The McCall Municipal Airport and related businesses felt the brunt of this summer's record fire year.
Tax revenues from fuel sales at the airport were down 50 percent when compared to 2006, airport manager John Anderson said.
The forest fires primarily affected backcountry flight because of flight restrictions put in place over the fires on the Boise and Payette national forests.
Overnight tie-down fees were down 44 percent this year, Anderson said. Those tie-down fees are charged to light aircraft that use McCall's airport as a jumping-off point for the back country, including the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. During the height of the fires, only airplanes equipped to land in foggy or smoky conditions were allowed to land, Anderson said.
Those restrictions were in place for part of almost every day from the second week in July through August, he said.
"This means that many of the small airplanes that normally come into McCall will not come in," he said.
Landing fees at the airport were off 10 percent from the previous year. The fee is charged primarily to large business aircraft.
"They don't come in to fly into the back country; but still the numbers were down as compared to the previous year," Anderson said.
A ‘triple Whammy’
McCall Aviation president Dan Scott estimates his business lost 20 percent of its fuel sales business and 40 percent of its flying business this summer due to the fires.
"My summer business was off by about a third in total sales," Scott said. "Visual flyers couldn't come."
While smoke that made flying difficult was bad around McCall and the airport, Scott said media reports that central Idaho was on fire also kept people away this summer.
"Whether it was because of the truth or perception, it impacted general aviation," he said. "It was a bad summer for McCall and central Idaho. It pretty much impacted everyone."
This year's fires were a "triple whammy," he said.
In 2000, when huge fires burned on the Payette forest, the Forest Service was still purchasing fuel and attacking the flames from the air, Scott said.
"In 2000, they actually tried to put the fires out," he said. "This year they weren't fighting them. There were not as many air tanker operations."
In addition to the loss of fuel sales, the Middle Fork and main Salmon rivers were closed due to fires raging in the Frank Church wilderness.
Flights in support of commercial rafting operations were affected, and others seeking camping trips into the wilderness also cancelled flights due to restrictions placed on camping in the back country.
Government Airspace Restrictions Slammed
Lori MacNichol of McCall Mountain/Canyon Flying Seminars lost 40 percent of her normal income during the fires.
MacNichol blames fire managers for creating an unworkable restricted area over a 157-mile swath of the forests and up to 11,000 feet.
The fact that the fires were not burning in a solid line throughout the restricted corridor should have allowed for east-west air corridors through the forest, MacNichol said.
A normal trip to Big Creek from McCall is 32 miles by air and takes a Cessna 206 about 42 minutes and costs about $150. But due to the flight restrictions, Mac Nichol and other pilots had to fly south of Cascade, turn east about a mile north of Deadwood Reservoir, then fly north around the no-fly zone to reach airstrips in the back country. The no-fly zone made the trip cost $375 and added an additional 30 minutes of flight time.
"It was clearly a misuse of airspace," she said, noting she had to shut down her business from the first week in August to the second week in September.
She estimated that she lost 3,700 hours of flight instruction time due to the flight restrictions.
