Surge in Hanscom air use targeted
Opponents alarmed by rise in corporate, charter flights since Sept. 11

By Davis Bushnell, Globe Correspondent, 2/24/2002

BEDFORD - Commercial aviation opponents are refocusing their efforts to protest the rapid increase in corporate and charter jet activity at Hanscom Field since Sept. 11.

Activity rose 66 percent, 38.2 percent, and 49.7 percent in the last three months of 2001, compared to the same period the year before, according to the Massachusetts Port Authority, Hanscom's owner-operator.

And the trend is expected to continue for the rest of this year, Massport said, as companies such as Lexington-based Raytheon and EMC Corp. of Hopkinton fly executives in and out of Hanscom. Last month, corporate flight operations increased 44 percent compared to January 2001. In the last four months, there have been more than 9,600 corporate and charter flights at Hanscom, Massport officials said.

In the meantime, area grass-roots groups are active on two fronts: They're still monitoring Shuttle America's commercial operations while zeroing in on corporate and charter aviation.

These leaders also said they're worried that more company planes that had once routinely used Boston's Logan International Airport will be settling in at Hanscom instead. Corporate jet activity ''results in noise and pollution levels that are unacceptable, affecting the [Minute Man] national park as well as those who visit or live in this area,'' said James Henderson of Lincoln, a vice president and former president of ShhAir, or Safeguarding the Historic Hanscom Area's Irreplaceable Resources.

Anna Winter, executive director of Save Our Heritage, a historic preservation group that has offices in Concord, added, ''Corporate jets are a luxury used by a tiny group of people, yet they cause more than 90 percent of the noise ... We will not allow historic treasures that belong to the whole country to be sacrificed to corporate greed and the convenience of a privileged few.''

But it's ''no secret'' that Hanscom, as a general aviation airfield, is doing what it's supposed to as a ''reliever airport to Logan,'' asserted Richard Walsh, a Massport spokesman.

And it's also not surprising, he said, that many companies based northwest and west of Boston use Hanscom because of ''its central location.''

That's why members of ShhAir and Save Our Heritage have begun picketing outside the Mercury Air Center, which is adjacent to the Civil Air Terminal at Hanscom. Mercury Air and its nearby competitor at Hanscom, Jet Aviation, have about 60 corporate customers between them, their general managers said.

''We're putting Mercury on notice about our environmental concerns,'' Henderson said.

Massport issued a new permit Feb. 15 to ShhAir that allows up to 18 protesters to congregate between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily on sidewalks outside the terminal and adjoining the parking lot.

The first permit was issued in September 1999, when Shuttle America began its Hanscom operations, and allowed up to 14 protesters. The new permit expires at the end of July.

Mercury Air general manager John Wraga said he's not concerned about pickets. ''Massport runs the airport, and as long as they issue the permits, it's OK with us.''

Since last Sept. 11, there have been a number of companies that have selected Hanscom over Logan as their base of operations because of security concerns, Wraga said, declining to give names.

Corporate and charter jet activity should remain at its accelerated clip until summer, which is the slowest time of the year for corporate flights, he said.

Jet Aviation hasn't seen an increase in the number of new customers since the last quarter of 2001, general manager Frank Diglio said. ''But what we are seeing is existing customers logging more operations'' than they did a year ago, he added, noting that Raytheon is a longtime customer.

Of activist groups' concerns about noise and pollution, Diglio said, ''Hanscom has a `fly friendly' program, which seems to be working pretty well.''

However, trying to be ''friendly,'' in terms of recognizing that the airport covers portions of Bedford, Concord, Lexington, and Lincoln, isn't good enough, said Sheldon Moll, chairman of the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission and a Bedford selectman.

While these towns do have ''some environmental controls over commercial aviation at Hanscom,'' he said, referring to public hearings on Massport plans, they have little leverage in doing anything about increased corporate and charter jet operations.

''And now it's very clear that the greatest threats are noise and pollution resulting from corporate and charter flights,'' Moll said.

There's no question that there ''are more invasive activities going on at Hanscom than in the past, and that's what we're protesting about,'' said Henderson, the ShhAir leader.

This story ran on page W1 of the Boston Globe on 2/24/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.
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