The Sedona Airport will be forming an advisory committee for the airport manager, while still in the midst of a lawsuit with one of the main tour companies who would be involved in the voluntary Fly Friendly agreement.
Advisory Committee to the Manager
“I’m interested in developing an Advisory Committee for the Manager,” Sedona Airport General Manager Ed Rose said. “This forum is envisioned as an opportunity to engage community members representing various Sedona neighborhoods regarding airport activities.”
According to Rose, the meetings would be once a month to address the concerns of neighborhoods all over Sedona, specifically in the Chapel area.
The initial meeting regarding the potential committee was on March 30 with representatives from the Sedona Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau, the Keep Sedona Beautiful nonprofit, the city of Sedona and members of the community.
Rose expects around 12 to 15 members for the advisory group. Interested individuals will submit a letter of interest to Rose, followed by an interview.
“I believe this will help the members better understand how the airport operates as well as current and planned capital projects,” Rose said. “This is a mechanism to improve dialogue.”
The Fly Friendly agreement has already drawn much attention to itself in the past year as residents have become increasingly unhappy with helicopter tour
have found themselves under fire regarding their voluntary agreement with the Fly Friendly restrictions.
Coming From 14 Miles Away
Sedona Air Tours CEO Eric Brunner has been operating his company in the Verde Valley along with his family since 1994.
Following the Sedona Airport’s eviction of Brunner and Sedona Air Tours, a four-year-long lawsuit between the two parties has led to millions of taxpayer money spent on the airport’s case for evicting Sedona Air Tours, which Brunner alleges was unlawful.
Due to legal issues over the past five years with the airport, Brunner bases his company completely out of the Cottonwood Municipal Airport, where no Fly Friendly agreement exists and sits just 14 nautical miles southwest of the Sedona Airport.
“I will work with the city of Cottonwood. I will work with our city manager in Cottonwood … But the fact is, why should they engage in the Fly Friendly agreement of Sedona?” Brunner said. “Ninety percent of the complaints are based on [aircraft] going back to the Sedona airport [to land]. We are not flying over town and we’re not going back to the Sedona Airport.”
Last August, the FAA pulled federal funds from the Sedona-Oak Creek Airport Authority due to violations of economic nondiscrimination and exclusive rights against Sedona Air Tours.
From the perspective of the plaintiff, it only made sense for Brunner’s tour company to move to Cottonwood and avoid day-to-day issues from the lawsuit, he said, as well as the increased regulations being voluntarily supported from the Fly Friendly agreement.
At the Cottonwood Airport, tour helicopters are still held to Federal Aviation Administration guidelines and restrictions. But as for noise mitigation and flight routes that the Fly Friendly agreement has focused on over Sedona, that is up to the discretion of the pilots and companies.
“We will always be respectful of the Sedona residents,” Brunner said. “But we’re not going to participate in that Fly Friendly agreement that was originally designed behind our back by our competition and by the Sedona airport.”
Although the city of Sedona and Sedona Airport are hopeful that residents’ concerns will be continued to be heard and dealt with on their upcoming advisory committee, companies that fly out of Cottonwood, like Sedona Air Tours, have a loophole to while providing the same experiences of Sedona flight tours to their customers.
“I will take care of the community that takes care of me,” Brunner said as he reiterated his move to work with the Cottonwood Airport.
