Hilton Head Airport Officials Address Indigo Run Worries

January 13, 2004

Airport Officials Address Indigo Run Worries 
Carolina Morning News, SC

Upset Indigo Run residents can cool their jets,
aviation officials said in so many words Monday, and
rest assured their concerns about Hilton Head Airport
flight patterns are being addressed.

The assessment by Beaufort County Aviation Advisory
Board leaders came after members of the Indigo Run
Aviation Committee - a panel representing the
north-island development's homeowners association -
blasted the group in a news conference Monday.

Committee member at the Indigo Hall clubhouse event
complained that far too many pilots make low
approaches to the Hilton Head Airport over Indigo Run,
causing noise and safety issues.

A prepared statement read by Steven Bauer, the
committee secretary, said residents are concerned that
the opening of an air traffic control tower at the
airport "will set into concrete the present
unacceptable flight patterns used by the airport."

Harvey Ewing, aviation board chairman and former
Hilton Head mayor, said Monday that he did not expect
a new flight path to be drawn over Indigo Run.

Instead, Ewing expects that the new plan would steer
pilots away from Indigo Run, "I think, to some degree
because of (the Indigo Run group's) efforts to sit
down with us to start with," he said.

"You don't have to holler all the time to get your
point across," Ewing said. "There isn't a person on
that board that is not fully aware of their feelings
and really dedicated to making sure that their problem
is alleviated.

"And we're talking about other areas where people
haven't even said anything to us about what is going
on. We're trying to work with the (Federal Aviation
Administration) and set patterns that will minimize
any of that," Ewing said.

The control tower is nearing completion and is
expected to open in March, Ewing said. Contracted air
traffic controllers will direct takeoffs and landings,
replacing a system that relies on pilots communicating
over a shared radio frequency.

Werner Schagunn, the Indigo Run committee chairman,
said members decided to make their worries public
because they were not getting answers to their
questions about ongoing work to change flight pattern
regulations when the tower opens.

Members also are seeking a public hearing on the draft
plans and are worried noise abatement and flight path
plans would be put in place without a hearing. They
cited aviation board minutes recording a Dec. 11 board
vote not to have community meetings until after the
tower is up and running.

Ewing, a former private pilot, said he expected a
public meeting on the new system would occur before it
starts. The Indigo Run group, he added, "have had
their input."

Indigo Run committee members said that Thursday they
filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the
FAA seeking flight path planning information. They
said they had a productive information meeting with
aviation officials Nov. 5 but have since been
disappointed. Committee member Tom Kendall and Indigo
Run General Manager Terry Leary also attended the news
conference.

John Sideris, FAA air traffic manager at the
Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport, said
Monday that new flight paths and noise abatement
overlay areas are being developed to take effect when
the control tower begins operations. He said that the
last he heard, Indigo Run was being designated a noise
sensitive area that pilots would be asked to avoid.

A map of a draft plan marks the Indigo Run and the
Port Royal and Hilton Head Plantation areas as "noise
sensitive" areas to be avoided by pilots, said
aviation board member John Curry. He added that a
primary reason for getting a control tower is to avoid
airplane noise over Indigo Run and other residential
areas, like Palmetto Hall, built since the existing
noise abatement guidelines were set in 1986.

Sideris said establishment of air traffic control
operations on Hilton Head would allow much more
structured flight patterns. He attended the Nov. 5
meeting with Indigo Run committee members, along with
Tom Olsen, Hilton Head airport director, and Ewing.

"Everything will be taken into consideration,
(including) the community's concerns, but everything
is going to be developed based upon requirements for
safety of flight," Sideris said.

"We're not going to be establishing patterns for
aircraft to be flying low approaches over peoples'
houses," he said.

Reporter Frank Morris can be reached at 785-7470 or
fmorris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 
 
 
      
    





   
      
  

 
 


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