Move over, sputtering props. Who said jets were louder? The age
of turbofans is
– quietly – revving up at South County Airport, years before a
controversial runway expansion could bring more corporate air
traffic to South County.
San Martin – Move over, sputtering props. Who said jets were louder?
The age of turbofans is – quietly – revving up at South County Airport, years before a controversial runway expansion could bring more corporate air traffic to South County.
A brigade of about 35 aviation gurus gathered Tuesday afternoon to catch a glimpse of the Murphy Avenue airfield’s first jet plane – the “Eclipse 500.”
Fresh off the assembly line earlier this month, the $1.5 million twin-turbofan jet seats six and is capable of flying at speeds of more than 400 miles an hour. It can reach an altitude of 41,000 feet, just like the jumbo jets that land at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport, and has a range of 1,300 miles. But unlike those hulking passenger jets, the sleek Eclipse can land and take off on the smallest of runways, including San Martin’s 3,100-foot tarmac.
In fact, when the jet zoomed down the strip for its demo run, it was airborne at two-thirds the distance.
“It has really great short-field performance,” said Bob Crowe, 71, proud co-owner of the sleek new jet. California-based Jet-Alliance owns the other 50 percent of the shares in the plane and is looking to sell shared-ownership deals to small companies.
Crowe is one of the owners of Magnum Aviation, a small company that sells fuel, rents hangers and repairs airplanes at South County Airport. “It opens up thousands for airports” for commuters, Crowe said. “The people who use these airplanes bypass the hubs … this will offer a way to short circuit all that.”
Small jets are the latest buzz in the aviation field. Not only are they quieter and more fuel-efficient than their prop-engine cousins, but they’re faster and safer, too. A host of new airline companies are springing up to target business travelers and casual commuters. So far, more than 2,600 orders for the Eclipse 500 have been placed.
Many think small jets are the wave of the future. They could help link roughly 5,000 small airports in the United States, allowing passengers to bypass the nation’s 500 commercial airports.
“The hope is to create an alternative to the commercial airline experience,” said Winfried Wilcke, an IBM physicist who owns several prop-engine planes, and who put a down payment on an Eclipse 500 in March and will wait until 2008 to receive his order. “The idea is to make trips up to 400 or 500 miles like a taxi service.”
Wilcke was impressed with what he saw at the demonstration.
“It’s very, very quiet,” said Wilcke, a native of Germany. “(Airport) noise is a big issue, especially in Europe.”
It’s an issue in San Martin, too. Residents don’t want to see the airfield expand, but the 2005 South County Airport Master Plan calls for a longer runway. It could be constructed in five or six years, but first FAA approval this spring and a two-year environmental review are required.
The airport master plan’s forecast shows a need for storing additional, bigger jets in 20 years. Right now there are about 160 planes at the airport, all of them prop-engines except for the Eclipse. But traffic is expected to increase by leaps and bounds. There were about 47,000 take-offs and landings last year. That number could jump to 175,000 flight operations in 2022 – an increase of 372 percent, according to the master plan.
Noise is a concern for some residents who like San Martin’s rural atmosphere. But some say jets like the Eclipse 500 could actually help solve the problem.
“If every plane was as quiet as this, I’d be out of a job,” said Ken Betts, county airports noise program manger. New planes are tested for noise levels and the Eclipse is 10 decibels below the maximum threshold.
“It’s quieter than most prop-engines,” Betts added. “It’s pretty amazing. If it took off from Reed-Hillview Airport (in San Jose) you probably wouldn’t hear it” above the auto traffic.
Carl Honaker, director of county airports, said its hard to predict exactly what the usage of the South County Airport will look like in 20 years. But Honaker said small airports nationwide will get busier in the future.
“Small businesses with less than 100 employees don’t have the ability to buy a Gulf Stream 5 (like Larry Ellison or Steve Jobs) so they’re looking to charter services or shared ownership,” he said.
Avi Blankroth, vice president of San Jose-based American Consumer Financial Network, said his company uses small airports monthly to meet clients in Arizona and Oregon. For Blankroth, it’s a matter of convenience.
“Have you been to San Jose Airport lately?” he said. “It takes three hours to get through security … You land in an airport like this, and in 10 minutes you’re in your car.”
