Expand Bishop Airport for Safety’s Sake

Thank you for your thoughtful coverage of the death of mountaineer and photographer Galen Rowell and his wife, Barbara (Aug. 13). As anyone who has visited their Mountain Light Gallery in Bishop, Calif., can testify, Rowell was a major artist. Their deaths, in a light plane accident, were an artistic and a human tragedy, and raise an issue to which The Times gave editorial attention earlier this year (April 5): the regrettable lack of commercial air service at the Bishop airport.

Without question, travel by general aviation (light planes) is much more dangerous than by commercial aviation. Moreover, the population of the Eastern Sierra and the Owens Valley has grown in recent years. There are proposals, as The Times noted, to develop the Mammoth Lakes airport for large jets. Landing in a plane of any size on that wind-swept bench at 7,200 feet of altitude is a frightening experience. The Times, and all other interested parties, should join in urging the counties of Inyo and Mono to cooperate in developing the Bishop airport to handle commercial air traffic.

Donald E. Warner Jr.

Santa Monica