Airport neighbors in Chatham, Massachusetts, are filing a town meeting petition to restrict the Chatham Municipal Airport to only Design Group I models (less than 49-foot wingspan). Because the measure received the requisite number of signatures, there will be a vote on May 10. But the town’s attorney along with the airport commission attorney warn that, even if passed, the measure would not survive state and federal agencies’ regulatory authority. The Cape Cod Chronicle reported that the current measure is essentially the same as one filed in 2022, which was voted down by citizens two to one.
Rules regarding limiting access of larger aircraft to airports are based on operational capability of the facility. The Chatham Airport runway, which supports an RNAV (GPS)B approach with 600-foot minimums, is 3,001 feet long by 100 feet wide. The specified takeoff and landing distances of a Pilatus PC12 (Design Group II at 53 feet of wingspan) are 2,485 feet and 2,170 feet, respectively, at maximum takeoff weight (MTOW). Runway performance is significantly more robust at lower loads.
According to the Chronicle, FlightAware recorded between 575 and 638 annual operations of Group II aircraft at Chatham over the past four years. Petition sponsor Jerry Stahl of West Chatham said, “Chatham Airport was not designed for these aircraft, the bigger ones, and this is a serious safety issue. FAA design standards for the big planes are very different than for the little ones.”
Town Counsel Jason Talerman said the Massachusetts Attorney General “has been clear in determining that local regulation of commercial airport operation is preempted [by the state aeronautics agency and the FAA].” Chatham Airport commission chair Huntley Harrison said the commission is sensitive to the safety issue, but added, “It is the FAA grant assurances, imposed as conditions for the acceptance of federal funds, that provide the basis for FAA regulation of the airport and thousands of other airports across the United States.” According to the Chronicle report, Chatham “has accepted millions of dollars in FAA grants for the airport over the years subject to the grant assurances.”
