SRD Asking Transport Canada About The Cortes Island Landing Strip

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents -There were questions about what can be accomplished, but the SRD will be asking Transport Canada about the safety requirements, noise levels and frequency of planes using the Cortes Island Airstrip. 
 At their May 22 meeting, Cortes Island Director Mark Vonesch told the SRD Board: 
“There is an airstrip on Cortes Island that's been there for a long time. A new buyer bought the land and has been upgrading the runway significantly. I've heard numbers: allegedly a thousand gravel trucks. They're paving it and there's a big concern from the community regarding: safety issues, what kind of planes can now land, frequency of planes that can now land, whether they need permission from the owner to be able to land. And also further gentrification of Cortes Island as it becomes more accessible.” 
“There's a lot of questions that are coming to me from the community around this. I don't have the answers and would really love staff support to engage with Transport Canada and inform the board on what the rules are around safety, frequency and plane size. I have a motion as well.” 
Campbell River Director Doug Chapman questioned whether this would be a waste of staff’s time: 
“If it's a private runway, then the safety requirements are going to be based on the length of the runway. The length of the runway is going to dictate the size of the aircraft - and it's not landing, it's takeoff.” 
“To make it simple, if you had a two engine aircraft to take off, you have to reach a rotation for one engine, then take off. That's why the length of the runway is important for takeoffs, not landing. If it's a private runway, as long as they meet Transport Canada requirements for the aircraft operation and the operator of the aircraft has insurance I don't think we have a lot of input into it. The Aeronautics Act and the regulations related to it dictate what happens.”