Kaye Gagnon, volunteer for the Diamond Point Airport Association, stands near one of the four corners of the Diamond Point Airport’s helipad. Airport Association members seek up to $8,000 to support paving the helipad to make it safer for airlifts. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)

Kaye Gagnon, volunteer for the Diamond Point Airport Association, stands near one of the four corners of the Diamond Point Airport’s helipad. Airport Association members seek up to $8,000 to support paving the helipad to make it safer for airlifts. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)

Diamond Point residents seek upgraded helipad for emergencies

SEQUIM — Diamond Point residents aim to rally the community and local Boy Scouts to help improve Diamond Point Airport 2WA1’s helipad.

Currently, the helipad is a 40-feet-by-40-feet mowed space along the airport’s runway with four white concrete blocks.

With funds and support, members of the Diamond Point Airport Association, or DPAA, hope to create a safer hub for airlifts to the state trauma center, Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Kaye Gagnon, a volunteer for the association, said more than 50 members of the Diamond Point Airport Association began exploring safer options this year after a miscue during an airlift incident in 2017 to pick up a patient following a nearby car wreck.

The helicopter pilot had difficulty finding the helipad because the area has no lighting system, Gagnon said, and it nearly resulted in the helicopter hitting a shed down the runway.

“It’s dark, dark skies out here with no lighting,” Gagnon said. “It puts pilots in danger.”

Diamond Point Airport opened in 1965 with the closest helipads in the city of Sequim next to the Jamestown Family Health Clinic and the Jefferson County International Airport in Port Townsend.

Residents say most of the car wrecks in the Diamond Point area along U.S. Highway 101 occur at night when the helipad is hard to see and dangerous for landing.

Assistant Chief Eric Quitslund with Clallam County Fire District 3 estimates one to two patients are airlifted from Diamond Point annually.

“They go there because the patient needs stabilization first [rather than going elsewhere for airlift],” he said. “When we need it, we need it.”

While the airport is private, Gagnon said airport association members have allowed emergency landings at no public expense for more than 50 years to both Clallam and Jefferson counties.

The airport is also part of Clallam County’s Disaster Airlift Response Team (DART).

“We’re hoping to bring attention to [the helipad],” Gagnon said. “It’s part of everyone’s response system. Who knows? It could help you on your worst day.”

About the effort

Airport association members are working with Boy Scout Troop 1498 and Life Scout candidate Ben Wright to do outreach on the project. Wright likely will lead phase 1 of the project, laying the cement for the helipad, for his Eagle Scout project.

Gagnon said the estimate of cost for materials is between $6,000 and $8,000 for the first phase.

Airport association members anticipate the first phase to take two work days.

The next phases, Gagnon said, could include adding standard aviation lighting and paving or placing gravel from the runway to the helipad so ambulances can access it easier in adverse conditions.

They hope to have construction finished within a year.

Currently there are more than 30 hangars along the air strip but no one in the association owns a helicopter, Gagnon said, so this project isn’t about leisure.

“This is for the community and medical needs,” said airport association member Rich Morey.

Donations for the helipad project can be sent to Helipad Project Diamond Point Airport, P.O. Box 1241, Sequim, WA 98382. Airport Association members ask that donations indicate “Helipad Project” inside.

For more information, contact Kaye Gagnon at Kaye@Kaye6.com or call 310-654-3441.

For more information on Diamond Point Airport 2WA1, visit www.2wa1.com.

________

Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.

Members of the Diamond Point Airport Association hope to pave this 40-feet-by-40-feet grass area to improve the airport’s helipad. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)

Members of the Diamond Point Airport Association hope to pave this 40-feet-by-40-feet grass area to improve the airport’s helipad. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)

Following a car wreck last year, Diamond Point residents say it was so dark that a helicopter pilot struggled to land at Diamond Point Airport’s grass helipad and nearly hit a shed down the runway. Clallam County Fire District 3 officials report the helipad hosts one-two airlifts each year. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)

Following a car wreck last year, Diamond Point residents say it was so dark that a helicopter pilot struggled to land at Diamond Point Airport’s grass helipad and nearly hit a shed down the runway. Clallam County Fire District 3 officials report the helipad hosts one-two airlifts each year. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)

More in News

Port Angeles Parks & Recreation Department workers Brooke Keohokaloke, left, and Brian Flores steer a section of floating dock into place at the boat launch on Ediz Hook in Port Angeles on Wednesday. The floats had been removed and stored in a safe location to prevent wave damage from winter storms. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Dock in place

Port Angeles Parks & Recreation Department workers Brooke Keohokaloke, left, and Brian… Continue reading

Hospitals are likely to feel state cuts

OMC partners offer specialized care

Clallam jail program results in fewer overdoses

County had been ranked in top three in state

After almost 27 years with Port Townsend Main Street, Mari Mullen plans to step down following the town photo at the end of May. (Eryn Smith/Port Townsend Main Street Program)
Port Townsend Main Street director plans to step down

Award-winning program seeks replacement

Traffic to shift for new bridge

Work crews will shift traffic onto a new bridge over… Continue reading

BPA to discuss West End power outages

The Bonneville Power Administration will meet with area stakeholders to… Continue reading

Duke Sawtel of Olympia trims tree branches that interfere with power lines along Washington Street in Port Townsend. The Asplundh Tree Trimming company was hired by the Jefferson County PUD for the job. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Tree trimming

Duke Sawtel of Olympia trims tree branches that interfere with power lines… Continue reading

Clallam Transit grant for purchase of new buses could be on hold

General manager says he’s retiring, with final day set for Aug. 1

Port Angeles to purchase hybrid, electric vehicles

Goal is to align with climate resiliency plan

Karyn Stillwell cold plunging in Alaska. (Karyn Stillwell)
Advocate to present benefits of cold water plunging

Stillwater cites ‘good stressor,’ adrenaline spikes

Trees to be removed prior to fish passage projects

Contractors are removing trees along U.S. Highway 101 south of… Continue reading

Levi Oravetz, 9, and his father Adam Oravetz put pre-measured rice and lentils into a funnel to be packaged for families in Ecuador. More than 100 volunteers from Independent Bible Church of Port Angeles packed 65,000 meals on Saturday. Almost $23,000 was raised by the church to buy the supplies. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
Meals for Ecuador

Levi Oravetz, 9, and his father Adam Oravetz put pre-measured rice and… Continue reading