Local Business Owner Says Newspaper Article Misrepresented Facts

On Thursday, ANN spoke with Jim Garner, owner of an aircraft maintenance shop at Payson Airport in Payson, AZ. The topic of conversation was a story published in the Payson Roundup, regarding a firefighting helo based at the airport. That story was also picked up by ANN for its story, "Pilots Behaving Badly In Arizona?"

Garner wished to bring to light what he believes to be discrepancies in the original article. Garner said that while certain aspects of the original newspaper story were correct, they were presented in a manner "completely different" from what actually occurred.

For example, the newspaper article stated the Forest Service moved its Sikorsky to the east end of the airport for it and its pilot's protection. This is correct, says Garner -- to an extent. The helicopter was moved, but only because the three others large helicopters that had been housed there temporarily left and created more room.

This was a decision made in the normal course of daily operations, Garner said.

When that Sikorsky S-61 first came to the airport, the airport manager reportedly told those bringing it in to park it at the west end of the airport in a phone call. The helo partially blocked an access gate that some airport tenants pay a monthly fee to use.

Garner states this gate connects the airport to a residential 'fly-in' subdivision with hangars attached to the homes where several pilots live. The pilots who live in the subdivision spoke to the fire crews to figure out a solution. Nothing more, Garner said.

"We all have a good rapport with the fire service," he said.

A fuel hose used for the helicopter was also destroyed recently. But, again, Garner says the situation was presented to be something it wasn't.

Garner told ANN an elderly gentleman, on airport property legally, didn't see the barricades around the fuel hose in the dark and accidentally ran over it. The insurance claim was made and a new hose supplied. No charges were ever filed.

Garner denies there was harassment or interference of any kind at any time. He contends the pilots at Payson are "family" -- and even got together when the Forest Service fire crews were assigned to the airport to battle a very large ground cover fire recently, and put them up in their own homes. The evacuees of the area under the fire threat had moved into the area, and there were no hotel rooms for the fire crews.

Garner says he spoke with the reporter who wrote the initial story in the Payson Roundup newspaper. The reporter declined to confirm his sources for the story, although Garner says the paper did print a retraction of the story in its Thursday edition.

FMI: www.azdot.gov/aviation