Plane Maker Lands County Support Commissioners Ready Money To Help Lure Plant To Sandpoint

Plans for an airplane manufacturing plant in Sandpoint are getting clearance for takeoff in Bonner County.

Bonner County commissioners took the first steps in clearing the way for Idaho Air Group to establish a plant that would build about 65 planes a year next to the Sandpoint Airport.

The commissioners voted 2-1 to establish a new line item in the budget for economic development, and moved $200,000 in funds from the litigation line item to economic development.

The commissioners, pending a legal review, are planning to match up to $100,000 in city funds to help extend utilities to a 37-acre parcel on the west side of the airport.

The planes would sell for about $750,000 apiece, said Tom Hamilton, president of Idaho Air Group.

“We believe it will be a very marketable plane,” he told commissioners.

Idaho Air Group’s mission is to create a plane for use by missionaries and aid development groups, Hamilton said in a separate interview.

“We’re strong believers in the Lord,” he said. “We’re in for that reason, and not to make money. … What counts is that you feed the hungry.”

The plane, the Packer Spirit 100, can haul heavy loads and take off and land on short airstrips, which makes it ideal for mission work.

Idaho Air Group has begun the aircraft-certification process required by the Federal Aviation Administration. The company hopes to complete that process and begin commercial production by July 2003.

Local business people attended the commissioner’s meeting Thursday to support using public money for the manufacturing plant, while tax watchdogs warned against it.

“It’s extraordinarily hard to find companies like this,” said Debbie Ferguson, a local real estate agent and a former economic development coordinator for the Sandpoint area. “I would urge you to act promptly.”

Members of Idaho Air Group said they expect that 80 percent to 85 percent of their work force will be local. They plan to employ nearly 100 by 2006, when the company reaches full production.

“We want to train the people,” Hamilton told commissioners. “We want to train them exactly how we want the planes put together.”

City and county officials also have been meeting with state and regional organizations in pursuit of grants to help pay for infrastructure improvements needed to lure Idaho Air Group to Sandpoint.

The county and city contributions will be considered matching funds for state and federal economic development grants, said Bonner County Commission Chairman Dale Van Stone.

Extending services to that area and improving the Great Northern Road, which may also require some state or federal financial help, could lure more businesses, Van Stone said.

The project, with Federal Aviation Administration help, might also lead to a west side taxiway for the airport.

“I see it as an investment in this county,” Van Stone said. “I’m excited about it.”

Hamilton, 47, is best known as the founder of Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft Inc., a company that sells kits for high-speed, home-built aircraft.

He sold the Arlington, Wash., company 13 years ago, and now operates a Priest River company that manufactures floats for floatplanes.

The 10-seat, single-engine Packer Spirit 100 can be used in the bush, for charters, carrying cargo and packages, or recreation, he said. To make the venture pan out, the plane had to have crossover appeal, but the drive behind the project was to replace aging missionary fleets, Hamilton said.

He and his wife, Linda, have been involved in volunteer mission work for two decades. She’s currently in Mexico, working at an orphanage. Mission work is also a passion of David Cox and Bruce Johnson, two other principals in the company, Hamilton said.

Mission Aviation Fellowship of Redlands, Calif., and Jungle Aviation and Radio Service, which is affiliated with Wycliffe Bible Translators, are backing the project, Hamilton said.

The Packer Spirit 100 is the third plane that Hamilton has designed. The two others, sold by Stoddard-Hamilton, are the GlaStar and the Glasair.

“In wishful thinking, (the Packer Spirit 100) has been around for about 10 years,” Hamilton said. “But it’s really taken off in the last year.”

THE WORK FORCE Local employees Members of Idaho Air Group said they expect that 80 percent to 85 percent of their work force will be local. They plan to employ nearly 100 by 2006, when the company reaches full production.