Bedford Minuteman
Wednesday, January 28, 2004

Liberty Mutual makes plans to redevelop hanger, add space
Silent protesters fear increase in operations, aircraft flights

By Barbara Forster / Correspondent

Amidst a silent protest on Tuesday, Jan. 20, members of the Hanscom Field
Advisory Commission heard about plans to develop a condemned aircraft hangar
at the airfield.

The protesters asked permission to hold signs -- one read "Liberty Mutual
Desecrates the Birthplace of Liberty" and the other "Corporate Jets Are
Destroying America's Treasures" -- during the Liberty Mutual presentation.

Liberty Mutual, which is currently in a 20,000 square foot hangar at Hanscom
Field plans to redevelop Hangar One, creating 36,000 square feet that will
include office, storage and maintenance space. According to Project Manager
William Costa, the firm has outgrown its current location.

Only three of the company's four planes, which seat 12 maximum, fit in the
current hangar. The fourth is housed at another site at the field. Except
for a change of location, everything else including staff size which is
about 28, and number of planes will remain the same.

"We have no intention to increase the number of aircraft and we don't intend
to increase the number of trips (we make)," said Costa. "Over the last few
years, the number of trips has been level; on average less than one per
day."

According to Costa, that figure represents approximately 2 percent of the
total aircraft use at Hanscom. The company averages 500 flights annually to
its various locations throughout the world including South America, Europe,
Asia and Canada.

Hangar One has been vacant for more than a dozen years.

In addition to suggestions that Liberty Mutual employees rely on commercial
flights versus private jets, issues about after-effects were raised. For
example, when Liberty Mutual vacates its current facility, that could be
used for more corporate jets and therefore more air traffic operations.

Tom Ennis of Massport, however, disagreed.

"There are a number of factors that affect operations," he said. "There
could be a zero increase because the facility may not be rented."

John Williams of Massachusetts Business Aviation Association, agreed.
"Airplanes (currently) housed on ramps could move into the hangar," he
added.

Although Costa presented design plans, he stressed that these were
preliminary. Massport has yet to review the plans. Technical details such as
fire suppression equipment and layout also need to be worked out. Final
plans with specific details such as plantings, building materials, and
colors will take a few months to prepare.

-- Tree Clearing

Massport's Ennis announced that the plan to take down trees and vegetation
obstructing airspace around Hanscom runways goes into effect next month.
After approximately two years of negotiations, the agency's Vegetation
Management Plan was approved by the various conservation commissions in the
four towns, albeit with several caveats.

"All the orders of conditions are part of the contract," he added.

The vegetation management plan affects plant growth in the approach zones to
the runways. The purpose is to remove vegetation, a.k.a. trees, in order to
maintain aviation safety while complying with various local, state, and
federal regulations.

A vast majority of the trees are on Massport property but some, such as
those at the end of runway 2-9, are in office parks in Lexington. The
Bedford Town Forest is also affected but that portion of the project is
being handled separately.

Planners also hope to change the landscape by establishing different plant
types that won't cause problems in the future such as mow-able ground cover
closest to the runway and shrubs as the dominant vegetation. Farther out,
the goal is a low canopy area with "dense" shrubbery farthest away from the
runway. The height pattern would mesh with ratios required for the runways.
Grubbing and seeding will begin in spring.

Historically, some type of vegetation removal project takes place
approximately every five years to keep the airfield in compliance with
federal aviation safety requirements.

-- Aviation Activity

Aircraft activity at Hanscom went up and down during the last two months of
2003. In November the total number of operations between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.
increased 5.5 percent as compared to 2002 and went down 6.7 percent in
December.

November also saw a drop in turboprop - planes used by Shuttle America - and
jet activity; 2.1 percent. Helicopter and smaller plane use dropped 30.4
percent.

In December jet activity increased 4.4 percent and helicopter operations 1.2
percent.

For the entire year, however, the name of the game was "decrease" with less
activity in all categories of aircraft. The result was a total 10.7 percent
drop. According to Massport's Sarah Arnold, the 38 percent decline in
turboprop operations reflects reductions in service by the commuter airline,
Shuttle America. Jet activity was relatively stable with a decrease of 1.5
percent.

But, for at least the last two months of the year, the word was "up" for
nighttime activity, between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., In November operations
jumped from 149 to 176 and in December the numbers went from 160 to 174. An
increase in medical flights influenced the December total.

Despite those increases, the yearly total of night flights dropped from
2,170 to 1,744.

Complaints followed the same path, going up in November and December, but
decreasing for the overall year from 8,642 to 7,553.

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