The Olympic corridor will see a very busy airway during the 2010 Olympic Games, but few aircrafts overhead will be from local flight operators.
That’s because air space security regulations for the 2010 Games will effectively shut down local operations, according to Colette Morin of Glacier Air.
“I think some of the restrictions are a little bit ridiculous,” said Morin. “But it’s paranoia and overkill, and that just all comes from 9/11 in the U.S. They set a precedence for it.”
Morin said screening measures and air space restrictions will render flight training impossible, costing the company an estimated $60,000 in revenue.
And the barring of tours in Olympic zones means losing much more potential income.
“Do you know how many phone calls we’ve had already for a tour during the Olympics to fly over the venues?” said Morin. “We say ‘Sorry, no we can’t take you there.’”
The 2010 Integrated Security Unit (ISU) imposed a no-fly zone for a radius of 13 km around Olympic venues, and severe flight restrictions for anther 30-km radius beyond that.
Restrictions will take place between Jan. 29 and March 24. They include screening passengers, pilots, luggage, aircrafts both before departure and upon arrival, which will require bringing in a portable Canadian Air Transport Security Authority screening device.
They also forbid solo student flights, so pilots in training must be security-checked and screened, before flying with a security-checked pilot out of the restrictive zone of 30-km radius of Olympic venues. The student must then land, drop off the pilot, take off, return to pick up the pilot, take off again and land at Squamish airport to be screened all over again.
The time it would take would only allow one student flight per day, said Morin.
“So the amount of flying that we could do doesn’t justify the cost for staying open,” she said.
Glacier Air may earn some income from leasing facilities to the military, however it won’t cover maintenance expenses or pilots’ salary, which must be paid throughout if they’re to be retained post-Olympics, said Morin.
“The frustrating part about it is we’re being basically told ‘You can’t do this, this and this, but you can still operate your business.’ But we really can’t operate your business because you can’t do business as normal. And yet they’re saying ‘We’re not going to give you any kind of compensation for this.’”
Danielle Saindon of Black Tusk Helicopter said the company’s unsure of how restrictions will impact them, and the mystery may put in a dent in the heli-skiing operation.
“In terms of our heli-skiing operations, we are working with the 2010 ISU to determine what restrictions will be placed on us and it's still unclear if our heli-ski program will be able to operate during the Olympic timeframe,” she said. “Having this be an unknown does make it difficult to pursue marketing opportunities.”
A portion of Black Tusk’s business relates to essential services, such as telecommunications, hydro and emergency related needs, which will not be impacted.
ISU media spokesperson Cpl. Jen Allan said no decision has been made toward compensating businesses impacted by the air restrictions.
“I don’t specific information to indicate that any discussions are on-going,” said Allan.
While fixed-wing and helicopter operations will be permitted into Squamish, only helicopter operations will be permitted within the corridor between Squamish and Pemberton.
A recent decision to turn down a Whistler Air proposal to fly fixed-wing aircrafts generated accusations of bias in favour of rotary crafts.
Allan said the request was rejected in order to avoid mid-air collision with helicopters.
“There are safety concerns about introducing fixed-wing service in a corridor that’s going to be heavily congested with rotary traffic,” she said. “You look at the Hudson River corridor incident that happened not too long ago where a floatplane hit a helicopter.”
Allan said a Multilateration (MLAT) surveillance system will be test run in September to see if a solution can be reached.
“One of the purposes of testing that system is to see if we can accommodate fixed wing and rotary traffic.”
The corridor will be under more scrutiny during the Games. Its airspace is currently designated uncontrolled. During the period of the Games, NAV Canada, the private corporation that owns and operates Canada's civil air navigation service, will provide control service from Bowen Island to Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton.
“The Sea to Sky Corridor is narrow and situated within rising mountainous terrain,” states the NAV Canada website. “This makes for a very challenging operating environment, particularly when ceilings and/or visibility decrease and aircraft are forced down into more confined airspace. Aircraft operations will therefore be metered on a tactical basis, dependent on weather conditions and available ramp space at Squamish, Pemberton and Whistler.”
