Takeoffs and landings at Hanscom Field during the pandemic year of 2020 were the fewest for any year since the Massachusetts Port Authority began tracking flight operations in the late 1970s.
During a January 19 meeting, Amber Goodspeed, Massport administrative manager for the airport, briefed the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission on the pandemic’s effect on flight operations for the year. The 2020 total of 99,608 flight arrivals and departures was 22.6 percent less than the pre-pandemic count of 128,681 recorded for 2019.
However, Goodspeed also noted December was the first month since the pandemic began when overall operations rose, increasing 3.4 percent over December 2019.
Numbers for the two largest categories of flight operations show single piston-engine aircraft flights rose 22.5 percent and jet traffic fell 15.8 percent during the month of December, as compared to last year.
December 2020/2019 Year Over Year Flight Operations:
- Total daytime flight operations up 3.4 percent, from 8,377 to 8,661;
- Total nighttime flight operations down 39.7 percent, from 184 to 111;
- Local, pattern work and touch-and-go practice flight operations up 18.8 percent, from 2,524 to 2,998;
- Other single-engine piston aircraft flight operations up 29.3 percent, from 1,397 to 1,807;
- Jet flight operations down 15.8 percent, from 2,821 to 2,374;
- Helicopter flight operations down 2.8 percent, from 777 to 755;
- Turbo prop flight operations down 24.2 percent, from 566 to 429;
- Twin-piston engine aircraft flight operations up 5.2 percent, from 269 to 283;
- Military flight operations down from 23 to 15.
Military flights typically average less than 1 percent of yearly flight operations activity at Hanscom Field. The Air Force transferred control of the airport and airfield to Massport for civilian general aviation operations 47 years ago in 1974.
Goodspeed reported December noise complaints about Hanscom-based aircraft increased from the previous year, rising from 157 to 179, coming from 26 different households in Ayer, Bedford, Chelmsford, Concord, Groton, Lexington, Lincoln, Sudbury, and Winchester. To read the full monthly flight operations and noise report, click Massport Flight Operations and Noise Report, 01/19/2021
Goodspeed agreed to try to provide the report data to the Commission on the Friday before meetings, in response to a request from Margaret Coppe, HFAC representative of the South Lexington Civic Association.
The report presents hundreds of data points for flight operations, noise monitor day/night weighted average noise level calculations, noise level modeling of civilian vs military aircraft departure noise, calculations of both flight arrival and departure noise levels by aircraft type, as well as the list of monthly noise disturbance filings.
Goodspeed gave an abbreviated presentation of December flight ops and noise data to allow for the first of a series of planned HFAC discussions devoted to airfield environmental issues. (To follow the Commission’s January exploration of leaded avgas emissions at Hanscom Field and potential impacts on airfield neighborhoods, click https://thebedfordcitizen.org/2021/01/hanscom-field-advisory-commission-investigates-the-trouble-with-leaded-avgas/ )
Commission members will meet with Massport via videoconference on Tuesday, Feb. 16, beginning at 7 pm. A discussion of airfield impacts on wetlands, wildlife, and water resources is planned. The February agenda and Zoom login information will be posted on the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission website hosted by the Town of Lincoln at https://www.lincolntown.org/AgendaCenter/Hanscom-Field-Airport-Commission-58
Citizens may register on the website to receive advance email notice of HFAC meeting agendas.
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