Lantana airport says no to jets despite threat
The decades-old ban on jets at Lantana airport remains in place, despite a determination by the Federal Aviation Administration this year that found small jets could safely land on one of the airport’s three runways.
Palm Beach Count y airport spokeswoman Casandra Davis said Wednesday that the 44-yearold ban still stands. The county, she said, has not changed its policy in the wake of a challenge by 76-year-old retired Eastern Airlines pilot Errol Forman of Hypoluxo, who wants to land his private jet at the general aviation airport on Lantana Road just west of Interstate 95. “No jet traffic at Lantana,” Davis said Wednesday.
In a letter to Palm Beach County officials on Tuesday, Alan Armstrong, Forman’s attorney, asked to meet with county officials to discuss the ban, adding he plans to file a formal complaint with the FAA if it isn’t abandoned. Arm- strong said the letter is a last-ditch attempt to resolve the dispute.
“Hope springs eternal,” Armstrong said. “Captain Forman and I would love to have this matter concluded.”
Forman has not landed his turbo-fan jet at the airport since June, when Airports Direc tor Bruce Pelly threatened him with 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.
Lantana, 7 air miles from Palm Beach International Airport and offic ially named Palm Beach County Park Airport, is the subject of a 1973 agreement in which the FAA gave the county authority to forbid jets.
Forman filed his first protest with the feds in April 2016, arguing that the rule is archaic and was instituted when small jets were far noisier than they are now.
The Lantana airport — which is home base for about 300 aircraft and has no tower — is designated as a “reliever” airport to divert small private planes away from busy PBIA.
In a Dec. 6 letter to Armstrong, the FAA could not find any documentation or analysis showing “why previous FAA reviewers believed this discriminatory restriction was just or reasonable.” It said the ban “denied a class of aeronautical users the benefits of federal-funded improvements” at Lantana.
In its March 17 letter, the FAA said it had “concluded that permitting jet aircraft operations” on the one runway “will not affect safety or efficiency at LNA (Lantana) or surrounding airports.”