ITD helps with research for magazine article on Friedman airport

It’s a small airport, tucked in the shadows of the Sawtooth Mountains. But it attracts a lot of attention from skiers and winter vacationers. With the assistance of ITD Aeronautics staff, Friedman Memorial Airport near Hailey hit the world tarmac this month.

“Airports of the World,” a bi-monthly magazine on airports and the aviation industry, features Friedman in its July/August edition. “Idaho Sun Spot,” by Paul B. Anderson. The four-page article traces the history and development of Friedman as a gateway to Sun Valley and central Idaho recreation.

“Flying towards Friedman Memorial Airport (SUN) an airliner crosses over some of the most majestic mountain ranges of the western United States, among them the Sierra-Nevada, Cascade, Wallowa and Wasatch,” Anderson writes.

“Passengers on flights from Salt Lake City may just see the edge of the Craters of the Moon National Monument, where – owing to the area’s lunar-like appearance – U.S. astronauts trained in the late 1960s and early 1970s.”

Mark Lessor from ITD’s Division of Aeronautics assisted Anderson with research for his article and helped him search through its archives.

In a letter to Aeronautics Administrator JV DeThomas, Anderson this week thanked the staff for its assistance.

“I would like to thank you and Mark Lessor of your staff for the help provided in researching past news articles and related information in the Division of Aeronautics files relative to this airport,” Anderson wrote.

“Airports of the World” includes information about the layout, activities, aircraft, airlines and people at a wide selection of the world’s airports.

Published 7-29-2011