Photo: Kate Bouey

Skydiver John Swallow displays skydiving suit to city council.

Vernon city councillors have expressed support for Okanagan Skydive despite recent complaints about noise in the sky above the city.

“We do seem to be getting the bulk of the blame for noise,” said owner Brett Chalmers, who added the company was doing everything possible to reduce the noise level without reducing safety.

In a presentation to council on Monday, Chalmers said Okanagan Skydive had been in operation at Vernon Airport for 25 years and had 70 active members.

He said the three major aspects to the business consisted of tandem skydives, student certification programs and recreational sky diving.

“Adventure travel is becoming one of the most popular activities of the 21st century and sky diving the most popular of all.”

He said the skydiving business drew tourists to Vernon who used local hotels and restaurants, and that staff were constantly complimented on having “one of the best views in sky diving.”

Chalmers claimed most of the noise complaints were made by two people and sometimes on days when they were not flying.

“Skydive planes are designed to climb to altitude efficiently. A climbing aircraft will create a greater level of noise.”

Chalmers said a Piper Navajo aircraft had been hired to fly larger groups of divers on busier days in order to cut down the number of flights over the city but that was not doable in the shoulder seasons when there were fewer people going up.

“By far, safety is our number one concern. We want to ensure a safe landing position. Yes, airplanes do make noise. According to Transport Canada, it is at an acceptable level.”

“I don't have a lot of sympathy for people complaining about the noise at the airport,” said Coun. Brian Quiring, who compared it to people living near a railway line and then complaining about the trains' whistle.

Both Coun. Juliette Cunningham and Coun. Scott Anderson, who live in Okanagan Landing, expressed support for the skydivers.

“Tourism has changed. It's more active tourism...you wouldn't catch me doing it but I appreciate you are trying to mitigate the noise,” Cunningham said to laughter.

Coun. Catherine Lord said she too loved to watch the skydivers as they came to earth.