Community Riled Over Jet Circling Umatilla Airport

    A jet at the Umatilla Municipal Airport? Yes, and no.
    Umatilla's social media outlets were astir last Wednesday, August 31, when a small jet was seen making multiple approaches at the Umatilla airport. The plane, which never landed or got below several hundred feet of altitude, undertook several flyovers of the airport.
    The incident raised public concern that the newly lengthened airport, now at 2,800 feet in length, could support the takeoff and landing of certain small jets. While that may or may not be the case, it wasn’t the case on Wednesday.
    “The FAA was mapping the airport,” said Umatilla City Manager Scott Blankenship, describing a process undertaken by the Federal Aviation Administration that is undertaken when an airport’s footprint is changed. Blankenship said the flyovers were simply a standard practice of logging new approaches and other information associated with the lengthened runway.
    However, Blankenship did say that there are no restrictions, other than simple realities, that would keep a small jet from accessing the airport.
    "We can't tell anyone to not land there," Blankenship said. However, in the past, the city has taken care to try and keep the airport as more of a quiet general aviation facility rather than trying to develop a larger commercial enterprise.