Local flyers hope for more input
While the City says it has no plans to change the way the airport is run in the near term after assuming ownership over it from Lethbridge County, local recreational flyers are hoping more thought could be given to helping grow the local flying community going forward.
“Our club is about 45 members strong,” says Glen Brown, president of the Lethbridge Sports Flyers Club and local COPA Flight No. 24. “Most of the planes owned by our club members are on various private grass strips located close to Lethbridge. What we are looking for is maybe increasing the recreational presence at the airport.
“With the County there has been quite a focus on commercial interests,” he goes on to explain, “and what we would be looking for with the change over time to do things with the City that will increase the recreational presence at the airport ... What I mean when I say increasing the recreational presence at the airport would be increasing the number of club members or recreational aircraft which could be housed in hangars out there or tied down.”
Brown says the City will ultimately decide what the best use of the airport is going forward, just as the County has done to this point, but he hopes to nudge the recreational flying discussion forward a bit at this key moment with the recent handover.
“We’re looking forward to whatever input we can give to City, and to develop a good working relationship,” he asserts. “And whatever they allow us to do in the future would be great. The City is embarking on a journey, and we hope to be a participant in that.”
Brown says of particular concern to his members is the decrease in recreational flying in general across Canada in recent years; so whatever the City can do in this instance at the airport to address that situation would be most welcome.
“Across Canada a lot of the flying clubs and organizations, we all have an emphasis on trying to promote increased participation in recreational flying,” he says. “We provide a forum in our club where people can do that in a safe manner and have a lot of fun.”
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