Aviation View Magazine | Volume 1, Issue 4

139 AVIATION VIEW VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 GRANT COUNTY REGIONAL A I RPORT Winter in Oregon can be challenging, especially when it comes to keeping the runways and airport roadways clear. “Keeping the snow removal equipment up to date is definitely something on the wish list,” says Walker, “but we have an excellent partnership with our County Road Department and if we get in a situation where we have heavy snow or maybe our equipment is not keeping up, a phone call to them and they send a crew up here and help us out to get it open in a quick amount of time.” The airport boasts a beautiful new terminal which is jointly owned by Grant County and the U.S. Forest Service. Operations-wise, the county Along with medical transport, the Grant County Air Search group also operates from the airport to provide a first-response air search unit for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and the Oregon Department of Aeronautics. This unit is staffed mostly by volunteer pilots. Walker reports, “Depending on the time of year, we can see up to 30 flights a week. More in summer when the flying weather is good, and perhaps down to 15 a week in our nonpeak times. But there are medical flights in and out of the airport weekly. So, you can see that we need to maintain the airport to make these organizations as safe as possible.”