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The airport at the outset was overgrown with weeds and the windsock was tattered and in shreds.

D3 crews spend two weeks in Idaho backcountry
repairing remote airstrip

District 3 and the Division of Aeronautics partnered to make critical repairs to a backcountry airstrip near Atlanta, making for a unique project.

The work achieved two goals – improving a popular airstrip that has gone untouched in three decades and providing a complex project that D3 TTO Charlie Vanmeer could manage in order to complete his Level 3 career path.

Atlanta is an unincorporated town in the mountains of northern Elmore County. The airstrip is a mile out of town and only accessible by a gravel road or, of course, small aircraft. Figuring out the logistics of running a project in the remote area presented several challenged for Charles and his team.

“We had to ride the equipment 30-plus miles on Forest Service roads up there,” he said. “It was pretty slow going.”

The team had to bring in everything needed for the project, including a grader, backhoe, dump truck, and one-ton truck in addition to material like paint, rocks, and a culvert pipe.

Traveling back and forth from the remote airstrip wasn’t feasible, so the team stayed on-site during the two-week project. Thankfully, there were cabins and a nearby watering hole the crew jumped into to cool off after a long day’s work.

The team of TTOs completely regraded the runway, pulling out irregular patches of grass, dips, and bumps that made landing a true test of a pilot’s skill. With a clean slate, the crew reseeded the strip, placed and painted perimeter rocks, refreshed the wind sock, and installed a culvert to address a spot that had erosion issues.

“Planning everything opened my eyes to how organized you need to be to get one of these jobs done,” said Vanmeer. “I had great help from the other crew members, Aero, and the Forest Service.”

The project provided a much-improved landing strip for backcountry pilots, professional development for our operators, and a uniquely Idaho experience in the wilds of our beautiful state.

The crew paints the perimeter rocks outlining the freshly-graded and seeded strip.