Story ID: 060May17
FAA: Bizjets Can Safely Operate at LNA
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: Finding could overturn a long-standing ban on jets at the airport.
Word Count: 605
The FAA has deemed that business jets can operate safely at Palm Beach County Park Airport (LNA) in Lantana, Fla., but whether that determination will lead to an overturn of the long-standing ban jet ban at LNA remains to be seen.

Issued on March 17, the determination stemmed from an informal Part 13 complaint filed in response to the long-standing ban on jet operations at LNA. Former Eastern Airlines pilot Errol Forman filed a complaint after receiving warnings for landing his Citation I/SP at LNA. Forman argued that the ban violated airport grant assurance agreements and was discriminatory.

Palm Beach County officials have argued that the ban, put in place in 1973, was grandfathered under the Airport Noise and Capacity Act (Anca) of 1990.

In December, the FAA’s Southern Region Airports Division disagreed, however, saying the ban isn’t necessarily grandfathered, since Palm Beach County had altered its regulations and implemented new agreements involving the jet ban after Anca was adopted. “This restriction is not subject to the grandfathering provision of Anca and is being used to deny access to the airport in a manner that is not consistent with paragraph (a) of Grant Assurance 22,” the agency stated. But the agency also noted that the ban might be permitted if it proved necessary for safety purposes, and agreed to conduct a study on the possibility for such operations.

In a March 17 letter, the agency revealed findings of that safety study, concluding “that permitting jet aircraft operations on Runway 9-27 will not affect safety or efficiency at LNA or surrounding airports.” But the county could continue to restrict jet operations from 3-21 and 15-33 in compliance with its grant assurance agreements, the FAA added. Runway 9-27 is the longest of the three runways at 3,489 feet, suitable for the CJ’s 3,080-foot takeoff distance.

The letter further stipulates that the agency's “conclusions do not obligate the county to alter its existing plans for LNA; the length of Runway 9-27, its design features, weather conditions and federal regulations for aircraft operations may continue to reasonably restrict the type, kind and class of jet aircraft that may take off and land.”

This language, said Alan Armstrong, an attorney representing Forman in the case, appears to provide the county the leeway to continue restrictions on aircraft that cannot safely use the runway.

The FAA requested that the county “update information regarding its restriction on jet operations at LNA…within 60 days.”

In response to the agency, though, Peter Kirsch, who represents the county in this case, told the FAA that “because the [March and December] letters resolve an informal complaint under 14 CFR Part 13, neither letter constitutes a formal or final agency order by the FAA and therefore, neither is a formal directive from the agency to Palm Beach County with regard to enforcement of the operational restriction.”

The county further had not yet received analysis supporting the agency determination, he said. “We do not understand how the agency expects Palm Beach County to practically follow your recommendation to enforce the restriction on only two of the three runways without real-time access to air traffic records on runway usage.”

The county will discuss the matter further, he said, but added, “We will assume that your letters are an informal recommendation.”

Forman, meanwhile, is waiting for the county response before deciding on whether to pursue the matter further, said attorney Armstrong. But Forman expects that further legal action may be necessary to overturn the ban, Armstrong added.

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