The Town of Okotoks has found itself caught between two opposing views regarding the operation of the Calgary-Okotoks Flying School, with the responsibility falling outside the Town's jurisdiction.
The debate regarding the flying school’s operation was ignited after a student and instructor were in a non-fatal crash after failing to gain altitude during takeoff on Aug. 8.
Community members from Drake Landing, Crystal Green, Green Haven Estates and the acreages to the east of Okotoks spoke against the school at the Sept. 9 council meeting, as part of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens Impacted by the Calgary-Okotoks Flying School.
Russell Kiefuik, a member of the coalition, said when he and his wife, Nicole, moved into their home in 2018 they were told it was a recreational airport with three to four flights a day, and they accepted the risk of living at the south end of the runway.
However, he said the opening of the flight school earlier this year caused an “exponential increase in air traffic,” which has in turn increased the chance of an accident happening.
“This flying school poses a significant risk to our lives,” he said. “Now, ever since that crash, I live in constant fear that my loved ones or myself will die in our home one day because one of these flying school students, with their lack of expertise, fatigue from flying for hours, will crash into my home.”
While the Aug. 8 crash happened at the north end of the runway, Keifuik said that should it have happened at the south end the plane would have hit a row of townhouses, or, if it veered east, the École Beausoleil.
The group cited a 2018 Boeing study of commercial jet crashes that showed the majority plane crashes happen during takeoff and landing, in the case of the Air Ranch Airport happens over their homes.
“To make matters worse, those aircraft are being piloted by students who sometimes are flying solo,” he said. “Having this flying school in our community represents a real and ever present risk to our lives, a risk that was demonstrated on Aug. 8.
“We should not have student pilots training over our homes, where our loved ones sleep, play, and live.”
The Okotoks Air Ranch Airport voluntarily closed for approximately a year in 2016-2017 to install safety updates to meet regulations. There was a previous flight school at the property prior to the close and moved to a new location, and the Calgary-Okotoks Flying School opened January 2019.
In response to the coalition, Air Ranch and Ranchers Rise community members met the evening of Sept. 15 to organize their own delegation period for the Sept. 23 council meeting, and refuted the claims made at the Sept. 9 meeting.
Representatives from the group told the Wheel that the planes flying later in the evenings are often private planes, and the noise is never more inconvenient than a car with a muffler, a lawnmower, the train, or a flock of geese—but over much quicker, at less than 10 seconds.
Chris Morgan, who organized the flying school support group, said he had his own assumption corrected regarding the school’s operations. He reported hearing a plane do two separate touch and go exercises around 10 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11, before taking off.
“I thought that was a training plane since it did a touch and go twice. Turns out it wasn’t—the last student to land that day was around 5:10 p.m,” he said. “So the problem is, because there is increased activity, (people) feel that that’s attributed to the training school.”
He said the group’s intent was to get facts out in the community as far as the school’s operations.
The coalition stated the school's planes fly until 10 p.m., with noise reaching “in excess of 90 decibels,” impacting residents' ability to enjoy the outdoors.
Coalition member, Debbie McKinnon, told council the airport was closed when she moved to the area and she was not advised of the possibility for a flight school.
The Air Ranch and Ranchers Rise community group also refuted the complaints of excessive noise from the flying school. Air Ranch resident Dale Hanley said there was “no way” the sound was 90 decibels at the ground, and that the loudest things at the airport are the STARS air ambulance helicopters.
Annick Berube and her partner Bruno Paradis said they moved to the Air Ranch community after moving to Alberta from Montreal for two reasons: Berube wanted their 6.5 year old twin daughters, Abby and Mylie, to attend École Beausoleil; and Paradis wanted to be near the flying school after studying airplane mechanics in Montreal.
Berube said the airport doesn’t affect her daughters’ sleep.
“(Our daughters’) bedroom is facing the strip basically, and they’re fine,” she said. “They haven’t complained (about the planes) and sometimes I don’t even hear it.”
Tim Ulmer, owner of the Okotoks Flying School, said the students take off at 8 a.m. in the morning, and then every hour on the hour while the sun is up.
During the summer he said some students flew later into the evenings, as they were trying to get students caught up owing to afternoon thunderstorms that slowed the school down, but the typical day sees the students back on the ground by 5-5:30 p.m.
Ulmer refuted the claim made by the coalition at the Sept. 9 council meeting that the students were fatigued from long hours of flying, saying the school’s flights are between 40 and 50 minutes long.
Addressing the coalition’s claims that student pilots were more dangerous than experienced pilots, Ulmer said that wasn’t the case.
“It’s hugely vetted before they get to fly solo,” said Ulmer. “That’s why accidents with students are so incredibly rare.”
The general understanding, shared by insurance companies, said Ulmer, is that commercial pilots with over 200 hours of flying experience are the most at risk for crashes—which is more flying hours than the students at the flying school would accrue.
“Up until 200 hours, those pilots are the safest in the sky because they’re scared to death,” he said. “They’re flying these planes up there and they’re not complacent… when you start building up your hours and you have 400 hours, 500 hours, you are statistically the most dangerous pilot in the air because you have now become very overconfident in some cases.
“You think you’re bulletproof, can handle anything, and start testing your skill limits.”
Ulmer said as well that the communities by the golf course, as reported by the Coalition at council, aren’t in the flying school’s flight paths, so the flight school planes wouldn’t be flying there. Rather, he said they fly over the fields and approach for landings from the east.
“If somebody were to fly north to south over (the Crystal Green) part, for one, they’re outside the school and we can’t control what other people do, but also that would be illegal,” he said. “We have to fly on this side of the airport when we’re doing our landings, we have to circle to the East (over the fields).”
CAO Elaine Vincent said at the Sept. 9 meeting that it was important that everyone understands the regulatory provisions involved.
“When I hear a conversation that indicates the Town of Okotoks is the governing body responsible, I just want to provide clarity that we govern land use, but we do not govern the airport,” she said.
As an aerodrome, the airport is regulated by Transport Canada. The Town is working to arrange a meeting with residents, the provincial government, and Transport Canada to address concerns.
“We will act as a broker to bring in Transport Canada and the airport so that we can A) have an understanding of the safety provisions that are currently in place and B) have an understanding of the noise provisions that are in place,” she said.
Vincent emphasized that the flying school has permitted use under the airport’s business licence, and to try to change the land use would incur legal ramifications for the Town.
“Right now it’s not an option that council has considered because of those legal ramifications of a change in use once that use has already been granted,” she said. “Generally in Alberta with the land-use bylaw, once we give a use and we go to take it away with a new land use bylaw, we have to grandfather a use that’s previously been given.”
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated that the Aug. 8 crash occurred at the south end of the runway, rather than the north.
