Plane crash damage could take months to fix
SANDPOINT — It could take up to seven months to restore the instrument landing system that was damaged in Monday’s plane crash, according to Sandpoint Airport Manager Dave Schuck.
A pilot crashed off the north end of the airport’s runway during a failed landing.
The pilot and two passengers escaped the crash without injury, although the plane took out an antenna array for the airport’s distance-measuring equipment for instrument landings.
“That antenna array is obsolete and no longer available, so we need to replace the antenna array and the equipment that supports it. The initial estimate from our technician is $380,000 to $400,000,” Schuck said.
Schuck said it’s expected that insurance carried by the county, the pilot or some combination thereof, will cover the cost of restoring the distance-measuring equipment, known in pilotspeak as a localizer. The localizer provides runway guidance to inbound aircraft by emitting a directional radio beam that pilots can home in on while landing at night or in weather conditions with poor visibility.
Replacing the equipment could take up to seven months because demand for the outdated system is so slight that there isn’t any immediately on hand.
“We’re going to work very closely with the FAA and with the service providers to make sure that it’s as short as possible,” Schuck said of the instrument landing system outage.
Airport officials posted a Notice to Airmen on a national database to give pilots the heads-up that the localizer is out of service until further notice.
Although pilots can still rely on a GPS system to help guide landings in darkness or bad weather, Schuck said the localizer gave inbound pilots a lower altitude to decide whether proceed with their landing or to abandon it.
The localizer had a decision height of 989 feet.
“With the GPS approach, that height is 1,589 feet, so it’s 600 feet higher,” said Schuck.
The higher decision height could thwart landings at Sandpoint airport in adverse conditions, which could force pilots to seek an alternative airport to land at.
That prospect is concerning because the airport stimulates the local economy.
Sandpoint Police said the pilot, 55-year-old Donald Muirhead of Orem, Utah, was arrested on suspicion of operating the plane under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
However, there is no record of any criminal charges pending against Muirhead, according to the Idaho Statewide Trial Court Record System and the Idaho Supreme Court Data Repository.
Muirhead was also not listed as an inmate at the Bonner County Jail, although he could have bonded out shortly after being booked at the facility.
The status of the criminal investigation against Muirhead is unclear. Sandpoint Police Chief Corey Coon did not return calls Wednesday.
It’s the first plane crash at the airport since 2008, when a deer bolted into the path of a plane that was in the process of taking off.
There were no injuries in that collision.
“We’re very happy that no one was injured,” Schuck said of Monday’s crash, adding that the coordination of emergency responders from the city, Bonner County and Idaho State Police was “excellent.”