"Airport noise persists despite curfew"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Monday, May 10, 2004

Airport noise persists despite curfew
Monday, May 10, 2004
By KAREN AYRES 
The Trenton (NJ) Times


EWING - Tom Ryan is used to jets thundering over his home at 3 a.m. into
and out of Trenton-Mercer Airport, but it still wakes him from a sound
sleep. 

"Some nights it's three or four times," said Ryan, who lives about a
mile from the airport. "The best thing to do is roll over and go back to
sleep again, but they're going all night long. It's a nuisance." 

Ryan acknowledges the planes don't wake him every night, but he says the
late-night noise is a frequent problem. 

It turns out the Ewing resident is right. 

More than 800 planes - mostly private and corporate jets - have violated
the voluntary curfew at the airport since 2001, aviation records show,
but county officials contend there isn't much they can do about it
because cooperating with the curfew is optional. 

"We recognize there are folks out there who are impacted by airport
noise, and we're trying to do everything we can to mitigate that," said
Aaron Watson, director of the county's Department of Transportation. 

"But airports can't just arbitrarily tell people when they can come and
go." 

The county, which owns the airport, instituted a voluntary curfew
between midnight and 6 a.m. in 1999 in hopes it would reduce loud
night-time flights, but federal law prevented the county from making the
curfew mandatory. 

So there are no fines or sanctions imposed on the violators. 

And in Ryan's mind, there is no reason for the aircraft owners to
cooperate. 

"If there aren't any teeth in it, I can guarantee no one is going to
observe it," Ryan said. "It's like having a voluntary speed limit."-- --
-- Some 839 planes have violated the voluntary guidelines since 2001,
airport records show. In 2002, which marked the highest number of
violations, 375 planes - an average of more than one a day - were cited
for breaking the rule. 

For the most part, Watson said, there are very few repeat violators.
Records show a mix of corporate and private planes as well as aircraft
owned by the National Guard and state police were the offenders
identified so far this year. No commercial planes were cited. 

Watson contends he understands why some people think the curfew is
ineffective, but he said that doesn't stop the county from doing all it
can to try to curb the problem of loud night-time flying. 

The county sends a letter about the curfew to every violator and meets
with corporate and private fliers based at Trenton-Mercer to inform them
about the curfew. 

"Absolutely, it has helped reduce the numbers," Watson said. "The
letters are doing some good. There are always things we can do." 

But why can't the curfew be mandatory? 

Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said
the only way the county can impose a mandatory curfew is if it completes
a lengthy FAA-approved study on the problem. 

The review ultimately must be approved by the FAA. The chances are slim.


"It's pretty hard to get curfews," Peters said. "They would have to go
through the FAA process first before they could consider doing it.
Municipalities have tried to impose one without going through the
process and they have been overturned in court." 

Watson isn't likely to pursue such a study, he said, because it is
extremely expensive and there is very little chance for success. 

"All the information we have available to us tells us that none of (the
studies) have been successful," he said. "Because we don't have any
evidence of it actually working, it seems pretty futile to throw good
money at it." 

Watson contends the FAA restricts curfews in the interest of fostering
commerce. Many facilities with active mandatory curfews were
"grandfathered" before the FAA imposed the ban more than a decade ago,
he said.-- -- -- Heidi Kahme of PLANE (People Limiting Airport Noise and
Expansion), a group opposed to airport renovation plans, said it's time
for the airport tenants to sit down and talk with community members
about the night-time flights. 

"In one respect, I'm happy they're being proactive and they are
generating these letters," Kahme said. "But if, in fact, the violations
are still happening, it's obviously not working." 

Kahme also wants the county to study the flight patterns around the
airport to determine if there is a way to limit flying over people's
homes. 

"I think there is a way that it could be minimized," Kahme said. "If
there isn't, at least we could say we tried it." 

But, again, Watson contends that study would be extremely expensive and
unlikely to produce anything new. 

"One of the things it will tell us is where the planes are coming from,"
he said. "Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that they still have
to come through our main airstrip. We really don't see how that would be
helpful." 

Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes contends the proposed plan to
renovate Trenton-Mercer, which is now being reviewed by the FAA, will
not increase the night-time noise. 

"I don't think having additional commercial air at the airport would
increase that amount," Hughes said. "Having a wider range or having a
much greater number of corporate planes may increase the number over
time." 

But Hughes said he is hopeful the county can reduce the number of late
flights. 

"Obviously we want to see that number continue to go down rather than
fluctuate as it has," Hughes said. "We obviously have our work cut out
for us. It's a critical issue." 

Freeholder Chairwoman Elizabeth Muoio said she wants the county to
monitor FAA studies on mandatory curfews around other airports to see if
it works elsewhere in the country. 

"We shouldn't give up on it," she said. "To the extent we have any
ability to control it, I think we have to do what we can." 

Meanwhile, Ryan will likely continue to be awakened by roaring jets. 

"If things get any bigger or it gets worse," he said, "I'll just move."


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