The Town of East Hampton has prohibited Analar Corporation, a New Jersey-based charter helicopter provider and management service for aircraft owners, from using East Hampton Airport for 90 days, citing multiple “unsafe and reckless” operations.
A Sept. 24 statement issued by the town said that a helicopter operated by Analar flew approximately 100 feet over the airport’s terminal building on Aug. 28. Jim Brundige, the airport’s manager, notified Analar that that was in violation of the town’s airport code and would not be tolerated.
Analar, according to the statement, acknowledged that its pilot had conducted reckless and unsafe operations and advised the town that the situation was being handled internally. But on Aug. 31, the town charged, a second Analar-operated helicopter conducted “careless, unsafe, and negligent” operations at the airport, flying at an altitude of about 250 feet above ground level over nearby residences.
On Sept. 23, the town enacted the 90-day prohibition, the maximum allowable under the code. Aircraft owned and operated by Analar are prohibited from using the airport until Dec. 23.
“Unsafe operations by aircraft using East Hampton Airport will not be tolerated,” Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said in the statement. “It is particularly disturbing that these aircraft, on a perfectly clear day, would fly below the agreed-upon voluntary minimum altitude. This was not only unsafe but violated the ‘Fly Neighborly’ protocol agreed to by the Eastern Region Helicopter Council in order to mitigate the considerable noise impacts from helicopters that affect our residents.”
Under the airport code, Analar can appeal the decision to the town board. In the event that an appeal is made, a hearing will be coordinated.
Michael Renz, the company’s president, said in an email on Monday that “We are consulting with our legal counsel and are responding appropriately.” Mr. Renz defended the company’s operations, saying that “Analar Corporation has been operating safely into East Hampton Airport for over 30 years. We have violated no federal aviation regulations, operated in a safe manner under the oversight of the Federal Aviation Administration at all times, and believe that the town’s actions are not appropriate.”
On its website, Analar Corporation calls itself “one of the safest flight-operations providers” in the country. “We have maintained an FAA Part 135 charter certificate since 1979 without an accident, incident, or unscheduled landing,” the site says.
But the town board, according to the code, reserves the right to permanently prohibit the use of the airport “to anyone who, in its judgment, constitutes a threat to the safe and orderly operation of the airport.”
Residents of East Hampton and other East End towns who live under flight paths into and out of the airport regularly plead with the board to restrict airport operations that they say render the peaceful enjoyment of their property impossible. Most recently, a Jamesport resident asked the board at its Sept. 19 meeting to close the airport. (The town could legally close the airport upon the expiration of federal grant assurances in 2021, or keep it open only to hobbyists and personal aircraft.)
That complaint followed Mr. Brundige’s Aug. 20 midyear report to the board, in which he said that traffic was up 7.5 percent over the same period in 2018. Helicopter traffic, among the most frustrating for affected residents on the North and South Forks due to the aircrafts’ noise and low-altitude flights, accounts for about 30 percent of overall traffic, he said. While helicopter traffic was down slightly from last year, July saw a 7-percent increase over the same month in 2018.
Seaplanes, another source of ire, accounted for 10 percent of traffic, and were up slightly from last year. Over all, there were 140 more operations in July than in July 2018, Mr. Brundige told the