Crop sprayers allowed to fly

While commercial airlines gradually return to normal operations this week, pilots of some small planes are grounded, causing hardship to businesses.

However, the Federal Aviation Administration decided late Monday to allow crop-spraying planes to return to the sky. Farmers, including Inland Northwest potato growers, had worried that the restrictions would affect their crops.

The FAA closed the nation's air space to all aircraft after terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11 as well as causing the crash of a jetliner in Pennsylvania. The agency has been phasing in aviation since.

The remaining restrictions are hurting flight schools, which have fixed costs, such as insurance that must be paid regardless of whether the planes fly. Businesses that fuel and repair the small planes of pleasure fliers also are hurting.

"We have sold only a very small amount of fuel since last Tuesday," said Larry Schmedding, general manager of Spokane's Felts Field Aviation. "We have maintenance customers scheduled who cannot come in."

The flight school at Resort Aviation Services in Hayden Lake, Idaho, is grounded and hobby aviators are "itchy" to get back in the air, said operations manager Kathy Garren.

"I can only hope it doesn't go on too much longer," Garren said. "But we want the air to be safe. If this is the way the FAA has decided to accomplish this, we're with them."

Only pilots who fly under "visual flight rules," that is, without instruments, are still barred from the sky. Crop dusters meet that definition, but were specifically exempted Monday.

"We realize agriculture is an important (segment) of our economy and some of this business has to be done," said Roland Herwig, an FAA spokesman in Oklahoma City. "Agricultural flying can resume effective immediately."

Washington potato farmers were worried about getting their crop defoliated, crucial to preventing rot during storage.

About 60,000 acres of Washington potatoes require spraying with a desiccant that kills the foliage and "sets" the skin of potatoes, making them last longer in storage, said Dale Lathim, executive director of Potato Growers of Washington.

For the process to work, the potatoes must stay in the ground two weeks after defoliation. Farmers were worried about beating the first frost.

The FAA may remove restrictions on other planes as soon as this week, said FAA Northwest Mountain Region spokesman Mike Fergus.

The agency opened the skies Friday to instrument-rated pilots who file flight plans and receive clearance before take-off.

Unauthorized planes "can expect a Department of Defense escort pretty quick and that means two F-16s," Fergus said.

The restrictions hamper access to remote sites in the West's backcountry, said licensed pilot Charley McKetta of Moscow, Idaho.

McKetta, who flies a Cessna 172, recently canceled plans to take winter clothing to his son at an archaeological field camp in Nevada.

He said he has heard stories of pilots who deliberately flew under FAA radar to pick up people stranded in the backcountry.

"We're turning normally law-abiding people into lawbreakers," he said.

Some people with vacation homes on Lake Pend Oreille are unable to fly into Sandpoint Airport.

"We're paying a large economic penalty, the community as well as the airport," said Sandpoint Airport manager George O'Leary.

Spokane Airways, which fuels all planes landing at Spokane International Airport, is operating with 75 percent of its 90 full- and part-time staff members due to the reduction in all aviation activity. The rest of the staff are on voluntary vacation, said John Chastek, vice president of operations.

"We all have to give up some of our freedoms in order to keep control of what we have and to reestablish them," Chastek said.

This sidebar appeared with the story:

ON THE NET

For updates Federal Aviation Administration updates are available on the Internet at www.faa.gov.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association offers additional information at www.aopa.org.

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