Say Sunday's Mishap Underscores Risk

Four days after a Danish pilot overshot the runway and ended up in the drink, both of New Jersey's US senators demanded Bader Field, in Atlantic City, be shut down as a hazard to public safety.

The demand came after Sunday's mishap involving a rather soggy Cessna Citation. The aircraft touched down on the runway, but failed to stop and ended up partially submerged in the nearby bay.

"I have been working for almost 10 years to close Bader Field, and what happened (Sunday) only underscores the need to shut it down," Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) said. "The risk it poses to the people of Atlantic City is just too great." He was quoted by the Associated Press.

Laudenberg and his fellow Democrat in the Senate, Jon Corzine, signed a letter to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, demanding the agency cut all funding to the airport.

Bader Field is already prime for shut-down, since the FAA says it hasn't funded the airport in 19 years. Atlantic City officials and representatives of the FAA agreed that the city would operate the airfield until 2006.

"Once that runs out, the city has the ability to close it," DOT spokesman Marc La Vorgna told the wire service.

The FAA has already banned jet traffic from Bader.

Neither Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford nor a spokesman for the FAA would comment on the letters.

FMI: www.atlanticcitynj.com