'Milestones' Reached In Airport Deactivation Plans: Town

East Hampton NY

23 March, 2022

5:20 PM

Description

EAST HAMPTON, NY — The East Hampton town board updated the public Wednesday on efforts to deactivate the town's airport and replace it with a private-use facility — stating that several "milestones" had been reached. The new airport will operate under a "prior permission required" framework, to allow the town flexibility and local control in addressing issues such as noise, traffic, safety, and environmental concerns, officials said. The East Hampton Town Board said it has continued to work with consulting attorneys and with the Federal Aviation Administration to complete legally mandated steps toward the deactivation of East Hampton Airport. Progress has been made, the town said. The FAA has completed its "airport airspace analysis" of East Hampton Town's request to deactivate the East Hampton Airport on May 17, and on Wednesday issued a finding of "no objection" to the plan. Also on Wednesday, the town confirmed to the FAA its intention to proceed with theairport deactivation at 11:59 p.m. on May 17. In addition, the town said, the FAA has also completed its airspace analysis for activation of the new, private-use airport on May 19, to be called East Hampton Town Airport (JPX) , and issued afinding of "no objection." Not everyone agreed with the plans: According to Loren Riegelhaupt, spokesman for the Eastern Region Helicopter Council: "Once again, the Town of East Hampton has misinterpreted the actual guidance from the FAA. What's more, the latest letter from the FAA does nothing to resolve a number of outstanding questions about how — or even if — the Town of East Hampton can reopen the airport once they close it. We strongly urge the FAA to enforce the statutory requirements and work with state and local officials to state clearly if this plan of a private use airport is even feasible or legal." The town on Wednesday confirmed to the FAA its intention to activate the new airport at 9 a.m.on May 19. In addition to completing those steps with the FAA, East Hampton Town has hired anFAA-approved third-party consultant, Flight Tech Engineering, to design and implementprivate instrument flight procedures, called "special procedures" by the FAA. Onceokayed by the FAA, those procedures would be used for instrument landings at the newEast Hampton Town Airport, the town said. The consultant is finalizing an application package to submit for approval to the FAA on or before March 25. Based on discussions with the FAA, the town said it expects the special procedures to beavailable upon the opening of the new airport on May 19, providing the new airport withthe same safety and operational capabilities as the public-use East Hampton Airport thatis currently operating. The special procedures will be very similar to the currently used "Z" procedures, except that circling will be removed. The exact details will be determined by the FAA, the town said. Pursuant to federal law, the special procedures will not be publicly available, and aircraftoperators who wish to use them will have to obtain authorization from the FAA to utilize them, the town said. Town officials also said they will put out a call within the next week to all interested aircraft operators to submit an application to use the special procedures. All interested operators will beprovided with the application package, and the town will not be charging operators forthe right to use the special procedures, officials said. The town will assist operators to submit a request for authorization to the FAA if the entire application package is received by the airportmanager on or before April 8. The FAA, and not the town, will determine who can use the special procedures, based onwhether the operator is qualified, and whether they have town permission, officials said. Additional information will be provided in the application package. Questions may be directed to the airport manager, Jim Brundige, at 631-537-1130 ext. 5, or [email protected]. On Jan. 20, the town board voted to deactivate the airport and activate the new, private-use airport at the same site; the process was originally projected to take place within a week, closing on Feb. 28 and reopening on March 4. Soon after, the Federal Aviation Administration said that the process could actually take up to two years. In February, there were three lawsuits filed to stop the closure of the airport, according to Newsday. The town then sent out a release stating, as it has in the past, that the intent is to implement a "balanced prior permission required framework" at the airport. "The town and FAA continue to work cooperatively to complete the deactivation and activation process in a timely and efficient manner, with the shared goal of the town opening a safe private-use airport in the manner that is least disruptive to aviation," the town said. East Hampton officials also said that the town has met on several instances with the FAA to discuss logistics of the deactivation and activation process. "Over the past few weeks, the FAA and the town have addressed several issues raised by the town's desire to retain an airport with enhanced local control, including town ownership of all navigational aids in use at the East Hampton Airport; town control of all communication aids in use at the East Hampton Airport; utilization of a private air traffic control tower at the private-use airport; and a process to facilitate air-to-ground communications at the new private-use airport," town officials said. The FAA said it expected to have all of its internal processes completed for opening of the new private-use airport, except for introduction of instrument flight procedures, no later than May 19, town officials said. Once its aeronautical study is completed, the FAA told the town that it anticipates that the air navigation facilities currently available at the East Hampton Airport will be available upon activation, with the caveat that instrument flight procedures may not be immediately available, the town said. Specifically, all weather, navigation, and communication aids should be operable and available; the private air traffic control tower will be in place consistent with how and when it has operated in the past; new agreements with terminal radar approach control facilities, or TRACON, will be entered into; the town will obtain its own ground communication outlet for real-time communication with air traffic controllers; and the new airport will be available for safe use by operators, the town said. "The town continues to work with the FAA to make this a reality," East Hampton Town said in a release. According to East Hampton Town, the FAA also requested that the town coincide opening of the new private-use airport with FAA charting cycles. The FAA issues new navigational charts on 28- and 56-day schedules. According to the FAA, the first charting cycle date to occur after the FAA will have all of its internal processes completed for activation of the new private-use airport is May 19.