Watchdog calls for better airport fencing

SANDPOINT — A Sandpoint Airport watchdog is calling on Bonner County to improve fencing around the facility after a pilot collided with a deer last week.

“Effort should be made to complete that fencing,” Jim Blake told county commissioners on Tuesday.

Blake said the fence encircling the airport is not uniform and some segments of it can easily be vaulted by big game.

The request comes a week and a day after a local pilot hit a deer during takeoff. The collision sent Jan Lee’s Alon Aircoupe into the fence.

The plane was ruined, but Lee and his wife walked away from the crash without serious injury.

Lee said the buck was bedded down in the grass separating a runway and taxiway.

The animal rose just as Lee’s plane was taking flight.

Commission Chairman Lewie Rich said the fence issue is on the county’s radar, but the project has been complicated because of through-the-fence access agreements.

The grass at the airport has also not been regularly mowed since the departure of Jorge O’Leary, the airport’s former manager, last winter. The Sandpoint Airport Advisory Board is currently hunting for O’Leary’s successor.