Bedford Minuteman
Thursday, October 3, 2002

Letter: Night flights rob us of our 'Z's

To the editor:

Those of you who have been jolted out of a sound sleep by jets blasting in and out of Hanscom in the wee hours of the morning might like to know who the chief offenders are.

According to Massport records, two "fractional jet ownership" companies, NetJets and Flight Options, have really been making a habit of this. From March through July of this year, NetJets had 64 operations between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., and Flight Options had 31. These two corporations alone account for about 10 percent of all night flights at Hanscom, and a much larger percentage of the noisy nighttime jet flights.

Zipping through the night skies over our four towns must be pretty convenient for jet time-share owners who can afford to spend in the range of $10,000 an hour "flying to fulfill their business or personal needs" (from the NetJets Web site). No matter that they are disrupting the sleep of hundreds of households below.

Among corporations flying their own jets, the worst record belongs to Hopkinton's own EMC Corp., with 19 night operations in the same time frame. Interestingly, EMC chairman Michael Ruettgers, who lives in Carlisle, received $48,000 worth of personal use of EMC's jets in 2001, according to the company's form 10k filed with the SEC. How much of that resulted in shattered sleep for his neighbors?

The huge increase in corporate jet activity at Hanscom - including night flights - over the past few years could not have occurred without Massport's support for big new hangars. According to the draft Environmental Status and Planning Report (ESPR), Massport has plans for aggressive development of still more business jet facilities over the next few years.

But there are things we can do to make a difference. Here's a Concerned Citizen's To-Do List:

1. Send complaints to the three companies whose jets wreck our sleep more than any others; you can get contact information on their Web sites (www.netjets.com, www.flightoptions.com, www.emc.com).

2. Attend the MEPA hearing on the ESPR on Nov. 7 and let state environmental officials see and hear how the communities feel about Massport's expansionist plans.

3. Check out the Web sites of the citizens' groups that are fighting Hanscom expansion, Save Our Heritage (www.saveourheritage.com) and ShhAir (www.shhair.org); then contact them to find out what else you can do.

Michelle Kahan
Bonair Avenue, Bedford

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