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Web site to list late-night planes
Thursday, June 17, 2004
By HELEN CHERNIKOFF
Staff Writer
EWING - Starting next month, planes that fly into or out of Trenton-Mercer Airport between midnight and 6 a.m. will be exposed on the county's Web site for violating the airport's voluntary curfew, County Executive Brian Hughes said yesterday.
Airport workers will record the violating planes' tail numbers, the airborne equivalent of license plates, upon landing or takeoff in response to requests from neighbors who say early morning flights disturb their sleep, Hughes said. More than 800 planes have violated the curfew since 2001, aviation records show.
"It's certainly a step in the right direction," said Heidi Kahme of PLANE (People Limiting Airport Noise and Expansion). "It certainly will be interesting to see if there are any repeat offenders."
The curfew is unenforceable because it is voluntary. Even though the county owns the airport, it can't fine violators or restrict their access, Hughes said.
"Other than getting a letter from the airport saying you've been a naughty boy, there's not a whole lot of guns in our arsenal to try to make people comply with this curfew," Hughes said.
But public pressure, actual or possible, may persuade chronic violators to curb curfew-hour flights, Kahme said.
"What we can do is try to make sure people respect the curfew by shining some light on who's doing what at the airport, especially between the hours of 12 and 6 a.m.," Hughes said.
The county will post the tail numbers four times a year instead of every day because corporations worry that releasing their travel information would put them at a competitive disadvantage, said Hughes. By plugging the tail number into the Federal Aviation Administration's registry, also on the Web, people can identify the plane's owner. The only airport users allowed to withhold tail numbers are the National Guard or law enforcement agencies, in the event of security concerns, Hughes said.
Whether posting the tail numbers works as a deterrent depends on how sensitive the planes' owners are about their image, Hughes said.
Big-name corporations who stable their jets at the airport might be more careful to look like a good neighbor than "transients" who use the airport to refuel, for example.
"I really can't judge how any individual would feel having their name part of the public record," Hughes said.
The county has to rely on airport users to self-police because of the voluntary nature of the curfew, which was instituted in 1999. To implement a mandatory curfew, the county would have had to conduct an expensive study and even then, the FAA might not have permitted it.
Web site to list late-night planes
Thursday, June 17, 2004
By HELEN CHERNIKOFF
Staff Writer
EWING - Starting next month, planes that fly into or out of Trenton-Mercer Airport between midnight and 6 a.m. will be exposed on the county's Web site for violating the airport's voluntary curfew, County Executive Brian Hughes said yesterday.
Airport workers will record the violating planes' tail numbers, the airborne equivalent of license plates, upon landing or takeoff in response to requests from neighbors who say early morning flights disturb their sleep, Hughes said. More than 800 planes have violated the curfew since 2001, aviation records show.
"It's certainly a step in the right direction," said Heidi Kahme of PLANE (People Limiting Airport Noise and Expansion). "It certainly will be interesting to see if there are any repeat offenders."
The curfew is unenforceable because it is voluntary. Even though the county owns the airport, it can't fine violators or restrict their access, Hughes said.
"Other than getting a letter from the airport saying you've been a naughty boy, there's not a whole lot of guns in our arsenal to try to make people comply with this curfew," Hughes said.
But public pressure, actual or possible, may persuade chronic violators to curb curfew-hour flights, Kahme said.
"What we can do is try to make sure people respect the curfew by shining some light on who's doing what at the airport, especially between the hours of 12 and 6 a.m.," Hughes said.
The county will post the tail numbers four times a year instead of every day because corporations worry that releasing their travel information would put them at a competitive disadvantage, said Hughes. By plugging the tail number into the Federal Aviation Administration's registry, also on the Web, people can identify the plane's owner. The only airport users allowed to withhold tail numbers are the National Guard or law enforcement agencies, in the event of security concerns, Hughes said.
Whether posting the tail numbers works as a deterrent depends on how sensitive the planes' owners are about their image, Hughes said.
Big-name corporations who stable their jets at the airport might be more careful to look like a good neighbor than "transients" who use the airport to refuel, for example.
"I really can't judge how any individual would feel having their name part of the public record," Hughes said.
The county has to rely on airport users to self-police because of the voluntary nature of the curfew, which was instituted in 1999. To implement a mandatory curfew, the county would have had to conduct an expensive study and even then, the FAA might not have permitted it.
