Chatham Resident Stubbornly Pushing Forward

Residents of Chatham Massachusetts who are critical of Chatham Municipal Airport (CQX) operations have garnered enough signatures on a petition to restrict its use to aircraft with wingspans shorter than 49 feet, so that question will appear on the town’s annual meeting warrant for residents to vote on May 10, 2025.

The action is being pushed forward despite being told by the town’s select board members that attorneys for the town council and the airport commission have ruled that airport operations are controlled by state and federal agencies, namely MASSDOT and the FAA, and that the results of the vote will essentially not mean anything.

This is in addition to the fact that virtually the same petition was voted down by residents in 2022 by a 2:1 margin.

Jerry Stahl of West Chatham is the sponsor of the petition and he maintains that the airport was designed only for smaller aircraft, not the larger turboprops that have been regular users of the airport for several years. He insists that Design Group II aircraft such as the Pilatus PC-12 using the airport creates a serious safety issue.

But that is simply not true: it is the operational capabilities of the airport itself that determine which aircraft can safely use it. CQX does have an RNAV(GPS)B approach with 600-foot minimums and has a runway 3,001 feet x 100 feet. The PC-12, a Design Group II aircraft with a 53-foot wingspan, its specified takeoff and landing distances at MTOW are 2,485 and 2,170 feet, respectively, and has no issues using the airport.

Regardless, Town Counsel Jason Talerman said that 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.”

Chatham Municipal “has accepted millions of dollars in FAA grants for the airport over the years subject to the grant assurances.”

FMI:  chathamrecycles.org/