Special Notice to New Hampshire Airmen

Hello, my name is Carsten Schanche. I am the President of Aviation Assoc. of New Hampshire.

I am writing all New Hampshire Airmen due to a unique and serious situation facing aviation in our great state.

The New Hampshire Department of Transportation – Division of Aeronautics led by Director Jack Ferns has done a study of our ten privately owned/public use airports and found that five of them are planning to sell the properties within the next 2 years! (In addition, a sixth airport is in desperate need of maintenance of its runway, an expense which is outside the ability of the owner to afford.)

This means that a vital part of the New Hampshire infrastructure, five of our very precious airports, could be sold to developers and will be lost forever. Oncehouses are built, we know the properties will never ever be returned to aviation use.

The study has been turned into a report and submitted to the State of New Hampshire’s Governor and Executive Council. The report is very constructive and well written, and outlines suggested actions to be taken by our state’s leaders to preserve these endangered airports. However, it is uncertain if these leaders, who are under political pressure from competing interests, will be acting in the interest of a silent aviation.

Aviation Association of New Hampshire (AANH) was founded in 1954 to, amongst others, work to protect and preserve aviation in our wonderful state. AANH is uniquely positioned to do this, with a

legislated position on the state’s Aviation Users Advisory Board. This board advises Jack Ferns, the Director of Aeronautics, Rail and Transit, on matters important to aviation. Jack is a long-time member of AANH as was his father before him. He is a big friend of general aviation, but we can not demand that he talk aviations case alone. The political powers must be made to understand that there are many, many NH Airmen that are not going to quietly accept that half of our privately owned, public use airports could disappear from the state’s infrastructure.

AANH sees that an unprecedented situation is facing aviation in our great state. As such we are planning to act and lobby hard to protect your freedom of flight. But to do that we need your help. The more members we have, the stronger we speak. We are therefore hoping that you will support AANH by becoming a member, a small effort on your part. Your membership will greatly assist our work to preserve New Hampshire’s endangered airports for those who use the airport system in NH, or are dependent on a healthy aviation climate in our state due to your profession as aviation mechanics, control tower operators or aviation business people.

As AANH starts to act on your behalf on this, we will communicate our progress directly with our members through mailings, our quarterly membership newsletter, our membership website, or, as needed, through telephone and membership meetings.

Let me finish by saying this: A couple of times in one’s life a situation comes along where there is a clear choice between the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do. The wrong thing is to just sit back, ignore the situation and hope it goes away, because it won’t. The right thing to do is to help preserve our endangered airports. To that end, I am asking you to help us fight this battle in a very simple way. Please become an AANH member so that we may speak more loudly by representing as many Airmen in NH as possible.

Sincerely yours,

Carsten H. Schanche

President, AANH

To become a member and help us preserve our airports, you may download a printable membership form [ here ], or join immediately online [ here ]

This is a partial copy of the report. To view the complete report you must be an AANH member. Join via the links above.

The Preservation of Privately-Owned Airports

Report

Prepared for

State of New Hampshire

Governor and Executive Council

The Long Range Capital Planning and Utilization Committee

Prepared by

Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics

in conjunction with the

Aviation Users Advisory Board

and the assistance of

Local Municipalities

Executive Summary

The New Hampshire Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics is tasked by state statute to provide the citizens of New Hampshire with an air transportation system that is safe, efficient and socially responsible. The Division interacts with the state’s airports in a number of ways including airport funding, registration, regulatory-enforcement of laws, operation of navigational aids, as a technical resource, as well as the promotion of airports. Collectively tying all of these services together, the Division’s main mission is to “Preserve” the airports already existing within the State Airport System.

By 2006 it is entirely possible that New Hampshire will lose one-half of its privately owned, open to the public airports. Privately owned-open to the public airports are a critical part of any states airport system, especially states like New Hampshire where tremendous efforts are made to avoid over-burdening public treasuries. These airports are among the most efficient public use facilities. For the most part, they do not depend on the public funding for their support; yet they provide a necessary public benefit: capacity for, and entry into the National Air Transportation System. Loss of these airports means several thousand aircraft operations will stress capacity at remaining airports. Ironically, the net effect of this outcome is that further public investment is mandated to meet increased demand on publicly funded facilities. The requirements of RSA 422:19 tasked the Division of Aeronautics and Aviation Users Advisory Board (AUAB) with the evaluation of privately owned, open to the public airports in New Hampshire.

Privately owned, open to the public airports are experiencing increased pressures from local development, environmental legislation, limited funding, and increases in land value assessment. Coupled with these are the high operational, maintenance, and insurance costs associated with operating airports. In preparation of this report to the state legislature, five out of ten airport owners advised that they are likely to cease operations in 2005/2006 under these current conditions. One additional airport that has not expressed an interest in closing is in need of maintenance on its runway system. The expense of this project is outside of the ability of the owner to afford. Likewise the Division of Aeronautics is unable to fund such an expensive project without subsequently failing to fund the other development needs on the remaining airports.

The preservation of airports is critical not only to the regional and National Airway System but to the communities in, and near which the airport is located. As is the case with any transportation center, its practical benefits typically span beyond manufactured political boundaries. Chief among these benefits is access in time of emergency or public distress. Well maintained airports are capable of providing rapid access to government emergency relief, medical, and law enforcement personnel on a large scale. Secondary benefits include access for local business services, high value tourism, and local recreation. A tertiary benefit is creation and maintenance of open space, and preservation of natural environments.

Priority of Airports

In order to deliver a practical and useful document to the Governor and Executive Council, and Long Range Capital Planning and Utilization Committee a determination has been made by the Division of Aeronautics and the AUAB on the priority of these airports. Elements such as the proximity of other airports, levels of activity/based aircraft, economic benefits, services and/or FBOs, and the needed financial investment to bring the airports up to current standards have been factored into this consideration. These priorities are only valid based on the existing system of airports, should any evaluative element change, it would be the task of the Division of Aeronautics and AUAB to vet the system and determine a new priority.

The Long Range Capital Planning and Utilization Committee should protect the existing system, by preserving the following airports based on three priority tiers:

First Tier Airports	Second Tier Airports	Third Tier Airports
Hampton Airfield, North Hampton; NH	Lakes-Region Airport; Wolfeboro, NH[1]	Gifford Field; Colebrook, NH
Jaffrey-Airport Silver Ranch; Jaffrey, NH[2]	Newfound Valley Airport; Bristol, NH	Errol Airport; Errol, NH
	Hawthorne-Feather Airport; Deering, NH	Twin Mountain Airport; Carroll, NH
	Moultonborough Airport; Moultonborough, NH	Franconia Airport; Franconia, NH

Note: Airports in Bold are airports that have expressed they may sell in the next two years

Recommendations for Preservation of Private Airports

Legal/Risk Management Forum: The Division of Aeronautics and the AUAB should arrange a legal/risk forum to provide counseling to open to the public privately owned airports to discuss legal options that will protect long-term existence of airports. This forum could also discuss insurance issues so that airports are properly insured for disaster, liability, and other risk related issues.

Airport Operating Leases: The state of New Hampshire should pursue and encourage airport owners to consider long-term management agreements for their facility if they no longer are able, or desire to operate the facility.

Increase Grant Funding: The State of New Hampshire should increase funding for various airport grant programs. Specifically, the Tax Re-imbursement program should be increased from $10,000 to $15,000 per annum. The 50-50 funding program should be refined and funding increased to the 1986 level of $100,000 per year.

New State managed process for permitting of airport development: Airport development should be removed from local permitting processes and put under the jurisdiction of a state permitting process. This process could be administratively handled through the Division of Aeronautics, and the Office of Energy and Planning.

Current use provisions: Criteria should be formulated to permit certain unpaved airports the latitude to take advantage of current use provisions. This has been attempted legislatively in the past but failed. The tax reimbursement program was instituted in part as an alternative to this provision.

Conclusion

The enactment of RSA 422:19, will do well to streamline the acquisition of private airports critical to the New Hampshire State Airport System. Meanwhile carefully vetting the need to acquire airports if they become available. This study produced in more detail in the following chapter, will give clear direction on the issues facing public use, privately owned airports, and determine the best manner in which the state can assist in the long term preservation of these extremely efficient facilities. Barring renewed interest from the state, in the form of these or similar recommendations, private open to the public airports in New Hampshire will likely cease to exist. This will put a tremendous burden on the state to replace, or provide its citizens adequate access to the National Air Transportation System.

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[1] Lake Region Airport has not registered in 2004, and may close in 2005, however it was included in this study because airports from time to time may fail to register for one year, and renew their registration in the following year.

[2] Jaffrey Airport – Silver Ranch has significant maintenance issues that must be addressed ASAP, or the state will no longer be able to support its status as an open to the public airport.

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