CAA: GA News, "California's Livermore airport fears ban will hurt business"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thursday, November 1, 2001 

Livermore airport fears ban will hurt business 
New FAA regulations require flight-free zones around nuclear facilities,
including Livermore and Sandia/California labs 
By Kiley Russell
THE CONTRA COSTA (CA) TIMES 


LIVERMORE -- Denizens of the Livermore Municipal Airport are fretting
over a week-long ban on flights over and around the nation's nuclear
power plants -- an action that has effectively closed the airport to all
but a few flights a day.

People whose livelihood depends on the airport said they understand the
need for heightened security after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Still, many fear for their businesses if regular flights remain grounded
for long.

"I realize the need for caution, but there's an economic impact that
goes along with this," said Ralph Cloud, a private pilot and member of
the local Airport Advisory Commission.

The ban closes the airspace below 18,000 feet for about 111/2 miles (10
nautical miles) around the Lawrence Livermore and Sandia/California labs
in Livermore. Site 300, a weapons testing area between Livermore and
Tracy, is also protected by the new regulations. 

The ban was announced Tuesday by the Federal Aviation Administration in
response to what Attorney General John Ashcroft said were "credible
threats" of another major terrorist attack. Nationwide, 86 nuclear sites
in 36 states are affected, said Livermore Airport manager Leander Hauri.

The Livermore Airport falls within the restricted area around the
Lawrence Livermore and the Sandia/California labs, which means only
aircraft under air traffic control are allowed to take off and land --
mainly emergency and air taxi flights. 

Since the ban took effect, the 600 daily arrivals and departures
dwindled to just three as of Wednesday afternoon, Hauri said.

"If this goes on past next week or happens over and over again, I'll be
really worried. I don't want any of our flight schools to file for
bankruptcy because they lost so much business," he said. 

The airport generates about $20 million a year in business for the local
area and supports about 500 jobs in and around the airport, Hauri said.
It operates on a $3 million, break-even budget that relies heavily on
fuel sales and rents paid by businesses. While the rents are still
expected to come in this month, the fuel sales have all but dried up. 

The flight schools generate the bulk of the traffic at the airport, with
the aircraft-for-hire air taxis accounting for just 1 percent of the
flights, he said. 

Some flight school managers said they think they can hang on for a week
or so, but predict economic doom if they can't get their students back
up in the air soon. 

"A typical flight school only generates revenue when they fly," said
Jeff Heitzeberg, director of flight operations for Sierra Airlines
Academy of Aeronautics, where Korean Airlines sends its pilots for
training. 

Heitzeberg doubts that the new restrictions will enhance security for
the nation's nuclear labs and power plants and worries that the economic
impact will reverberate throughout the area.

"We can accept certain delays. We've already taken about a 10-day delay
after Sept. 11. But this one, quite frankly, doesn't make any sense," he
said. 

Pilots can't fly out of the Livermore, Byron or Tracy airports, "but if
you're a suicidal terrorist, what's going to stop you from flying from
Stockton or Concord or Sacramento? To draw circle around it and say 'Now
it's safe' is kind of ridiculous," Heitzeberg said.

For some, the FAA regulations are also a symbol of how much things have
changed in the United States since Sept. 11. 

"This is more than an inconvenience. It changes the way we have grown
accustom to living," local pilot Cloud said.

   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA General Aviation Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?conf=DCConfID2

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