One Man’s Rally to Keep an Airstrip Alive

Thomas Tupling hopes to prevent the closure of Mansfield Airport (8W3) in north central Washington state by rallying the support of others.

“I was born and raised in Mansfield and the airport has always been there,” Tupling said. “Once something is gone, it's never coming back as Mansfield learned with the railroad.

The sounds of the airplanes buzzing around the town of Mansfield is a sound probably as prominent as the sounds of Celilo Falls, and one day it was just quiet. The sounds were never heard again. I was in my yard last weekend, and I could hear the planes buzzing around. I thought that could be the last of the airplanes in Mansfield.”

Like many other airports across the country, low or dwindling aircraft operations are a factor in being on the chopping block. The Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority (CDRPA), the airport’s owner and operator, is considering its future.

This is not the first time the CDRPA has conducted this exercise. In fall 2022 it was reported that the future of the airport was in question.

Jim Kuntz, CEO of the CDRPA, provided Virtower data from July 15, 2022, through July 31, 2024. On average there have been shy of 10 total operations (takeoffs and landings) each month. April 2023 was the busiest month during the noted observation time frame, tallying 32 operations.

Despite historically low operations, Tupling feels that the airport’s closure would have a negative impact on his community. There are a handful of things to do in Mansfield that would entice pilots to visit.

“Mansfield is a small community of around 314 residents,” he said. “We have no crime and it’s sunny here all year-round. So, it’s beautiful to fly around here and visit. Growing up, I remember people flying here just to eat lunch downtown, which is only a short walk from the airport. People would fly in from Oregon, Idaho, and elsewhere to fly fish at Grimes Lake, where there are landlocked salmon, or other lakes and rivers nearby. There were also airplane poker runs that would visit the airport here, when I was a kid.”

If the airport continues to operate, there are some capital improvements that would be needed to be completed in the near future.

“A final decision on Mansfield Airport has not been made by the [CDRPA],” Kuntz said. “The challenge remains the lack of airplane activity. The policy question is should taxpayers’ funds continue to subsidize the airport with very little use. Should taxpayers invest a large sum of capital dollars to undertake needed capital projects at the airport, such as repaving [the runway]?”

There are no hangars at the airport, and if there were some, it’s possible traffic could increase. Tupling has formally explored this theory, polling local pilots to understand their desire to keep their aircraft at Mansfield Airport.

“I have reached out to a lot of agencies and private pilots,” Tupling said. “It’s another bureaucratic situation of the chicken or the egg. The flights are done substantially, but the airport is currently in bad condition from the lack of maintenance and upkeep. The [CDRPA] has a different goal than the taxpayers of the upper plateau, but I do understand they have a budget to protect as well. The port has verbally stated if the airport is closed, they would work with the taxpayers to utilize the land in the most productive way supported by a feasibility study.”

There are nine leased sites allocated on airport land, which may be an attractive option for pilots to build their own hangars.  

The Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority expects to have a decision related to the airport’s future by the end of the year. For Tupling and others interested in the runway’s continued existence, the hope is that the next headline is not “Mansfield Airport Closes.”