Local community representatives continued to put up a fight about the future of Republic Airport at the most recent meeting of Republic Airport Commission's Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), after they were presented with the partially completed, proposed updated master plan.

The working document, a workbook which illustrates various alternatives for changing the East Farmingdale airport, included such proposals as shifting runway 119 to the north if Conklin Street is straightened, as well as changes to accommodate larger business jets that have become more prevalent at the airport in recent years due to changing trends in corporate aircraft.

Community representatives who serve on the TAC expressed concern about both issues, as users of the airport who serve on the committee rebutted their arguments, and airport officials tried to allay their suspicions that the proposed plans would turn Republic from a small aircraft, general aviation airport into a jetport.

On the issue of the shifting of runway 119, for example, TAC member Helen Norjen, who represents the residential community northwest of the airport in Huntington, said that the proposal goes against a promise that was made in the past by the New York State Department of Transportation to surrounding communities that no additional land would be acquired by the airport. "How can we continue to progress with options that fly in the face of everything we've been promised by the [former] commissioner of New York State Transportation?" she questioned.

Approximately 12 to 15 acres would be acquired for the project, according to the aiport's consultant. Airport Commissioner Gerard H. Toner, chairperson of the TAC, told Norjen that the project was suggested by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in order to make landing safer. He added that in the event that Conklin Street is straightened as a result of surrounding commercial development (i.e. the Airport Plaza shopping center), which would create the opportunity to acquire the extra land at the north end of the runway, the FAA may require the airport to do this. Landing would be made safer, he noted, because shifting the runway up would create a larger emergency landing safety zone at the bottom of the runway.

TAC member Emil Coppola, president of the Joint Council of Civic Associations of the Massapequas, responded, "All of a sudden, the FAA is concerned about safety factors over here at this airport. If this airport was so unsafe prior to all the work that had been done, why did they even allow big planes to come on and off? I don't understand."

To this, Toner said that the FAA has been trying to get airports across the country to create larger emergency landing safety zones at the end of their runways for about 10 years, and that the FAA has asked the airport to look at this as part of the updated master plan.

On the issue of changing the airport to accommodate larger business jets, TAC member Joan H. Deissler, who represents Farmingdale Village, said, "I'm really concerned also that we're proceeding forward with this C3 category."

Aircraft design category 3 includes aircraft with a wingspan of more than 79 feet and an elevated approach speed.

Deissler noted that she is concerned that if the airport is changed to accommodate the larger business jets that fall into category 3, as has been proposed, the FAA will require Republic to allow other types of jets to land there, particularly if federal funds are involved. She cited a letter from the New York State Senate Committee on Transportation dated April 4, 1984, which she said shows what the Legislature intended when the airport commission was set up during the early 1980s. (The DOT took over administration of the airport in 1983.) "It very specifically points out the type of aircraft that the Legislature did not want to have here," she said, reading an excerpt that mentioned such regular major commercial jet services as Boeing 727, Boeing 737 and Boeing 747. "I don't know how more specific you can get," she said. "This was sent to me by Mitch Pally, who was chief counsel for Senator Levy at that time." She added that when the rules for the airport were put in place, this is what the surrounding communities were told.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Deissler offered the following analogy: "You don't use federal funds to design and build Main Street into a six-lane highway for pickup trucks, and then try to prevent the 16-wheelers from using it."

In an interview last Friday, Republic Airport Director Hugh Jones said the airport has a limited operating certificate which would prevent it from becoming a jetport.

Toner said last Friday, "It appears that because of all of that information that the consultant has gathered with regard to the direction of business aircraft, we don't even have to get to the 727, the 737, and the 747. He will probably be recommending that the airport set itself up, so that it can accommodate, in all aspects, a category 3 aircraft."

He added that a proposal to allow runway 119 to better accommodate business jets is being offered as a solution to noise complaints from residents northwest of the airport whose homes lie under business jets currently taking off from runway 1432. When the jets take off from runway 119, he noted, they fly over Route 110's commercial area.