Bedford Crash Provides a Wake-Up Call for Brush-Clearing Rules

DARTMOUTH, Mass. - The head of the state commission that oversees small airports said yesterday that the plane crash that killed three people on Friday night should be a "wake-up call" to give airport managers more power to clear brush and trees near runways without being hampered by environmental regulations.

Extra safety lights along the runway at New Bedford Regional Airport had been turned off for at least four months while officials developed an environmentally acceptable plan to cut down vegetation that partially obstructed them.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating whether insufficient lighting along the runway was a factor in the crash that killed Pennsylvania residents Peter Karoly, his wife, Dr. Lauren Angstadt, and Michael Milot as either Karoly or Milot attempted an instrument landing in the fog and rain at about 7:45 p.m. The airport had received approval from the city Conservation Commission in late January to clear the brush and trees, but work had not begun, and two sets of safety lights remained off Friday night.

Arthur G. Allen, chairman of the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission, said environmental rules are so strict that airport managers all over the state wait months or even years for local or state approval to clear bushes and trees that could be an obstacle to planes landing and taking off. Many of the state's 37 general aviation airports are located near - or even in - wetlands, where state law strictly protects the plants and animals.

"Even if the navigational aid lighting was not a factor - and we do not know yet - we should use this as a wake-up call to understand that we need to put more emphasis on safety in our tug-of-war with the conservation commissions," Allen said.

The New Bedford airport has long been a flashpoint for tensions between airport boosters and environmentalists, dating to the mid-1990s when the city was forced to abandon a major expansion plan because it would have required filling in wetlands. The airport is located in a marsh and is home to a rare species of turtle, and the fertile land fosters rapid growth of bushes, maple trees, and other vegetation, periodically forcing managers to clear vegetation around the runways.

The Federal Aviation Administration last August ordered the airport to deactivate lights along the side of one runway, as well as strobe lights that mark its beginning, because vegetation had grown so tall that it blocked some of the lights, which they feared might confuse pilots attempting to land.

New Bedford officials turned off the lights by early October, according to Mayor Scott W. Lang, and began developing a plan to reduce the height of trees and clear much of the vegetation.

John P. Gurney, longtime chairman of the New Bedford Conservation Commission, said his staff did not delay the brush-clearing plan at the airport.

He said the city did not present its brush-clearing plan until last week, and the commission approved the plan immediately.

"We've never withheld approval for them to do their safety management plans there," said Gurney. "We recognize that a turtle is wonderful to protect, but when human beings are at stake, we always give them the approval they want."

However, Allen, of the Aeronautics Commission, said the city had to go through time-consuming steps long before it came to environmental regulators, including hiring a consultant to devise the plan and coming up with funds to pay for it. Airport officials estimate that the airport's vegetation management program would cost about $300,000.

"It's not just taking a chainsaw and slashing away," said Allen. "You've got to jump through all these hoops that make it two, three, four times more expensive."

Mayor Lang intervened on Jan. 5 after receiving a petition from pilots asking that the additional safety lights be turned on. Lang asked the FAA to allow the lights to remain on until the vegetation could be cleared, but FAA officials declined. "I don't want to say our hands are tied, but we do have regulations that govern this situation," said FAA spokesman Jim Peters.

It remains to be seen whether the reduced runway lighting was a key factor in the crash of the Socata TBM 700 as it approached New Bedford on a flight from Logan International Airport.

FAA officials say the runway had lights running down the center, and visibility, while poor, was still good enough for landings and take-offs.

Floyd Arlen, 54, a pilot for Cape Air Airlines, said he believes the pilot made a mistake.

He said the safety lights being off was really just an inconvenience, "like having a speed limit drop from 60 to 55."

Kevin Carney, 19, who works at NorEast Aviation at the airport and is a licensed pilot, said he would not have attempted to land in Friday night's weather, with cloud cover just 200 feet above the ground.

Still, Peters said the FAA would reconsider Lang's request to turn the runway lights on immediately in the wake of the crash.

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