WednesDAY October 17, 2012 Vol. 27 No. 83 ••• $1.25 inc. H.S.T.
COMOX VALLEY Your community. Your newspaper.
spoRTS
the good life
The Comox Valley Road Runners hit the ground running in Victoria. page 32
Life certainly doesn’t end at 50 in the Comox Valley. For proof, look inside today’s Record. Insert
RECORD A division of
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Rainfall helps to boost river flow Scott Stanfield
systems in the immediate forecast — planned to increase the Puntledge flow Wet weather has finally Tuesday. The flow was to arrived in the Comox Val- increase from 11.3 to about ley, where fishing has been 18 cubic metres per second temporarily banned in the (m3/s), marking a 50-perhighest-profile local river cent increase. due to low water levels. BC Hydro would like to Fisheries and Oceans release about 32 m3/s below Canada (DFO) has closed the dam and have the Punfishing until Oct. 31 in the tledge generating station Puntledge and Courtenay running at full capacity, but rivers. the Comox Lake reservoir Weekend rain resulted is still too low. in a “little bump in fish” The reservoir had levthough levels elled at 132 are still below metres Monthe escapeday from the If all the conment target, approximateditions line up, we Darcy Miller, ly 25-cenw a t e r s h e d hopefully would t i m e t r e enhancement be able to open the increase over manager at river earlier but I the weekend. the Puntledge The 131River Hatch- can’t say for certain metre level ery, said Mon- at this point. is considered day. Hatchery critical. Darcy Miller staff will sort Stage Two through fish water restricand conduct river swims to tions continue to be in assess the situation. effect as the Comox Val“If all the conditions line ley Regional District coup, we hopefully would be operates with BC Hydro’s able to open the river earli- water flow needs. The Valer but I can’t say for certain ley water system normally at this point,” said Miller, shifts to Stage One this who planned to speak with time of year, according to the local sport fish group CVRD staff. and the fishery officer. For more informations “Hopefully the numbers on water restrictions, or to come together, the river stay on top of notifications conditions come together of stage changes, visit www. and we can provide (fish- comoxvalleyrd.ca/restricing) opportunities.” tions. BC Hydro — after seeing For more information of a modest increase in water fishing restrictions, contact inflows into the Comox the Comox branch of the Lake reservoir and consid- DFO at 250-339-7271. reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com ering a few minor storm
Record Staff
Renee Andor Record Staff
FRUSTRATED AIRLINE PASSENGERS wait to hear if their flight will be able to take off from Comox Valley Airport. PHOTO COURTESY CTV VANCOUVER ISLAND the weather wasn’t unusual for the Comox Valley, and noted he’s concerned about further flight landing problems this fall and winter. “The weather certainly isn’t unusual; what’s unusual right now is with the instrument approaches to the runways,” said Bigelow. “There are restrictions right now on the instrument approaches, which preclude aircraft from descending as low as they normally would. “These higher minima will pose challenges for the operators coming in and out of Comox, and it’s a concern for us … as we approach the winter season. “We will expect more problems than we would otherwise have because of these higher approach
limits.” Col. Jim Benninger, wing commander for 19 Wing Comox, which is in charge of airport operations, said two issues are causing the higher approach limits; one is the height of some trees around the airport — which is an ongoing issue — and the other is some work on the runway. “We have the issue with the over-height obstacles, the natural growth in the area, which has caused an elevation of the minimum altitude to which pilots can descend before they have to look out the window and see if they can see the airport or not,” he explained, adding the work on runway improvements has shortened the main runway from 10,000 to 7,000 feet.
“The net result of both of them raises the height of the decision altitude to 500 feet (from 200 feet).” He added if pilots can’t see out of the aircraft at the decision altitude height due to lower cloud, or any other factors, they won’t land on that approach. They can try again from a slightly different approach or detour to another airport. According to Benninger, the runway work is expected to last until the end of March. Tree remediation is not scheduled to be complete until December 2013 due to environmental considerations. For details on flight arrivals and departures, visit www.comoxairport. com. — With files from CTV Vancouver Island writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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Airplane flights scrubbed Comox resident Geoff Russell was unimpressed when his family couldn’t fly out of the Comox Valley Airport for two days on the weekend — and stranded passengers will likely be more common this fall and winter. “The weather was no worse Friday night, all day Saturday, than it is on many, many occasions,” Russell told the Record. “I was quite annoyed at the time and it certainly created a lot of inconvenience for a lot of people. “We were all told it was weather-related, and it was no different to a normal winter’s day in the Valley.” Russell’s son, daughterin-law and their two small children, were scheduled to catch a WestJet flight to Calgary Friday evening. The plane was unable to land, and returned to Calgary. The family tried to leave again Saturday to no avail. Russell drove them to Victoria early Sunday morning so they could catch a flight. A number of flights were rerouted or cancelled Friday and Saturday and again Monday. Comox Valley Airport CEO Fred Bigelow agreed
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