b'OPERATIONSSUN 9May. They begin by meeting with Atlanticin subsequent years, Pomeroy askedFACTS&FIGURES Aviation, the fields fixed base operator,his old boss at the Colorado Division ofProject: Managing Special Event Trafficand also connect early with local air trafficAeronautics to recommend someone who controllers and personnel from the FAA Saltcould help the airport manage its annualLocation: Sun Valley/Friedman Memorial AirportHailey, ID Lake City Air Route Traffic Control Center.traffic surge.Event: Annual Sun Valley Conference In addition to dealing with a sharp spikeThat conversationProfile: Elite 5-day gathering for top business executives that of aircraft, the team at SUN faces otherled him to Gregbegins 1st Tues. in July challenges as well. Because the airport isDyer, a former airAverage Traffic During Event: About 200 aircraft hemmed in on three sides by mountains,traffic controller andoperations/day (300 on arrival day alone) steep rising terrain and no radar coverage,traffic manager atUsual Volume: About 70 operations/day (average of general its airspace and physical footprint are boththe Denver Air Trafficaviation & commercial service)severely constrained. As a result, 90% ofControl Center whoSole Runway: 7,550 ft. long, 100 ft. wideoperations occur in opposing directions.now works as aviationParking Capacity: About 92 aircraftArrivals typically come in from the south,GREG DYERand aerospaceFixed Base Operator: Atlantic Aviationand most departures leave to the south asservices director for Woolpert. Dyers wellall on one runway that is 7,550 feetexperience and connections managingAirspace/Air Traffic Consultant: Greg Dyer, Woolpert long and 100 feet wide.air traffic to and from mountain airports inKey Airport Staff: Airport Operations & security teams; air Between our limited ramp space and ourColorado made him uniquely qualified totraffic controllerslimited airspace, theres a significant amountaddress similar challenges for SUN. Key External Partner: FAA Salt Lake City Air Route Traffic of advanced planning that has to go intoControl Center I thought I could help make sure theUnique Challenges: Single runway with opposite direction the event each and every year to makepeople in the tower and people in theoperations due to constrained airspace & surrounding mountains; sure that were squeezing out every drop ofcommand center know what the FBO andlimited ramp space for parking aircraftefficiency we can find, Pomeroy says. airport manager need, Dyer explains. If IAssociated Strategies: Close coordination between airport During his first year, SUNs new directorcould connect everybody, then we couldcontrol tower & FAA Salt Lake City Air Route Traffic Control Center saw dozens of planes lined up nose- all be working toward the same solutionto create arrival & departure bubbles; modified routing structures to-tail on the taxiway waiting to take offinstead of trying to solve our own littleto meter arrivals; drop-and-go operations allow airport to remain after the conference ended. Determinedfragments. open when aircraft parking capacity is reachedto make the process smoother and saferFun Fact: During peak times on arrival day, airport often has an arrival or departure every 2 minutesAirportImprovement.comJuly | August 2023'