Morristown Airport seeks to limit noise
28-Feb-2004
Posted from the Daily Record newsroom
HANOVER -- As the number of flights rises at Morristown Municipal Airport, so do the efforts to muffle the noise generated by the airplanes, jets and helicopters that take off and land there.
Morris County Freeholder Director Margaret Nordstrom said last week that new publications highlight the effort to get helicopter pilots to follow voluntary routes over the area's busiest highways to limit the impact over newly designated noise-sensitive areas.
She said the county's airport advisory committee, formed last year to bring everyone interested in the operation of the airport together, also heard from Teterboro Airport officials about how to address other noise issues.
Two suggested remedies, she said, were to stop jets from using reverse thrust -- a technique of slowing the plane by reversing the jet engines, accompanied by a large roar -- and by seeking a voluntary curfew from operations between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Hanover Mayor Ron Francioli, a member of the advisory committee, a pilot and long active as an elected official on airport issues, said the county cannot impose a mandatory curfew on airport operators because of Federal Aviation Administration rules.
Kerry Ahearn, the airport's operations manager and noise abatement officer, said the new helicopter flight path rules were suggested two years ago, but a new pamphlet is part of an effort to achieve better publicity.
The pamphlet shows suggested flight paths for helicopters over Routes 287, 24, 10 and Columbia Turnpike. Noise-sensitive areas are located east and west of the airport and include parts of Hanover, East Hanover, Florham Park, Madison and Morris Township.
Airplanes and jets that use the airport also have suggested flight paths, but those are less easily changed because of the landing needs of those types of aircraft, she said. It would be unsafe, for example, for a small jet to follow Route 24 to the airport and be forced to make a steep-angled descent with a sharp turn to land.
Ahearn said companies that use the airport and the pilots who fly there have been cooperating with the voluntary rules. At the same time, she said, older, noisier aircraft are being replaced with newer, quieter planes.
Another noise abatement rule in place is a $350 take-off fee charged to Stage 1 aircraft that depart between 11 p.m. and 6:45 a.m. Stage 1 aircraft are older and noisier. Nighttime take-offs and landings, called operations, are less than 1 percent of the airport's total.
Morristown Airport, owned by the Town of Morristown, is operated under 99-year lease by DM Airport Developers Inc. It is home to about 260 aircraft, including jets, helicopters, turboprops and others. It is the second busiest airport in New Jersey, behind only Newark-Liberty International Airport.
In 2002, the airport -- termed a general aviation reliever airport -- had 239,299 operations. It was the 11th busiest small airport in the country that year. It handles all civil aircraft that are not classified as air carrier or military aircraft. Morristown has no scheduled air carrier or freight service. In 1997, the airport had 258,184 operations.
Teterboro Airport, the next busiest reliever airport, had 231,299 operations in 2002.
Helicopter pilots are asked to follow these rules when using Morristown Airport:
- When arriving, when able, fly at 1,000 feet or higher until over the airport.
- When departing, when able, climb to at least 1,000 feet before leaving the airport boundary.
- Pilots flying east or west are asked to avoid densely populated areas by flying over Routes 10, 287 and 24. If pilots must fly along Columbia Turnpike, they are asked to fly the helicopter as high as possible and avoid the area south of the highway, one of the newly designated noise-sensitive areas.
Morristown Mayor John "Jay" Delaney said the airport is an important part of the county's economy and the formation of the airport advisory committee has given all parties a way to discuss issues productively.
An issue that has yet to be resolved is how to deal with helicopters with injured patients heading for Morristown Memorial Hospital, Delaney said. That issue is under discussion.
The problem with medical helicopters, said William List of Madison, is that they often are coming from a direction that cannot, and perhaps should not, be routed along a specific path.
"If I had a loved one on one of those helicopters, I'd want it to take the shortest possible route," he said.
List, one of the region's more vocal airport critics, was appointed last year to the airport advisory committee, a post he said he is pleased to have. He said the committee has proven to be a good place to hash out differences between the parties.
"It has had an impact on the discussions," he said.
While there has been progress on helicopter-related noise, he said, many issues remain, such as jet aircraft operations.
Francioli said the involvement of the county in the airport discussions changed the effort because the county can bring a lot more clout than a loose group of municipalities.
Francioli said the airport issues are "a salami issue. You slice off a little at a time and soon you've sliced the whole salami."
Ending the use of reverse thrust will be a big improvement, he said. Even at his home, two miles from the airport, he said, he can tell when a jet has landed, especially at night.
It is important that airport noise at night be reduced because of the number of young families with children who live nearby. The children need their sleep, he said, and shouldn't be wakened by a jet blast in the middle of the night.
Michael Daigle can be reached at mdaigle@gannett.com or (973) 267-7947.