New aircraft take-off plan will reduce noise
Madison Eagle, Thursday, August 10, 2000

EDITOR:

            I wish to bring to your attention a potentially significant development in the effort to reduce aircraft noise in the communities including and surrounding Madison and Florham Park.

D.M. Airport Developers, the operator of Morristown Municipal Airport, has submitted a written request to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), seeking a revision to the path of aircraft departing from their runway 23.  The FAA Traffic Manager at the Morristown Airport has forwarded their request to the Procedures and Airspace Group at NYTRACON, the FAA office in charge of all New York area airspace, for further consideration.

            The current departure pattern has been determined by  the local citizen's group QUieter Environment through Sound Thinking (QUEST) to be the source of much of the aircraft noise the area experiences from the Morristown Airport.  The proposed revision to the departure path seeks to route aircraft over predominantly non-residential areas.  Specifically, these departing aircraft would traverse the corridor that is west of Danforth Road and east of Shadylawn Drive, proceeding  over Dodge Drive in the Giralda Farms office complex to the Great Swamp area before turning.

            The citizen members of QUEST helped devise this proposal, and have been urging such an action as a result of two years of studying the causes and impact of aviation noise on our communities.  Donald Bowen, a member of the QUEST Executive Committee, favors the proposal as a "win-win" approach, which all residents should champion.  "Effectively nobody is expected to be worse off, and many residents may anticipate noticeable reductions in noise," he said, adding, "While it is by no means a panacea, it represents a good and feasible improvement."

            Even though we believe this is a first step in a lengthy process, we are hopeful that the FAA will accept and implement this step and include it in their ongoing airspace redesign.

            For our part, the QUEST efforts to implement the change were facilitated by the aid and guidance of Mayor John “Jack” Dunne, our two Borough Council liaisons, Ellwood “Woody” Kerkeslager and Eleanor “Peachie” Attonito, and the encouragement of Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen.  The catalyst for change, however, was the enthusiasm of the many residents of Madison, Florham Park, and their adjoining communities, whose support of the noise grids we developed resulted in the collection of more than 5,000 specific aircraft noise complaints.  This body of complaints validated the problems QUEST addressed, and helped to identify the specific changes needed.  The problem simply became too big to ignore.

            The Morristown Airport has entered a growth phase, involving growth of its Fixed Base Operation (FBO), facility, in essence a gas station, and the overflow air traffic which will result from renovations hampering traffic at Teterboro Airport.  These developments  may increase traffic by  'transient' aircraft.  By our reckoning, the lion's share of noise complaints are generated by these aircraft, which are not based at the Morristown Airport but are basically just passing through, and hence have little consideration for the surrounding communities.  QUEST intends to continue  to identify and quantify the levels and sources of aircraft noise in our community, and, with the ongoing support of our neighbors and elected officials, continue to seek acceptable and effective change.

KENNETH SULLIVAN
Rose Avenue
Madison