Sedona Airport Under Attack - Spread the Word!

SCCutler

Administrator
Management Council Member
PoA Supporter
Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Messages
17,312
Location
Dallas
Display Name

Display name:
Spike Cutler
Usual deal - someone moves to a place, decides that the most important thing that they can do is to change it to suit their personal preferences. There are short-sighted folks in Sedona who think that the town needs no airport.

Go here, and VOTE in the poll. Choose option 4.

http://www.redrocknews.com/

You can read the rants at www(dot)closetheairport(dotcom) (I have no desire to boost their page rank). They must be really proud of themselves - the domain reg is private. Way to stand up for open and fair debate.
 
It would be nice to see how many votes made that 81%
 
Done. Thanks for sharing. I would think PoA will greatly skew that poll to a favorable result.
 
I prefer "correct" to "skew," but whatever works... common sense has to have a word or two to say about it...
 
Wow that sucks... That airport is on my list one day to visit when I get my PPL. I hate it when this happens. I use to live in a place where Diesel trckes would have to come down a long grade and would rely on their Jakes brakes fore safety and as the town grew closer to the freeway a big petition went around town to ban Jakes Brakes country wide... All because these people chose to live there and did not like the sound that had beeen there for years before. House prices were cheap for a reason...I am glad they did not win..

Now I will say this in regards to Sedona... I was there over the 2012 new years holiday and all day long while hiking all we heard were helicopters on sight seeing tours and the Stearman Biplane giving tours... What was crazy is my girlfriends only complaint was the aircraft noise. That and the damn Timeshere people acosting you while in town.. Anyhow, while hiking we discussed the implications of closing an airport and how once closed it never reopens and also we want to fly into Sedona together one day as well. However even being a pilot it was noticable...

I absolutely dont think it should be closed, but maybe less tours should happen. I kept an eye on what was coming and going throught the day and the ones that seemed most offensive sound wise were the tours and not so much the planes arriving and departing.

Sedona is an odd town. It is nearly impossible to walk through town without people acosting you to join their timeshares. As soon as you say no to one, another trys to grab you. The entire town is all about fleecing tourists in one way or another. Jeep tours, ATV tours, Vortex tours, mounting biking tours and obviously aireal tours... Its hard to drive through town without seeing a line of Pink Jeeps on tour, yet people dont complain. This town attracts people for tuorism and survives because of it and maybe the town should look into itself a bit before going after the airport. They have created their own disneyland and the beauty of Sedona seems spoiled its so comercial now...

However with that said, cutting back on the Helicopter tours and perhaps the biplane a bit would probably help and preserve the airport a bit longer. Or maybe at least raise the altitude at which the tours can happen. I voted not a problem....
 
Last edited:
We already lost Miggs. I'd put SEZ in the same class as a truley GREAT airport. If we lose it then that would be a huge loss!
 
21.2%
Would have never been able to see Sedona if it was not for the airport.
 
Spike,

Thanks for calling this to our attention. I voted and was disappointed to see the results.

It absolutely amazes me when I see things like this and I've seen them all my life. The airport was there first.

I have seen so many times where someone builds a house and THEN discovers that the airplanes take off overhead, or there is a pig farmer close by, or a race track, etc. It just amazes me that people can't respect who was there first. They made a mistake moving there, but refuse to take responsibility for it.

Sickening!
 
Noise. Someone complained there is a lack of adult supervision because those selfish pilots owns expensive planes and do touch and go's...right over their house!
 
I only know of Sedona from my King school video. John King flew there on a XC. Love that video. Looks like a really cool place! I'm going to vote now.
 
There was something similar in the 90's at KVKX where I did some flying. The airport has been there since the 60's and then a (notso) smart developer built a community at the approach end of rnwy 6 and told the prospective buyers that he's getting the airport shut down. The developer then went bankrupt after the lawsuit against VKX failed.

I've grinnedto myself (guiltily) when on final to 6.
 
Noise. Someone complained there is a lack of adult supervision because those selfish pilots owns expensive planes and do touch and go's...right over their house!

We're already not allowed to do touch and go's here...
 
We're already not allowed to do touch and go's here...


I figured. I was just paraphrasing the rants from the comments section. Someone reported 10-12 touch and goes over their house.
 
I figured. I was just paraphrasing the rants from the comments section. Someone reported 10-12 touch and goes over their house.

Oh, well that someone is an idiot.

If you buy a house at the end of the runway you should not be allowed to complain.
 
none of the listed options will reduce the noise problem. they need to work with the local air tour operators to make that happen.
 
none of the listed options will reduce the noise problem. they need to work with the local air tour operators to make that happen.

Good point.
I flew over that area plenty of times without actually landing there.
 
someone use their flightawareFu to locate medevac, or law enforcement use of the airport.
 
Actually, you don't need to clear cookies - I'm just hitting back and revoting, watching the number go up. :)
:cheers:


You do know that internet polls do nothing to shape law, regulation, public opinion or policy, right?
 
You do know that internet polls do nothing to shape law, regulation, public opinion or policy, right?

Its just the News Paper conducting the poll... If you really want to help, find an "Airport Friend(s)" on the city council and put a bug in their ear(s) before the anti-crowd gets a foot-hold...
 
Last edited:
Actually, you don't need to clear cookies - I'm just hitting back and revoting, watching the number go up. :)
:cheers:

I tried that, but a few times, the number didn't move. I assumed the increase was due to others voting at the same time.
 
I voted, bringing it up to 42%.

But I think an internet poll for vs. against is the wrong way to go. It would be better to establish a link to something more people there care about.

And we're talking about Sedona, right? :idea:

So maybe develop a poll where the answers are (a) I want an airport because if it goes away so will the best vortexes in town, or (b) I want the airport to close and I don't care if the vortexes all go away, too.

In order to make this work, we'll need a newspaper story quoting a psychic or some crackpot who says the vortexes will vanish. That ought to work. :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
KSEZ has a special place in my heart. First time I went there it was just an airport on a trip sheet. I had no idea. I let down, cancel IFR and see where I'm going. OMG! It's a runway that looks like an aircraft carrier! And it's in a canyon! It was around 6:00 ish PM and he sun was low and just lighting up those red cliff walls.

Like my first solo...I'll never forget that flight. My flight went from "ho hum" to "my job ROCKS!" with that airport. If it gets closed I'm going to be very upset.
 
Pilots are out in force now 53.3% say airport is no problem. Yeah I know it means squat but its fun to watch.
 
It does mean something. Who ever put that poll up was hoping to make a point. If the point was to report how in favor the public was of getting rid of an airport then we have negated that point.

Sure, it's a silly poll. But whatever it's point was has now heard our voice. That's good, right?
 
If the point was to report how in favor the public was of getting rid of an airport then we have negated that point.

My guess is NO mention will be made if the poll does not inflame or aggrieve. It will just disappear.

A "hard-hitting" story would've followed if we had not found the poll and sent it tumbling.
 
My guess is NO mention will be made if the poll does not inflame or aggrieve. It will just disappear.

A "hard-hitting" story would've followed if we had not found the poll and sent it tumbling.


So our votes have had an impact. Good. I wonder if we could get the address of the 'handful' of folks complaining and send mass letters to them telling them to STFU our perspective.
 
What we NEED now, is an AOPA ASN volunteer to provide some light, instead of heat, so the community at large (rather than the inevitable NIMBY faction) can know the true nature of the airport's utility to the community, its economic impact, that sort of thing.
 
Back
Top