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The pilots fear the "Pearson box" rule will force incoming pilots and the public below into harm's way and cost the Vancouver airport a lot of money.

"Part of the issue is requiring small aircraft to be circling over populated areas at low altitudes for indeterminate periods of time," said Paul Speer, chairman of Vancouver's Aviation Advisory Committee. That will increase noise, waste fuel, endanger the public and make the airport less desirable for "transient aircraft," he said.

In addition, the rule will make it extremely difficult for maintenance shops and flight schools to use Pearson for "touch-and-go" flights, or quick up-and-down hops. The field is supported financially by such businesses' use of the field, Speer said.

Speer said the FAA decided Pearson was operating outside its safety standards and the problem could be fixed only by installing a control tower or by limiting traffic. The FAA chose to limit traffic, apparently because it would cost less, Speer said.

Pearson's airport manager, Willy Williamson, said Friday he'd heard varying cost estimates for a control tower, from a few hundred thousand dollars to $8 million. No one has made a solid estimate, he said.

The FAA order said the changes were necessary because "wake turbulence" from passing jet aircraft could make navigation difficult for nearby small aircraft and because traffic control incidents occur when PDX uses its west runways, forcing airliners to circle before landing.

Speer and Williamson said there never had been a near-miss incident in Pearson airspace. They said there had been seven near-misses reported out of PDX and none had involved Pearson aircraft or Pearson airspace.

"The new procedures will reduce the chances of Pearson Field traffic being exposed to wake turbulence from Portland arrivals, and will reduce the chances of Portland arrivals receiving conflict alerts from their proximity to Pearson Field traffic," said Allen Kenitzer, spokesman for the FAA Northwest Mountain & Alaska Regions.

At Thursday's meeting, Portland FAA officials Laura Schneider, Scott Speer (no relation to Paul Speer) and Robert Verburg said they oppose the new rule but are working to make it succeed.

U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., whose district includes Pearson, issued a statement in support of delaying the rule.

"I've heard from a unified coalition of pilots, officials and stakeholders from Clark County and Portland, and they believe a more reasonable solution is possible," the statement said. "I hope the FAA will listen to their concerns before making a decision that could impact hundreds of jobs."

Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt, City Manager Eric Holmes and the Vancouver City Council also support delaying the rule and want to see Pearson get a control tower, said city spokeswoman Barbara Ayers.

She said a temporary control tower operated successfully at Pearson last year while work was being done on Portland International Airport runways.

Ayers said Pearson was the only U.S. airport of its size without a control tower and that a permanent tower had support from the Port of Portland, Portland air traffic controllers, the Air Line Pilots Association, and Horizon, Alaska and Delta airlines.

"We'll have much more to say about this next week," said Ayers.

In the interim, Craig Allison, manager at Scappoose's airport, allowed it was possible the new rule could drive business to other airports.

"This is the first I've heard of it," he said Friday. "It's possible that a pilot might have done touch-and-gos at Pearson and now they might come up to Scappoose and wait around until they can come home."

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