Wednesday — January 28, 2004

Friedman lands hallmark decision

Big jet owner to appeal airport ban

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By PAT MURPHY
Express Staff Writer

California multimillionaire Ronald Tutor decided Tuesday to continue his court fight to overturn a Friedman Memorial Airport ban on heavy aircraft that prohibits his luxury Boeing Business Jet from landing at the Hailey field.

Last Week, Federal District Court Judge Lynn B. Winmill in Boise summarily rejected tutor’s multi-claim lawsuit attacking the ban on Tutor’s jet last week. He ruled that Tutor’s rights were not being violated by the 12-year-old restriction on heavy aircraft.

Tutor’s lead attorney, Jonathan Morse, of Santa Monica, told the Mountain Express a notice of appeal will be filed shortly, followed by an itemized challenge to Judge Winmill’s ruling.

"The battle will be joined within 60 days," Morse said.

Friedman Memorial’s special attorney, Peter Kirsch, of Denver, expressed confidence in the airport’s position when informed of Tutor’s decision to appeal.

"We’re confident Judge Winmill’s decision will be upheld on appeal," Kirsch said. The case will go to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The litigation already has cost Friedman Memorial more than $200,000 in legal fees.

Tutor, who has a vacation home north of Ketchum and is CEO of the multi-billion dollar Tutor-Silba Corp. heavy construction firm, filed the lawsuit against Friedman Memorial Airport last year after he was denied landing rights for his Boeing Business Jet. Although he customarily uses a smaller Gulfstream III when traveling to Idaho, he claimed his constitutional rights were violated and his ability to travel was impaired by the airport restriction on his BBJ.

Since 1991, Friedman has prohibited aircraft weighing more than 95,000 pounds. The BBJ’s takeoff weight is 171,000 pounds, which the airport insists could damage the runway. The BBJ’s large wingspan also would impair movement of other aircraft on taxiways, airport officials say.

Long-range aircraft such as the BBJ rarely take off with less than full fuel, which weighs 6.7 pounds per gallon.

The aviation industry as well as national regulators had been closely following developments in the Tutor lawsuit, since small airports throughout the nation enforce varying restrictions on aircraft types, sizes and engine noise.

Had Judge Winmill ruled in Tutor’s favor, "it would have told airports all over the country that what communities wanted (in their airports) was secondary to what aircraft owners wanted," Friedman Memorial Airport manager Rick Baird said Tuesday, Jan. 20, the day of the ruling.

The outcome of the Tutor lawsuit is the latest major setback for the BBJ, of which some 50 have been sold worldwide to heads of state and business tycoons. When lavishly furnished, the BBJ can cost $50 million or more.

Also last week, the U.S. Senate approved an omnibus appropriations bill containing language denying the Federal Aviation Administration funds for eliminating the 100,000-pound weight restriction at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport.

Rep. Steve Rothman, D-N.J., said in a statement that "the Senate's approval of my provision keeping these 737s out of Teterboro Airport sends a strong message to the FAA and the Boeing Company that we will never permit them to degrade the quality of life of the people of our region."

Teterboro imposed a 100,000-pound aircraft limit in 1967, although some early generation 737s weighing less than 100,000 pounds have occasionally been permitted to land, according to Teterboro noise abatement officer Rudy Steinthal.

But Steinthal said pressure has been mounting on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to permit the BBJ.

"It’s not just one airplane we’re talking about," Steinthal said. If the BBJ were permitted, the airport then would find other large jets over 100,000 pounds seeking permission to operate. He said Teterboro as well as many older airports weren’t designed to accommodate the new generation of larger jets that weigh more and are too large to safely negotiate tight turns on taxiways.

Friedman manager Baird, who called Judge Winmill’s ruling "significant," said that Idaho’s congressional delegation had been kept abreast of the lawsuit. But he said he saw no reason now for Idaho’s representatives to intervene in the airport’s behalf with special legislation, since Judge Winmill’s decision had effectively upheld the airport’s rules.

But Baird also was quick to point out that upholding the ban on large jets has no effect on the airport authority’s study of whether to build a new, larger airport outside the Wood River Valley.

The study was launched after it was clear that the airport and its single 6,900-foot runway could not comply with changing FAA standards without spending millions of dollars on land acquisition and facility improvements that would include relocating sections of the adjoining state highway 75.

A new airport, if it were built, probably would have two runways and more taxiways and be capable of handling larger jets and meet the area’s aviation needs for several decades.

As Baird has told the airport authority several times, the other major issue ultimately will be what to do about the present airfield if a new facility is constructed. A "Save Friedman Airport" group is lobbying to maintain the present facility for smaller aircraft. The question would be how two fields could be supported economically.

 

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