Friday, December 10, 1999
By KENNETH LOVETT
Staff Writer
When a plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in
Newark late last month, neighbors of Teterboro Airport said it was just a matter of time
before such an accident would happen in Bergen County.
Two weeks later, their grim prophecy came true when a
plane crashed in Hasbrouck Heights, killing three people.
"The people know it's going to happen, and it will
happen again," said Moonachie Councilman John Schwartz just minutes after Thursday's
crash. "It doesn't do a damn bit of good to talk to the people involved because they
don't care. The only thing they care about is the money the airport brings in."
South Hackensack Mayor Dolly Montenegro also expressed
frustration that residents' complaints seemingly have gone unheard over the years.
About 100,000 people live within a two-mile radius of the
airport.
"We anticipate this happening every day of our
lives," Montenegro said. "We live with this fear."
Schwartz, Montenegro, and scores of others have long
complained that Teterboro Airport was becoming too crowded, causing noise problems and
environmental and safety concerns in surrounding neighborhoods.
Laura Sika, who lives on Woodside Avenue in Hasbrouck
Heights, has noticed an increase in air traffic for at least 18 months. The aircraft seem
to be flying lower, she said, not only into Teterboro, but also into Newark International
Airport.
"You can read the logos on the airplanes, whether
it's Continental or Delta or American," Sika said. "It's terrible."
But Assemblywoman Rose Heck, R-Hasbrouck Heights, said
Thursday night that the big problem with Teterboro Airport is not the increase in usage,
but a change in the types of planes that take off and land at the facility.
The size of the planes has grown dramatically as Teterboro
has become home to more and more corporate jets. And those jets, she said, are sharing the
same airspace as planes using the major airports in New York City and Newark.
"The big fear is that one of those huge corporate
jets one day will come down and that would take us all out," she said.
Teterboro Airport is owned by the Port Authority of New
York and New Jersey. Air traffic is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration.
According to FAA data, there were more than 210,000
operations -- takeoffs plus landings -- from Teterboro in 1998. That was down from about
230,000 in the early 1980s.
Various federal, state, and local officials from the
region earlier this year asked the Port Authority and FAA to close the airport to
late-night flights, limit the size of planes that are allowed to use the facility, and
keep track of air routes and make changes where necessary.
To date, there has been little progress.
In fact, despite denials from the Port Authority two years
ago that it planned to increase corporate jet use at the airport by 20 percent, state
officials earlier this year confirmed they want more corporate jets flying out of
Teterboro.
When the state Department of Transportation took over a
small commuter airport in West Milford in Passaic County this summer, a DOT official
explained the importance of keeping smaller airports open to free space at facilities such
as Teterboro for corporate jets. Otherwise, they said, such jets would have to use the
more congested Newark Airport.
"We would strongly object to that," Heck said of
the idea of bringing more corporate jets to Teterboro. "We cannot put more people in
danger in this heavily populated area. How many more risks are we going to take with this
particular area?"
Staff Writer Adam Geller contributed to this article.
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