The Bedford Citizen (https://www.thebedfordcitizen.org/tag/hanscom-field-advisory-commission/)
Hanscom Field Advisory Commission Chair Christopher Eliot asked during the March 16 HFAC meeting if Massport would be willing to test at least one soil sample near the end of each runway and around engine run-up areas to measure lead levels, since those sites are where research at other airports shows highest soil lead concentrations tend to occur.
The Massachusetts Port Authority says it is sympathetic to local residents’ complaints about aircraft noise, and it is trying to schedule a meeting with Federal Aviation Administration officials to prove it.
“We are in the process of organizing a meeting with the FAA … to discuss your noise issues,” Massport spokesman Mike Vatalaro told members of the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission (HFAC) on March 16. “So it’s not like these noise complaints don’t go unheard. You have very friendly Massport advocates here to try to help you out.”
An alliance would be significant, since Massport claims the federal agency alone has the authority to regulate aircraft noise.
At their March 16 meeting, Hanscom Field Advisory Commission members learned that the pandemic is still battering flight activity at Hanscom Field. Overall flight operations are down 28% for the month of February as compared to pre-pandemic February 2020. All categories – daytime flights, nighttime flights, training practice flights, single and twin-piston engine flights, turboprop flights, jet flights, helicopter flights, and military flights – are down compared to last year.
Recently, the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission (HFAC) reviewed airfield impacts on local wetlands, wildlife, and water resources as described in Massport’s most recent 2017 environmental report, during its Feb. 16 meeting.
* Monday, March 15 is the deadline to answer FAA’s call for public comments on its research concerning: aviation noise impacts on the public; efforts to mitigate such noise exposure; and public perception of aviation noise.
The long-running complaint by residents of Ayer and Groton about aviation noise harassment from pilots based at Hanscom Field is starting to head back toward the Federal Aviation Administration, this time with support from the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission.
A member of the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission is investigating the details of a soil lead level testing service offered by the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Margaret Coppe of Lexington said at the panel’s Feb. 16 meeting that the lab “offers a total sorbed metals test that measures total lead and other heavy metals… for $55 per test. They recommend taking 12 samples from the area to be tested at various depths.”
She mentioned that a next step might be to discuss specifics with UMass Amherst on how an initial sampling survey might be carried out: “Is it a whole neighborhood? Would you lay out a quadrant of some sort and take samples so many feet apart?”
The Hanscom Field Advisory Commission learned from Massport at its February 16, 2021 meeting that the pandemic continues to depress air traffic at Hanscom Field, with all categories of flight operations down for January as compared to last year.
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.
The Hanscom Field Advisory Commission (HFAC) on Dec. 15 advised Massport that it would like to see improvements in correlating noise complaints to specific aircraft, as well as more formalized and effective communication with local flight schools about noise complaints.
HFAC and Bedford Select Board member Emily Mitchell asked if and when Massport will be able to provide the breakdown of noise complaints by aircraft type that had been requested during the November meeting. Acknowledging possible software limits, she continued, “Is there any kind of breakdown that would be possible? Even jet versus turbo versus single engine? Or is even that level not currently collected?”
Aircraft operations at Hanscom Field are leveling off after a partial recovery from pandemic-driven declines last spring. However, the November total is still almost 8 percent below the same month in 2019.
Members of the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission reviewed the data with Massport officials at their December 15th virtual meeting.
A Concord resident has asked the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission if it can take steps to have the environmental impact of lead emissions from aircraft fuel investigated, especially with regard to the many children, schools and daycares in close proximity to the airfield. He also mentioned that many people now work at home because of the pandemic.
“I’m just aghast that there is any lead included in any fuel that is allowed at a civilian airport in the center of multiple residential communities,” Michael Gresty said at the Nov. 17 meeting about the aviation gas (avgas) Massport allows its FBO (Fixed Base Operator) tenants to sell at Hanscom Field. Avgas fuels the thousands of piston-engine aircraft flight operations that take place at the airfield each month.
It started with a simple question by a resident during the October 20th virtual Hanscom Field Advisory Commission meeting with Massport: who does Massport share air noise complaints with?
The surprising answer: almost no one.
Local Flight Schools Unaware of Daytime Noise Complaints Received by Massport from Surrounding Communities: HFAC Requests Feedback Loop with Pilots be Closed
The Massport Administrative Manager for Hanscom Field, Amber Goodspeed, explained that aircraft pilots and owners are only informed about noise complaints generated by their aircraft, if their flights take place between 11 pm and 7 am.
The summer’s gradual recovery of general aviation at Hanscom Field from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic slowed in September, with a decline in year over year and month to month numbers for the three largest categories of flight operations: local flight school touch-and-go practice flights, other single-engine piston aircraft flights, and jet arrivals and departures.
Topics discussed during the September Hanscom Field Advisory Commission included questions about the new Massport Air Noise Response System; decoupling the Bedford Airfield Project from Concord’s Ross-Rectrix FBO development; a discussion of student pilot mid-air stall and engine restart/recovery training over populated areas; Open Sky Symposium.
The impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus continues to be evident on the runways and hangars at Hanscom Field.
But there’s an indisputable trend toward recovery.
Amber Goodspeed, Massport airport administrative manager for Hanscom Field, briefed members of the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission on comparative flight operations during a September 15 videoconference.
Aircraft operations at Hanscom Field are creeping closer to pre-pandemic levels, as regional business activity slowly recovers.
The Hanscom Field Advisory Commission, meeting by videoconference Aug. 18, learned that air traffic rose in July, reaching a total of 10,279 daytime arrivals and departures.
Patricia Dahlgren of South Road has been a close neighbor of Hanscom Field for more than 25 years. “We know our airport. We know the rhythms. It’s part of our daily life rhythm,” she told members of the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission (HFAC) at its virtual meeting on August 19.
But the recent repeated figure-eight flights for an hour-and-a-half over South Road, Concord Road, and the center of town on Sunday, August 16 was cacophonous.
When the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission (HFAC) met via Zoom on July 21, after a five-month hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, everyone noticed something was missing from the skies near Bedford in April, May, and June: Lots and lots of aircraft.
The Hanscom Field Advisory Commission (HFAC) met February 18 to discuss airfield matters of concern, hear Massport updates on monthly flight operations, and review the air noise report.
Topics of special note included HFAC’s farewell to Mike Rosenberg, longtime member and former Chair of the Commission; discussion of repetitive prop plane flights over Bedford’s South Road neighborhood; large jets flying at low altitude over Bedford’s Meadowbrook neighborhood; HFAC’s letter to MassDOT Aeronautics Division regarding agency jurisdiction for local flight school activities over the Ayer and Groton; and Massport’s plan to move ahead on its new T-hangar complex to be built off Hartwell Road in Bedford.