Councillors heard impassioned pleas from pilot and airport land leaseholder Simon Laming and North Otago Aero Club president Hayden Williams to improve the state of the airport during the public forum at this week’s full council meeting — the first full meeting of the year.
Mr Laming said Oamaru Airport and its runways were deteriorating and it had not taken steps to improve the financial performance of the council asset.
‘‘The strategic plan that was produced in 2023 for the council wasn’t really rocket science.
‘‘It suggested there was a need for the council to address the financial management of the airport.
‘‘Hardly $90,000 worth,’’ he said.
‘‘Why has the council not addressed the financial performance of the airport?’’
There were now about 80,000 movements annually at the airport. A fair-to-conservative charge for landing at Oamaru Airport would be about $14 including GST, which was the present listed landing fee, Mr Laming said.
The airport spent about $7.40 for every aircraft movement and charged only an average fee of $1. Mr Laming asked councillors how it could be that this had not been addressed in the last three years.
Mr Laming said non-profit organisations such as the North Otago Aero Club should not be charged landing fees, but commercial operators should pay in full for the use of the facility.
He questioned whether the council should be subsidising ‘‘some private businesses’’.
‘‘If this happened in a private industry, heads would roll’’. ‘‘You control this business, you should give clear directions,’’ Mr Laming said.
Mr Williams also made a ‘‘plea for help on behalf of Oamaru airfield’’. A pilot for over 20 years, Mr Williams said he had not spoken at the public forum before but felt it was time to say something.
The airport had always been a safe place to fly, but now the increase in air traffic had created some issues for longtime airport users.
The aero club had 60 members and had been at the airfield since 1955. Many club members had gone on to have successful aviation careers, Mr Williams said.
In the last three years the traffic on and above the Oamaru airfield had increased ‘‘unchecked’’ to a level that had every other aviation training school in the South Island preventing their students from coming to Oamaru and most qualified pilots avoiding the airspace and instead ‘‘choosing to go to Timaru or Omarama’’.
Stones and rocks near the airfield were much larger and prominent due to the high number of movements across the aerodrome, affecting the safety of those movements.
‘‘There has been active flights on that airfield operating in and out until around 2011 . . . in all those records there was nowhere I could find the death of a pilot or a serious crash, yet,’’ Mr Williams said.
He gave an example of an avoidable pilot death in Mount Victoria in Wellington where the investigation found the helicopter had run out of hydraulic oil and rendered the helicopter uncontrollable. He said one radio call or clear communication could have saved that pilot.
He said this was his radio call, and questioned who was ultimately responsible for the condition of the Oamaru Airport and what could be done to protect the users.
‘‘Safety of the public facility, it must be No 1,’’ Mr Williams said.
Mr Williams presented solutions such as tarsealing the taxiways between all runways, refuelling facilities and hangars to prevent stones damaging aircraft and restricting the number of daily movements to prevent wear on grass runways.
He said he had discussed these issues and ideas with Waitaki District’s first Oamaru Airport manager, Matt Sisson.
Meanwhile, Grey Power North Otago president Andrew Dunn also presented a proposal to establish a Senior’s Advisory Council that was warmly received by Waitaki District mayor Mel Tavendale and councillors.
