The runway is way too close to neighborhoods. Major WTF at the airport and how it is managed. The city is getting hit with a huge bill to move the runway after people in and around said neighborhood complained. Turns out the existing runway placement doesn't have a legal runway protection zone. https://buckrail.com/city-of-driggs-...reed-memorial/
RE: the RNAV- the airport is too close to the Tetons/ Targhee for an RNAV on RWY 22, so RWY 4 is the only option for an instrument approach. Runway 22 also happens to be the designated calm wind runway and the prevailing wind direction, so that is the runway that local pilots use most often. 22 has a published right hand traffic pattern to keep air traffic away from downtown. Most airports have left hand traffic patterns. The RNAV for runway 4 drops pretty steeply over the Big Holes (mountains to the west of town). Biz jets on IFR clearance get basically to the crest of those mountains (VICUP waypoint) before they can reliably make radio calls on CTAF. It is very common to have one or more small planes flying right traffic pattern on 22 when a jet on the RNAV for 4 comes in hot through VICUP, 10.5 miles from the airport.
The good jet pilots will quickly realize that there are planes in the pattern for 22 and will immediately sidestep left to set up for a kinda high workload right traffic visual approach to 22 while communicating with traffic in the pattern. In order to do this you'd need to have done a little bit of homework to research the runway and traffic patterns well in advance, like you're supposed to.
The bad jet pilots announce a 10 mile final, continue to follow their pre-programmed RNAV approach, sometimes all the way down to the runway, while other pilots flying a 22 pattern try to communicate with them. The other planes in the pattern have to break off their approaches to not die.
Other bad jet pilots will sidestep to the right and set up for a left traffic visual approach to 22 because they just assume that there is a left traffic pattern for 22. The causes several problems- the valley is tighter to the south, which means tighter turns to avoid hitting the Tetons and a higher workload and it also exposes traffic in the correct right traffic pattern for potential mid air, head on collisions with the left traffic pattern jet.
Some of the biz jet pilots are fractional ownership jet service/ jet rental service pilots that are used to towered airports and seem to have forgotten how to make CTAF radio calls.
I think everyone who flies out of that airport has a story about having some kind of conflict or near miss with a jet on the RNAV for 4 while they are flying 22.
It's a total shitshow, especially around holidays.
Last thing re: Bellingham vs Driggs prices- somehow houses that were $500kish in that particular neighborhood in 2019 are now north of $3mm. It really defies logic- there are nicer neighborhoods with better views, nicer golf courses, etc but the prices in the neighborhood directly under the approach to the airport are for some reason 2x the prices of the better locations. Is it money laundering? Or a great sales team? I really don't know.