Danbury Municipal

Eric Ramsauer
September 13, 2012 Avm 101

The Abstract The topic of this paper will be to cover general facts about Danbury Municipal Airport. Some topics that will be covered are the total number of aircraft based out of Danbury Municipal, how many flight operations take place on average on a given day, the manager and owning organization, statistics such as length and number of runways, equipment that is used and other interesting facts about the airfield such as its significance to national dense. The purpose of this paper will be to equip the reader with general knowledge on Danbury Municipal Airport and its relevance in the aviation community.

Danbury Municipal is considered one of the older airfields in the US being built in 1927. The airfield was built by two business men who purchased the original 60 acres of land with intent of building an airport to aid the growth of the county. Today the airfield has grown to 248 acres and is home to over 265 aircraft including seven jets and twelve helicopters. The airfield has two asphalt runways, one designated 8/26 which measures 1,348m x 46m and the other designated 17/35 measuring 956m x 30m. Danbury Municipal also has three instrument approaches. One is a localizer runway with a decision height of 643 ft. The other two are both GPS runways one with a VOR option with a decision height of 902 feet on the runway with the VOR option and 802 feet on the one without. Danbury Municipal is classified as a reliever airport for New Yorks Westchester County Airport which is located 30 miles southwest of Danbury. The NPIAS five year forecast still has this air field looking very relevant in the region years down the road. It predicts the number of based aircraft will jump to 406 and have $12,336,105 invested in it by 2015. Danbury Municipal is owned by the county of Danbury Connecticut but is managed by Danburys Emergency Management Director Paul D. Estefan. Estefan has gone on record saying that the funding the airport receives from the county will have to be increased this year due to the loss of the contract Air Traffic Control Tower or ATCT. He argues that without it the loss in business would be substantial due to the terrain surrounding the airport and how it could make pilots feel unsafe trying to land without the air traffic control tower. This will cause further loss of revenue due to the reductions in tie down fees, hangar fees and fuel cost in order to keep aircraft stationed at Danbury Municipal Airport. Many airport tenants like Arrow Flight School, Executive Air Service, Tallyho Aviation and nearly a dozen others to consider leaving Danbury Municipal due to the reduction in safety that accompanies the loss of the air traffic control tower.

Danbury Municipal Airport is a very active general aviations airfield with around 191 flight operations per day. Many of these flights are from the three flight schools that each have their own hangars on site. This air field is also home to the largest collection of Civil Air Patrol aircraft in the United States. The CAP hanger at Danbury Municipal contains five brand new glass cockpit Cessna 172s and may administer as many as 50 orientation flights per month to cadets from surrounding squadrons. The two squadrons based from the airfield, the CT 399th composite squadron and two time national squadron of the year the CT 801st high school squadron used the airfield to donate over 2000 hours of community service during winter storm Alfred and Hurricane Sandy. We are also the only two squadrons close enough in the North East Region to conduct the search and rescue patrols of New York and Long Island Sound. The Air field is also used by major companies like Sykorsky to test experimental aircraft. This is an extremely important role that the airfield serves because a majority of these aircraft are in testing waiting for approval of use by the United States Army, Navy and Coast Guard. The military also sections off the south eastern portion of the airfield at night because the mountains around it that create perfect conditions for the Army Air National Guard to train in with night vision goggles because they simulate the conditions the pilots will experience once deployed overseas. The combination of these attributes are warranting the production of a nearby Army Air National Guard barracks which will bring a lot of business into the local community due to the increase in population. It is also believed that the construction of the barracks will warrant the construction of a new air traffic control tower which will bring a lot of the lost business back to Danbury Municipal.

Danbury Municipal is also very significant to the medical facilities in the south western portions of Connecticut. Nearly a dozen organs from various donors come into the Western Connecticut Medical Network each day through Danbury Municipal Airport. It is also home to the medical helicopter that responds from Danbury Hospital which will have no nearby base of operations should the tower stay closed. Danbury Municipal Airport is a very significant airfield to the state of Connecticut and the New England Area. It has great influence on local business and provides important services to our nations armed services. The medical field of Connecticut also depends heavily on this general aviation airport because it is the only one in the area capable of facilitating all of their needs. This combined with the future construction of the Army Air National Guard barracks nearly assures the air traffic control tower will be up and running very soon. The manager Paul D. Estefan has even published several articles in the Danbury New Times and other local papers about the urgency in which the new tower must be brought up. If the tower is not brought up it will more than likely be the end of this air field and displace many of the services and businesses that use it as a base of operations.

References Estefan, P. (2013, March 11). Danbury Municiple Airport. www.aaae.org. Retrieved September 15, 2013, from http://www.aaae.org/?e=showFile&l=EZXWYW National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) Reports - Airports. (2012, November 28). FAA: Home. Retrieved September 10, 2013, from http://www.faa.gov/airports/planning_capacity/npias/reports/ Yin, J. (n.d.). Danbury Municipal Airport Danbury Patch Patch.com. Danbury, CT Patch - Local news, community, sports, shopping, restaurants, things to do. Retrieved September 11, 2013, from http://danbury.patch.com/listings/danbury-municipal-airport