Smith Airport (WA73), Colville, Washington: A Quick Case Study

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Tim Smith up in Colville, Washington has an airplane and about 900 feet of relatively flat mountaintop, a hanger and a few buildings. As is the case in many instances, sometimes these smaller airports report imprecise coordinates and elevations, since many of these types of airports aren’t much more than cowpastures, and they have to put something on their FAA license application. But these strips are out there, perhaps as haven from a storm, or in the event of mechanical failure, so they are just as important to flight safety as any humongous international airport.

And sadly, many of these often-quaint, unique little aviation havens have been neglected over the development life of the FS-franchise. maybe avoided altogether due to the often-jarring plateaus that result when high-resolution terrain is applied, to the barnstormer’s and bush flyer’s lament.

So here we are to pick up some of the slack with the Airport Terrain Adjustment Packs (ATAP).

Upon investigation, we discovered that the airstrip was misplaced by several hundred yards, and it’s estimated elevation was about 20m lower that what what was indicated by the digital elevation model in use. As well, the default airport property polygon was waaaaay too big, so that was all adjusted using georeferenced aerial imagery.

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