Preliminary Factual Report of the June 18, 2001 Aviation Accident
June 27, 2011 Peter Knudson, a public affair officers of National Transportation Safety Board,(NTSB) says "We are still in the very early stages of the investigation and a long way from determining the probable cause of the accident."
The a preliminary factual report says a general aviation accident occurred Saturday, June 18, 2011 in Armonk, NY. The aircraft was a CESSNA T210N. There were four fatal injuries.
"This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.
On June 18, 2011, about 1303 eastern daylight time, a Cessna T210N, N210KW, was destroyed following a collision with trees and terrain at Armonk, New York. The certificated commercial pilot and three passengers were fatally injured. The airplane was registered to Wein-Air Aviation LTD and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed and active. The flight originated from Westchester Regional Airport (HPN), White Plains, New York, about 1257 and was destined for Montauk Airport (MTP), New York.
After takeoff from runway 34 at HPN, the pilot reported to air traffic control (ATC) that he needed to return to the airport and requested runway 16. ATC asked the pilot if he was declaring an emergency, and the pilot reported that he was. The pilot did not state the nature of the emergency. ATC then asked the pilot to switch to tower frequency, and the pilot responded that he could not switch to tower. This was the last recognizable communication from the pilot. An initial review of the recorded radar data indicated that the airplane reached a maximum altitude of about 1,400 feet mean sea level, or about 1,000 feet above ground level, after takeoff.
A locally-based pilot reported that he observed the accident pilot perform about eight engine run-ups at the end of runway prior to departure. He stated that it sounded like the pilot was trying to clean the spark plugs or he was having trouble with the magnetos firing properly. During the first few run-ups, the engine made a "chugga-chugga" sound, and then smoothed out during the final two or three run-ups prior to departure. He did not observe the accident and no eyewitnesses have been located.
The wreckage was located in a wooded area, about one mile north-northeast of the approach end of runway 16. The wreckage path was oriented on a heading of about 155 degrees and was about 350 feet in length. The cockpit and cabin sections were inverted and consumed by the post-crash fire. The landing gear and flaps were found in the retracted position. The propeller remained attached to the engine, and the engine sustained minor damage from impact and heat. Flight control continuity was established from the control surfaces to the cockpit controls."
An AIRPLANE CRASHED at 113 King Street Armonk, NY.
June 20, 2011 12Noon On June 18 at 1:15PM, the County Police reported via hotline of an airplane crash at 120 at 113 King Street Armonk. At 1:25PM the North Castle Police Department (NCPD) were the first to respond to the location. North Castle Police Officer Joe Horesky entered the MBIA property and reported locating the plane crash 300 yards on the far left side of property behind the first MBIA building. All units were advised of the location and responded to assist.
The investigation was turned over to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors were on the scene as well as other emergency units. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will be the lead agency in the investigation and will make the determination of the cause.
Westchester County Airport Plane Crash Updated June 20, 2011
A Cessna 210 single engine aircraft crashed early Saturday afternoon near the headquarters of MBIA at 113 King Street, Armonk. The aircraft departed from the Westchester County Airport and shortly after the takeoff the pilot declared an emergency and tried to turn the plane around. The plane crashed while attempting to return to the airport, but it is unknown why it was trying to land. The cause is difficult to determine without reviewing the flight plan. The flight destination was Montauk, NY.
The aircraft crashed in New York City's Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP) property in a wooded area a few hundred feet from the Kensico Reservoir, short of Runway 16. Nothing from the crash was found in the reservoir. The DEP Police Chief Peter Fusco described the scene as articles of debris contained in a small wooded area. The Armonk Fire Department was dispatched and the plane was totally burned. The fire department extinguished the fire with water cans because the plane was located in the woods.
According to Holly Baker, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, there were four people on board and no one survived. The pilot was Keith Weiner. The passengers were his wife Lisa, their 14-year old daughter Isabelle, and her 14-year old friend, Lucy Walsh. All were from Manhattan.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Westchester County Police and EMS, North Castle Police Department, Armonk Fire Department, Greenwich Red Cross, NYC and Westchester DEP, and other emergency units were on the scene. Further updates will be made available as we receive them.
Opposition to Planned Parking at Westchester Airport By Jesse Andreozzi
Updated: June 8, 2011 The
North Castle Planning Board's Public Hearing on May 2 concerned the
building of a $17 million, 267,000 square foot off-site
parking structure for up to 1,450 cars that would primarily serve
Westchester County Airport. The applicant, 11 New King Street, LLC,
submitted a petition to amend the Town of North Castle's Zoning Code and
build a parking facility, which will be called Park Place at
Westchester Airport.
The project has met criticism from Westchester residents who oppose expanding the airport. According to a Legislative Resolution adopted in April 2004, the Westchester County Board of Legislatures had “repeatedly expressed its desire that the physical capacity of Westchester County Airport will not be expanded,” and many people now worry that this resolution is being broken.
They also cite the adverse environmental impacts of a parking structure on the Kensico Reservoir and its surrounding buffer zone. According to a 2002 study by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, a parking structure would require the clearing of five acres of the Kensico Reservoir “water quality” buffer zone, which could lead to some contamination of the groundwater leading to the reservoir as well as contamination of the reservoir itself. If the reservoir were to become contaminated with chemical runoff from construction, or fuel runoff from increased traffic to the airport, the drinking water supply to nine million people in New York City and lower Westchester County would be put at risk. Also, according to the March 28, 2011 Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) prepared by Allee, King, Rosen & Fleming, an environmental, planning, and engineering consulting firm, the project would disturb a small portion of the wetland habitat near the Kensico Reservoir. However, forty percent of the disturbed area would be restored once construction finishes.
Other important information in the DEIS also discusses the parking facility's effect on water use, electricity use, economic impact, and other environmental and financial issues. Effects include noise pollution, air pollution, increased property taxes, and the number of employees needed for the construction of the project.
Current water use for the existing parking structure is 970 gallons per day (gpd). The proposed parking structure would consume 1,345 gpd, 38% more, primarily to supply the automated car wash station that will be built in the structure, as well as the lavatories. To accommodate the increased water flow, a separate well will be constructed with low-flow plumbing fixtures to reduce the daily water flow.
A one-story building will have to be demolished to make way for the five-story parking structure, but the materials from the demolition will be recycled and reused to build the new parking facility.
The DEIS says there will be temporary adverse impacts related to noise and air pollution, but also says that construction vehicles will avoid driving on residential streets, and that construction activity will be short-term (approximately 14 months).
The parking structure would increase property taxes on the project site five fold, from about $46,000, according to the Town of North Castle 2010 Town and County Tax Bill, to a projected $250,000 annually. Direct and indirect employment related to the construction of the parking facility would be equivalent to 162 employees working full-time for a year.
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement has come under scrutiny, particularly from Michael D. Zarin and Daniel M. Richmond, Attorneys at Law. Zarin and Steinmetz represent Cappelli Enterprises, Inc., which owns the existing parking facility at Westchester Airport. Louis Cappelli's construction company is considering expanding the parking lot by adding two new levels to the structure. Zarin and Steinmetz submitted a response to the DEIS to Chairman John Delano and to the members of the North Castle Planning Board detailing their concerns about the document’s failure to properly address the adverse environmental impact of the construction of the parking structure, as well as its failure to substantiate some of its claims.
Zarin and Steinmetz insist that the DEIS ignores the project’s significant adverse impact on wetlands and on the region’s potable water supply. They note that North Castle’s Planning Board and Conservation Board have expressed concerns about the project’s negative impact on the Kensico Reservoir. A letter by the Conservation Board Chairman, John F. Fava, to the Planning Board on January 7, 2010 says, “It must be stated that the impacts of this project on the Kensico Reservoir, especially the local supply intake from Rye Lake, are of special concern.” Also, the town has traditionally been a leader in the effort to protect the Kensico Reservoir, establishing the Kensico Watershed Improvement Committee (KWIC) in conjunction with five major corporations located on Route 120.
Zarin and Steinmetz also contend that the DEIS fails to substantiate the need for 1,450 more parking spaces at the airport. They insist that the applicant be compelled to produce market studies to support its claim that this many additional parking spaces are needed at Westchester Airport. Zarin and Steinmetz also stress that the DEIS must factor in the approximately 500 parking spaces that have recently become available at the State University of New York at Purchase.
Zarin and Steinmetz also claim that the project would not be approved under the current Freshwater Wetlands Law. “Given the Town’s legal obligations under North Castle’s Freshwater and Drainage Law and the KWIC, the Town would almost certainly be compelled to deny a Wetlands Permit to the project. The Freshwater Wetlands Law sets a low threshold, which mandates that the Town Board deny Wetland Permit applications that have the potential to adversely impact the environment.”
Zarin and Steinmetz insist that the DEIS fails to take a “hard look” at the impact of the proposed zoning amendment. According to the Zarin and Steinmetz response, the proposed zoning amendments would double the maximum allowable building height (from 30 feet to 60 feet), double the maximum allowable building coverage (from 30% to 60%), eliminate the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) requirement, and reduce the side yard setback (from 50 feet to 10 feet).
Zarin and Steinmetz say the DEIS inaccurately states that the project could obtain a Nationwide Permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) in connection with its impact on federally protected wetlands. Zarin and Steinmetz’s response says: “In fact, the project would be subject to individualized review by the ACOE, which would likely deny the permit request because of ACOE regulations. These regulations specifically state that ‘wetlands [that are] considered to perform functions important to the public interest cannot be destroyed’ which include ‘natural drainage characteristics, sedimentation patterns, current patterns, and water purification functions.’ The project would adversely affect these environmental characteristics.”
Zarin and Steinmetz believe that the parking project would also create significant, additional traffic, while the DEIS asserts that the project would actually lead to a reduction of vehicle trips to and from the airport. Zarin and Steinmetz cite a letter from the Town Traffic Consultant to Planning Board Director Adam Kaufman dated Dec. 9, 2010 saying that “the proposed Garage may increase demand and result in travelers now having the option of driving to the Airport for flights… …the proposed facility could generate 200 new vehicle trips, plus 18 shuttle bus trip ends and 195 vehicle trip ends, plus 18 shuttle bus trip ends during the weekday morning and afternoon peak hours, respectively.”
Zarin and Steinmetz say that the Town Board cannot delegate its responsibility to review the parking facility under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) to the Town Planning Board, because the SEQRA requires that decisions “must remain with the lead agency principally responsible for approving the project,” which in this case is the Town Board, not the Planning Board. North Castle's Planning Director Adam Kaufman says “The Town Board would need to approve the requested zoning amendment, and special use permit and the Planning Board would need to issue the site plan, wetlands permit, tree removal permit and steep slope permit approvals.”
Bomb Scare at the Airport
Hundreds of cars lined up on Airport Road as the Westchester County Airport was closed at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. All departures and arrivals were delayed as the airport was evacuated.
The airport security system detected a passenger's scanned baggage that contained a suspicious liquid. A bomb dog was brought in and sniffed a problem with the package. Airport manager Peter Scherrer said the substance turned out to be cleaning fluid.
The airport was re-opened several hours later. April 16, 2012
Westchester Airport Southwest Airlines bought AirTran Airways and they have announced flight schedule changes that will discontinue flights out of Westchester County Airport as of August 2012. All flights between White Plains and Atlanta, Orlando and West Palm Beach on AirTran Airways will be eliminated. Click for further information.
Plane Stanavo at Barrett Field, Armonk's Westchester Airport till the mid 1960s.
Armonk Westchester Airport.
Barrett Field Westchester Airport, Armonk, NY
41,12 North 73.71 North of NY
Located
southwest of Routes 684 and 22, in 1929, the Barrett Field Airport was
located in Armonk. It had a runway of 2500' x 1900' as indicated on the
Rand-McNally, Standard Map of NY. Famous visitors that flew into Barrett Field were Charles Lindbergh in August, 1928 and Amelia Earhart. In
1930 Bartlett Field Airport was renamed Westchester Airport. In 1935,
it was depicted as a municipal, commercial airport on the Regional
Aeronautical Chart. Westchester Airport was just north and connected with Westchester County, Auxillary Airport in 1945. Bill Reidy recollected, “ I had my first flight there (1950?) and it started me on a 40+ year aviation career.” Pappy’s Flying Service operated the airport in 1962. The airport closed sometime between 1965-66 when the owner sold the property to Ramada Inn, La Quinta today. Photos courtesy of North Castle Historical Society. Source.www.airfields-freeman.com
