Plains Airport grant benefits pilots and local hospital

The Plains Airport recently received a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration to update and remodel their runway and grounds allowing a safer area for private pilots and medical helicopters.

The grant money would be used for paving the airport parking lot and Diehl Ranch Road, where the airport is located in Plains    

  It would also be used to repaint and resurface the runway, along with applying a fog resistant coat to it.  Instrument approach tools will also be installed which would bring the airport into compliance with F.A.A. standards for difficult landing conditions as well as at night, said Randy Garrison, the airport manager. 

“By next spring everything should be paved, installed and ready to go,” said Garrison.  “There will also be able to be in increase in fixed air wing transfers, such as medical emergency transport helicopters.”

Having the capabilities to transport patients directly from Sanders County instead of out of Missoula will save time for patients. 

“The grant also helps the hospital,” said Dawn Lynch, the director of patient care and services at Clark Fork Valley Hospital in Plains.  “It will allow us to expedite travel to specialized trauma centers.”

The helicopters will not have come to Sanders County, pick up the patient and then leave from Missoula. The teams will be able to save a step in the transport go where they need to much faster, and directly from the Plains Airport.

“Our biggest excitement about the grant is that it gets our patients places quickly and that’s better for everyone,” said Lynch.

The grant was applied for in December of 2010 by Sanders County, and would pay for the entire cost of the projects.  Garrison said the U.S. Forest Service also uses it for landing helicopters as well as medical teams such as Life Flight, which comes from Missoula.

“With night vision and the instrument approach tools it is not a one hour ride to, say, the burn center in Seattle,” said Garrison.

The project bids will come in by April, said Garrison, and work should begin in July or August, weather permitting.