Aero-News.Net: Flight School in New Hampshire Besieged
Aero-News Network
They have a "judge" in New Hampshire, Superior Court Judge Robert Morrill,
who said the town of Swanzey (NH) has the prerogative of shutting down the
flight school that operates at Dillant-Hopkins (EEN) airport, located in the
town of Swanzey, but owned and operated by the city of Keene (NH).
Bill Petrie owns Green River Aviation, a busy flight school, on the airport.
He has four full-time helicopter instructors, as well as fixed-wing. Aside
from a Cherokee 140, the school owns five Robinson R-22 helicopters, and the
twenty or so students typically fly four of them more or less continuously,
from 8AM to 6PM, except Sundays and holidays. The 'copters log about 100
hours a week. Night pattern practice is, to the extent possible, carried out
at neighboring airports (and generally only two nights a week), where the
neighbors are, well, more neighborly.
Swanzey is taking steps to shut Keene's airport down (whether they claim to
be or not), and is starting by attacking Green River. They are using a
zoning law (not a noise ordinance, which would necessarily include
measurements) against the flight school, citing zoning language that
prohibits the emission from any building of obnoxious odors, gases, or
noises. The fact that the noise is not obnoxious at an airport is not the
point. The fact that the noise is not coming from the building is not the
point. The point is, the small corps of influential Swanzey citizens, and
her three selectmen (who meet once a year) have decided to "get" the flight
school, as what could easily be the first step in closing the airport (and
establishing a test case for other municipalities so inclined to follow
their example). [It would be interesting to find out which relatives of
prominent Swanzey citizens will get rich from the speculation surrounding
selling off and development of the airport land. --ed.]
"We're Still Flying"
The Swanzey zoning board ruled last summer that the helicopters run by Green
River Aviation are just too loud. The zoning board, in effect, voted to
simply close down somebody's business, in an application of brazen power.
Why would a new site report be required for a flight school to operate at an
airport? Swanzey maintains that Green River represented a "new" use of the
building, since helicopter flight training was new. The fact that one could
reasonably expect flight training at an airport did not factor in to their
decision.
Judge Morrill ruled in favor of the zoning board on April 24. Green River
filed two motions on May 5, a motion to stay the judge's decision, and a
motion to reconsider; and the Swanzey selectmen then issued a
case-and-desist order Monday (May 8), which threatened a fine of $275 a day.
When flight school owner Petrie got the order, he reportedly tossed it
across his office manager's desk, and said, "We're still flying." And they
are. The plucky flying school was still flying as of yesterday, under the
motions, which are pending; and they plan on "still flying" forever.
Dillant-Hopkins airport was born in 1943, and has been in continuous
operation ever since. Helicopters fly in and out of there all the time, but
the only helicopters stationed there are the allegedly too-loud Robinson
R-22s operated by Green River.
It's Not Really About Noise
The bad blood between the Keene airport and the town of Swanzey goes back a
generation, when Keene wanted to expand airport operations, and the city's
mayor apparently rubbed the town's selectmen and some key property owners
near the airport the wrong way. Keene (pop 25000) has since replaced its
mayor, but Swanzey (pop 8000) has kept its three selectmen, and act like
they're carrying a grudge. [Until about three years ago, Swanzey wouldn't
even let surveyors walk upon the land that was necessary for the airport
expansion, thwarting the airport's ability to identify and approach property
owners who wanted to sell. --ed] Keene's new mayor, and especially the new
airport manager, Ed Mattern, are trying to make things better, and have,
along with Petrie, even voluntarily changed traffic patterns and corridors,
to try to minimize the noise.
Speaking of noise, we called Frank Robinson himself, and he told us, "The
R-22 is actually one of the quietest helicopters. Maybe he (Petrie) could
take a look at the routes his pilots are using, and the altitudes at which
they're flying. As helicopters go, though, the R-22 is one of the quietest."
Toward the close of our interview, Robinson said something else that makes
sense, too. "Noise is such a psychological thing, anyway."
The FAA has standards for helicopter noise, of course; and the R-22 is so
quiet, it almost makes a mockery of them. At takeoff, flyover, and approach,
the FAA Flight Ops Noise Measurement standard allows 109db, 108, and 110,
respectively. The R-22 is certified at 79.8, 78 (at 500 foot altitude) or
73.5 (at 1000); and 87.5 db (at 10 degrees approach) or 81.4 (normal
approach). Frank Robinson is right, but, since the town doesn't have a noise
ordinance, it successfully argued before this judge that it can simply
declare a noise "obnoxious." [The weak part of that argument, aside from the
telling fact that it is arbitrary, is that it covers only noise coming from
the building. --ed]
[And one, ahem..., might then rightfully argue that the truly obnoxious
noises seem to be coming from a certain municipality.. --EIC]
Citizen Confusion, Official Arbitrariness
A talk with Ed Mattern revealed that there are other things aggravating the
perception of noise at the airport. There is a small but vocal group of
homeowners, and one selectman who live near the airport, and they keep track
of what they say is objectionable noise. Problem is, no one is positive they
can tell the difference between an R-22 and the several other helicopters
that use the field, including Police and Medevac 'copters, and even Jet
Rangers and Blackhawks. These visiting fliers don't have any reason to
comply with Green River's hours and traffic patterns (though they still
comply with FAA regs), and Mattern is of the opinion that at least some of
the complaints are due to mis-identification of these visiting helicopters.
Not that it matters. The Swanzey selectmen meet formally once a year, and
they haven't established any noise standard, so there is nothing Green River
could do to be out of compliance -- or in compliance, for that matter. In
fact, noise isn't even supposed to be part of the "site impact plan" the
town required, before the new business got going. Site impact statements are
concerned with things like traffic, parking, building design, and runoff.
They are not vehicles for discussion of what happens thousands of feet
overhead, and sometimes miles away.
Catch-22 For City
The city of Keene is the landlord to Green River, and is operating the
airport in Swanzey. This poses a problem for the city, and for the airport
manager. The airport cannot very well close down the business of its tenant;
and it may become a defendant in a lawsuit that the town could bring. Right
now, the city of Keene is following the route of common sense and the law,
and supporting its tenant; but, if things look like they might get expensive
in the short run, the city's manager might put pressure on the elected mayor
and the airport manager to change directions, and sell the flight school
out. In the long run, that would spell the end of the airport, because if
the town can simply decree that a noise is "obnoxious," and that it emanates
from a building (even when it emanates from a helicopter outside the
building), then it won't be long before the town will reap the short-sighted
benefits of dismantling the airport, and making some key people
fantastically rich in the process.
Ironic Twist
It is ironic that the town of Swanzey can regulate the operation of the
flight school at all, simply because the school operates in a building on
airport property. (The building is just outside the fence, but on airport
grounds.) If Petrie chose to cut and run, he could move his school another
few hundred feet, and be off the airport grounds; and the selectmen couldn't
regulate his business this way. The helicopters would still be doing the
same things, and they would make the same amount of noise; but the noise
wouldn't be coming "from the building" any more, so the town hecklers of
Swanzey would have to prove violation of a noise regulation -- something
that would be impossible.
Swanzey's Position Looking Stupid and Petty
The people of Swanzey apparently have no idea just how much of a laughing
stock they are becoming across the nation. Many of them don't even know
about the battle of the airport, even as the national aviation press and the
AOPA start to recognize what's going on. It's a safe bet that very few know
what a small group of their prominent citizens are doing, and how petty and
silly they are making the town look. Town leaders who profess not to know
the difference between indoors and outdoors, who enforce noise rules that
they make up themselves, on the fly -- town leaders who are very likely
licking their chops at the prospect of being able to direct the sale and
division of choice property in one of their four little sectors [Swanzey is
composed of four nuclei, rather than being a centralized kind of town; and
only one of those nuclei -- about 2,000 people total -- has a direct
interest in the airport. --ed.] -- these town leaders and behind-the-scenes
manipulators are making their neighbors, their newspaper, and their whole
region look very much like the wrong end of a horse. To answer "why," one
must either follow the money and recognize the greed -- or just assume they
really are stupid and petty, holding grudges that will lead to the
destruction of businesses and dreams. FMI: www.aero-news.net
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