea that there is a critical mass that exists here that wasn’t here 12 years ago,” Lee said.
As outlined by Lee, the city needs to determine the airport’s infrastructure needs and work out land use issues if it wants the airport to continue to grow.
The airport and the industrial land immediately surrounding it are owned by the city of Bend, but the property is subject to Deschutes County regulations because it’s outside city limits. Lee suggested one possible solution to land use issues might be for the city to annex the airport property.
Andrew Moore can be reached at 541-617-7820 or amoore@bendbulletin.com.
Published Daily in Bend Oregon by Western Communications, Inc. © 2010