Originally published at: Montana County Limits Airport Night Ops; AOPA Pushes Back
AOPA is pushing back after Granite County, Montana, voted to limit nighttime operations at Riddick Field by restricting use of the airport’s rotating beacon to emergency activations only.
I can’t actually remember the last time I used the rotating beacon to locate an airport at night–if I ever did. Usually, I have to know where to look, and then, maybe, I can find the rotating beacon. I know Montana is a lot more sparsely settled than Ohio, so there’s a lot less light clutter on the ground, but the rotating beacon is really a relic left over from the first half century of aviation. As long as the runway lights work, I don’t think I’d even notice the rotating beacon being out.
Tail wagging the dog here again! 841 people control a Federally funded airstrip. Which is well away from the inhabitants. This is likely a move to close the airport and build a shopping center there. Where is the developer money going?
The money goes where it always goes - from developers to officials pockets - discretely, of course.
Who is monitoring the airband radio for emergencies so the beacon can be activated when needed? It would be far more affordable to simply keep the beacon on than to pay someone an overnight salary to monitor the radio.
AOPA and local pilots should insist that this information be publicly documented and that the county either has a person on payroll assigned to monitor the frequency—or admits that no one is.
And if no one is monitoring the radio (which, of course, they aren’t), then the county’s so-called “fix” was never intended to be a real fix at all. Either they acknowledge that reality, or they pay for the monitoring they’re claiming exists. Either way…force the County to admit it publicly.
All good posts.The story doesn’t confirm the runway lights will operate as normal. So, who needs a beacon? I find my runway just fine without a beacon.
Even in Montana! In the words of Jakof Smirnoff: What a country! Sheesh!
You don’t need a beacon, you don’t need runway lights, you don’t need to find the runway(at night).
The airport is closed at night.
Protect dark skies?
Pfft
It would probably help to have the correct airport code in the post.
3U5 is the code assigned to Augusta airport which about 78.5 miles northeast of Riddick
The code assigned to Riddick Field is U05.
There’s so much flat, open space around there it cannot possibly be for that purpose nor more housing. I’m betting on a few complainers about a little noise once in a while.
People here complained about noise so they got the 17 traffic switched to a righthand pattern. They still complain about the helicopter traffic flying low. That would be the traffic flying direct to T74 then northeast to the local hospital since there is no ID for the helipad at the hospital.
the airport does indeed have pilot controlled runway lighting
Runway Details
- Runway: 16/34
- Dimensions: 3,599 x 60 feet (asphalt)
- Condition: Poor - pavement is spalling with major crack propagation, multiple edge fractures, and faded markings
- Lighting: Medium intensity runway edge lights (activated on CTAF)
- Traffic Pattern: Right pattern for Runway 16, left for Runway 34
I went back and read the story again. While the writer said it was effectively closed because of the beacon I then saw about the county ordinance. Missed that the first time around. My mistake.
You have developers moving and creating housing, then the homeowner starts getting mad about the noise and complains to the county. Then the county has a committee meeting to figure what to do. Then bye bye airport.
I know it will never happen, but would be nice if AOPA members acknowledged the serious harm they do to quality of life of nearly every American. We HAT, HATE, HATE the noise and lead pollution. Yes we do! This group has long been in denial of the large negative externalities of their activities.
NIMBY much. Did you know the airport was there when you bought your home? If not, sue your real estate agent. If you were informed the shuddup! Sell your place and move. As for the “lead emissions” there are serious questions about the “studies” that found the lead pollution. They alleged that light aircraft emitted 70% of airborne lead pollution. There are serious questions about the methodology used. Most of them extrapolate, meaning they guessed. In other words they made the data yield the results they wanted.
Wow, there’s the lie about general aviation polluting the environment with tons of lead! Santa Monica officials desperately want to close their airport and commissioned a lead study a few years ago - confident it would provide ammunition for closing the airport. When it didn’t find lead contamination, they tried to bury the report. By the way, why do people buy a home near an airport or under its flight path and then feel they have the right to close it? Seems they aren’t too smart, yet believe the world should bow to their whims. We HATE, HATE, HATE the stupidity of those ill-informed people!
Makes no sense to me to shut off the beacon as a means of controlling airport hours. It needs to stay on and if they want to restrict hours, just publish 'em. As far as a prelude to closing the airport-- possibly, but I doubt they’re building a shopping mall for 841 people. If I had to guess, it’s probably a small group of curmudgeons that have nothing better to do than complain about everything. A check of the news on this indicates just that – it’s about light pollution after a new beacon was installed in 2025. Where they’ll have a problem is if they used any federal funding to install that beacon.
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