CAA: GA News, "FAA worries keep Rochester, New York airport grounded"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Saturday, November 3, 2001

FAA worries keep Williamson-Sodus Airport grounded
BY WILL YURMAN
The Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle 


With mild weather lingering, Amy Scutt has a chance to pursue her dream
without turbulence: a pilot's license. 

But for a few days at least, she's grounded. The small airport Scutt
uses has been snared in the federal anti-terror net. 

The Williamson-Sodus Airport, the only active paved airstrip in Wayne
County, is one of 400 small airports nationwide where planes are
grounded. That's because the Federal Aviation Administration, citing
short-term terrorist threats, has established 10-mile no-fly zones
around nuclear facilities. Planes are also forbidden to fly below 18,000
feet near such places. 

The temporary rules went into effect Tuesday and will apply until at
least Wednesday. 

Not affected are flights by law enforcement, fire, rescue or evacuation
personnel. 

"I'm not aware of anything like this ever being done before," said
Kathleen Bergen, an FAA spokeswoman in Atlanta. 

Statewide, five nuclear plants are protected by the new air traffic ban:
two near New York City and three within a two-hour drive of Rochester. 

The Williamson airport, with its single runway and 30 hangars, is 8.5
miles from the Robert E. Ginna Nuclear Power Station in Ontario, Wayne
County, 20 miles northeast of Rochester. 

"A temporary stop we can handle," said Scutt, a student pilot who is
also secretary of the Williamson Flying Club, which owns the airport.
"But if it's extended, that's bad." 

If the restrictions are indefinite, she said, the board would petition
the FAA for a variance. 

Shrinking the no-fly zone by just two miles would make flying in and out
of Williamson legal again. Or allowing take-offs and landing from the
east and the south only -- away from Ginna -- would work, too. 

"As it is, we're losing," said Lance Merritt, president of the flying
club, which has 250 member-owners. 

Revenues at the airport, he said, depend on fuel sales, fees from
students and rental of the club's five aircraft. 

On a busy weekend when the weather is good, 30 or more aircraft might
take off and land at the Williamson airport. 

If the latest restrictions are extended, "there won't be any business,"
said airplane mechanic Abraham "Jake" DeGroote, a 55-year member of the
club and owner of Williamson Aeronautical Service, which operates at the
airport. 

He was finishing work on one plane yesterday and has no others on his
schedule. 

Airspace restrictions are also in place over Boston, New York City and
Washington, D.C. Pilots are also forbidden to fly within three miles of
any open-air major professional or collegiate sporting event.

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