Company plans helicopter tour business and school near landfill
A helicopter company that ran tour flights over Whitefish during Fourth of July weekend and has proposed heli-skiing on state lands in the Whitefish Range and North Fork now plans to set up its main business near the Flathead County landfill.
The Flathead County Board of Adjustment approved a conditional-use permit on Dec. 2 to allow Triple-X Helicopter to establish a helicopter school and tour business on a 10-acre site north of McDermott Lane along U.S. 93.
The board’s decision is not subject to review by the Flathead County Commissioners. An appeal would have to go to Flathead County District Court.
Triple-X is in the process of buying the site and hopes to be in business there by early spring, company owner Jay Sandelin said. The five-person company has been operating from a site nine miles north of Whitefish since April.
Plans for the site halfway between Whitefish and Kalispell include expanding the existing Quonset building into an office and hangar for two training helicopters and a larger tour helicopter and setting up two 20-by-20-foot concrete helipads.
The site is in the Riverdale Land Use District. The district’s advisory committee unanimously recommended against the permit, citing concerns about noise and the area’s long-term residential and business development plans.
Sandelin told the committee he chose the site because it had good visibility and was already noisy from highway traffic. Committee members wanted the business to operate out of an airport, but Sandelin said security measures at Glacier Park International Airport prevented such a business there and the Ferndale airport was too far away.
The site will be surrounded by the landfill to the north and Raceway Park and Majestic Valley Arena to the south. The Riverdale Neighborhood Plan calls for light industrial activities at that site, which county planning staff said would make as much noise as helicopters. Staff recommended approval with 10 conditions.
According to noise measurements provided by Thomas St. Romain, Triple X’s chief pilot, ambient noise outside Lowe’s was 98 decibels, inside Wal-Mart was 96 and inside the announcer’s booth at Raceway Park was 96 to 104. The noise from one of Triple X’s helicopters hovering 50 feet away was 82 decibels.
Harry Brown, a member of the Riverdale land-use advisory committee, called Sandelin’s opinion of raceway noise “of minimal consolation” because the raceway only operates 16 to 18 times a year. He was also concerned highway drivers would be distracted by the helicopters, posing a safety hazard.
The approved conditional-use permit limits operations from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., except for five days a month when night flights will be allowed. Night flying is required to obtain a helicopter pilot’s license. Sandelin said night-flight training usually takes about an hour.
Part of the daytime training will include hovering. No permanent fuel tank will be at the site, but a fuel tanker truck will spend time there.
Triple-X has also applied to the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation for permission to operate a heli-skiing business in the Stillwater and Coal Creek state forests. Stryker Ridge in the Whitefish Range and Winona and Coal ridges in the North Fork were identified as potential areas.
Sandelin said Triple-X will use its site north of Whitefish for the heli-skiing proposal and add a fourth, larger helicopter. The company would also need certified ski guides with avalanche training and possibly explosives training for avalanche control.