A runway success

Troutdale Airport has served for decades as a vital link in the Portland area’s transportation and commercial chain

By Shannon Wells

The Gresham Outlook, Oct 30, 2009, Updated Nov 4, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Jim Clark / The Outlook

Steve Nagy, manager of general aviation for the Port of Portland, maintains offices at Portland International, Hillsboro and Troutdale airports.

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Most East County residents and many visitors know Troutdale Airport exists.

From time to time, they may notice a small private or charter plane going up or coming down. But like many community institutions that are part of the landscape, there’s considerably more to the facility near the mouth of the Sandy River than meets the eye.

So what, exactly, goes on there?

Among other things, the 85-year old airport is:

• one of Oregon’s 10 busiest airports;

• along with its west side counterpart in Hillsboro, the Portland area’s primary private aircraft hub;

• home to 25 businesses, including two flight schools and services such as aircraft maintenance, manufacturing and charters;

• where no fewer than 194 aircraft reside;

• home base of the U.S. Forest Service’s firefighting tanker;

• where Mt. Hood Community College aviation students get their flight-training wings;

• where pilots, in 2008, logged 259,263 takeoffs and landings;

• a key selling point in marketing nearby property — among the last large available swaths around Portland — for large-scale commercial and industrial development.

If that fails to impress, then ponder that the 5,400-foot runway in recent years has welcomed celebrities no less luminescent than actor Morgan Freeman and ex-Beatle Ringo Starr — OK, and Larry the Cable Guy — to Oregon.

Quiet giant

Perhaps less crucial than during its 1940s’ heyday — when fighter planes protected Portland’s shipbuilding and hordes of returning vets took flying lessons — the airport at the former Sun Dial Ranch remains a vibrant, if underappreciated, engine of East County commerce.

“I think people forget about it because they drive by it all the time,” says Troutdale Mayor Jim Kight. “Small though it is, it is a valuable component to East Multnomah County. It provides something unique to our area that nobody else has.”

Managed by the Port of Portland since 1942, the Troutdale complex serves to complement — and relieve pressure from — the commercial hub of nearby Portland International Airport.

Steve Nagy, the Port’s manager of general aviation, says its role has changed through the years, but Troutdale Airport is key to the port’s transportation- and commerce-producing position.

“It continues to fulfill a very important role,” he says. “The last thing we want to do is use commercial facilities for smaller airplanes. There is a need for business and aviation services in smaller communities.

“Different airports fit different segments of the market.”

Good place to be

Despite weather-related challenges, Nagy calls the airport’s location at the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge an asset. For one thing, it provides convenient hands-on experience for neighboring Mt. Hood Community College flight students. Its proximity is also crucial for air ambulance and firefighting services in the rugged gorge and Mount Hood areas.

“The U.S. Forest (Service’s) tanker base is here,” he notes. “This is a strategic location for them.”

That’s not to say that the East Wind doesn’t blow trouble for turboprops, particularly when it collides with winter precipitation — and competing gusts.

“Winds out of the gorge aren’t that bad,” says Marv Woidyla, owner and flight instructor at Gorge Winds Aviation. “It’s when it meets southerly winds when you have a problem. The big disadvantage is ice.”

A tenant since 1988, Gorge Winds employs two full-time, three part-time and 19 contract flight instructors. Ice aside, wavering weather and gorge terrain provide great learning experiences for flight students, he says.

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