Lexington Minuteman
Thursday, October 23, 2003

Charter flights hot topic for HFAC

By Barbara Forster/Correspondent

Whether Massport is deliberately steering "charter" flights from Logan to Hanscom was a touchy topic on Tuesday at the monthly meeting of the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission.

Massport representative Richard Walsh who pointed out that Hanscom is the general aviation reliever for Logan, added that the Boston-based airport has limited general aviation facilities. Therefore, the agency does not "encourage" charter planes to remain for three to four days.

"But we have no active marketing plan to move charters to Hanscom," he said.

However, Walsh acknowledged that to date only commercial facilities at Logan are being updated; general aviation remains in a holding pattern. In addition, Hanscom, because of its amenities that include fire protection - provided by the Air Force - and various services offered by flight-related businesses such as fuel, attracts customers.

"It's also probably cheaper [to fly into Hanscom than Logan], too," he added.

While Logan has charged landing fees for years, Hanscom is only getting ready to launch a system of fees at the end of the year.

"Charters" are flights for hire, regardless of size. Most charter flights are in planes that seat five to 10 passengers. Big jets, such as the 737s that carry sports teams such as the Celtics represent a very small number of flights.

Although the total number of aircraft operations between 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. at Hanscom dropped more than 5 percent last month, as compared to September 2002, the number of business jet operations increase 5.6 percent. Almost every other aircraft category including single-engine piston planes and turboprops were down.

Night flights went from 198 to 140; noise complaints were lower too, 696 instead of last year's 805.

In September, noise data from the monitors showed a decrease at four of the six locations. One site, in Lincoln on Brooks Road, experienced levels exceeding 68 decibels on five different days. According to the Federal Aviation Administration 65 decibels is an acceptable level; area residents advocate 55 decibels.

Massport's Sara Arnold noted that the high reading was "rare" for the site and that the reading indicates a source "other" than aircraft noise. Several years ago, for example, a similar reading occurred when trees were cut down. However, Lexington resident Barbara Masi, suggested that planes were the source. She stated that she noticed that in her residential area September was an exceptionally busy month for noisier planes.

Massport is preparing to embark on a new noise study that could mean a new noise monitoring system for Hanscom. The agency is currently looking for a consultant to evaluate its current system at Logan. Hanscom's system is piggybacked to whatever Logan uses.

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