Bake Oven Knob, Heidelberg Township, Lehigh County, PA
ACTION ALERT 2
8 October 2005
Proposal Update
A commercial airline pilot and owner of the Flying M Aerodrome, located about a mile from Bake Oven Knob on the Kittatinny Ridge in rural, largely agricultural Heidelberg Township, Lehigh County, PA, continues to seek relocation of the much larger Queen City Airport, currently located in Allentown, PA, to the Flying M Aerodrome. This is a disastrous idea for people, wildlife, the environment, and aircraft.
The Flying M Aerodrome owner currently has plans to hold a “town meeting” beginning at noon on 16 October 2005 in the social hall of the Germansville Fire Company in Germansville, Lehigh County, PA, so he can explain his airport relocation proposal to residents of Heidelberg Township.
Background Update
Bake Oven Knob atop the Kittatinny Ridge (locally called the Blue Mountain) is a major autumn raptor migration flight-line and raptor migration watchsite that’s also part of the adjacent, internationally important Kittatinny Raptor Corridor that annually (mid-August to early December) records tens of thousands of migrating raptors in sizes ranging from small American Kestrels to very large Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles, Ospreys, Black Vultures, and Turkey Vultures. Each autumn many thousands of people—hawk watchers, birders, organized school students on hawk watching field trips, leaf watchers, and ordinary people—visit Bake Oven Knob to enjoy migrating raptors and other birds, autumn leaves, and the spectacular vistas from the South and North Lookouts at Bake Oven Knob.
The Flying M Aerodrome is a small, turf landing strip with some adjacent airplane hangers that currently has low use by pilots using small, single engine (occasionally twin engine) airplanes, sky divers, sailplanes, and similar activities. Relocating the much larger Queen City Airport, currently in Allentown, PA, to the Flying M Aerodrome in rural Heidelberg Township would require extensive and expensive expansion of the Flying M Aerodrome to approximately equal the current quality of facilities now existing at the Queen City Airport. Hence the current Flying M Aerodrome would expand from its approximate current 30 acres to as much as 130 acres if upgraded.
Because the current Flying M Aerodrome has an airport license, from 18-24 months would be needed to upgrade the current Flying M Aerodrome to approximate Queen City Airport standards. In comparison, starting from a new site could take 15 to 20 years to satisfy Federal Aviation Administration requirements for developing a new site into an airport. The only other licensed airport in northern Lehigh County is at Slatington, PA, also in close proximity to the intersection of the Kittatinny Ridge, Lehigh Gap, Delaware and Lehigh National Canal Corridor, and the Lehigh Gap Wildlife Refuge owned by the non-profit Wildlife Information Center, Inc.
The famous Appalachian Trail crosses the summit of Bake Oven Knob and is heavily used by numerous local and other people including hikers walking all or part of the AT from Maine to Georgia.
The Problems
Sometimes, especially during autumn, varying numbers of migrating raptors are seen flying directly over the Flying M Aerodrome, or in close proximity to it, at altitudes ranging from a few hundred feet to several thousand feet. These are the same altitudes that small airplanes use when taking off, landing, or flying locally in the vicinity of the Flying M Aerodrome. Moreover, occasionally one or more airplanes using the Flying M Aerodrome have flown dangerously close—a few hundred feet—to hawk watchers, casual visitors, children, and hikers standing on the South Lookout of Bake Oven Knob. Hence a public safety danger exists that one or more airplanes using the current Flying M Aerodrome will experience potential bird-aircraft strike hazards and/or perhaps even a crash into Bake Oven Knob and the people using it.
Hawk watchers, birders, school students and their teachers, hikers, and other visitors to Bake Oven Knob would consider an expanded Flying M Aerodrome accommodating the current Queen City Airport highly offensive due to increased potential lethal dangers to raptors and other birdlife, increased aircraft noise, landscape degradation, airspace clutter with flying aircraft, and overall public safety.
The still largely rural, agricultural character of Heidelberg Township, Lehigh County, PA would be considerably degraded due to expansion and development of the necessary infrastructure of the Flying M Aerodrome, increased vehicle traffic along Mountain Road (which already has fast moving traffic that results in occasional, serious vehicle accidents), and loss of more farmland needed to expand the Flying M Aerodrome at the very time that farmers and land use planners are seeking to save as much farmland as possible in Heidelberg Township via purchase of farmland development rights. Millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money already have been spent in purchasing development rights for a growing number of farms in Heidelberg Township. Hence loss of more farmland so the Flying M Aerodrome could expand to accommodate relocation of the Queen City Airport is seriously inconsistent with ongoing farmland preservation efforts in Heidelberg Township and elsewhere in Lehigh County.
If the Queen City Airport were to relocate at the Flying M Aerodrome, additional public pressure might be put on local and Harrisburg politicians to open a new exchange of the northeast extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to accommodate even more vehicle traffic along Mountain Road and generally throughout Heidelberg, Washing, and Lynn Townships in northern Lehigh County. That must not be allowed to happen since it would also encourage more housing sprawl throughout northern Lehigh County, and increasingly degrade the overall rural quality of life for current residents of Heidelberg Township and even residents of adjacent Washington and Lynn Townships.
The recent post-Gulf Coast hurricane disaster produced drastically increasing gasoline (and home heating oil) prices, plus short gasoline and oil supplies. Pilots currently using the Queen City Airport, however, would have to drive roughly 40 or more miles farther to use a relocated Queen City Airport at the Flying M Aerodrome. That is wasteful of fuel, time, and effort and inconsistent with sound conservation concepts.
What You Can Do
There are several important actions you can take to prevent the Queen City Airport from relocating at the Flying M Aerodrome in Heidelberg Township, Lehigh County, PA. First, PLEASE WRITE LETTERS opposing this expansion of the Flying M Aerodrome to the following a key decision makers regarding this issue.
Mr. George F. Doughty, Executive Director
Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority
3311 Airport Road
Allentown, PA 18109-3040
Mr. David O. Fink
Board of Supervisors
Heidelberg Township
6272 Route 309
PO Box 218
New Tripoli, PA 18066
Mr. Forrest A. Wessner, Jr.
Board of Supervisors
Heidelberg Township
6272 Route 309
PO Box 218
New Tripoli, PA 18066
Mr. Roy Afflerback, Mayor
City of Allentown
435 Hamilton St.
Allentown, PA 18102
Please also send similar letters-to-the-editor opposing relocating the Queen City Airport to the Flying M Aerodrome to the two newspapers covering this story. They are:
letters@mcall.com for The Morning Call.
dpalmieri@tnonline.com for Northwestern Press.
Finally, insist that a full scale Environmental Impact Statement be conducted for two years to comprehensively evaluate the wildlife, environmental, human and social aspects of the proposal to relocate the Queen City Airport to the Flying M Aerodrome. In doing so, be aware that 45 or more years of detailed autumn raptor migration study data already exists in the ornithological literature along with related overall bird surveys of Bake Oven Knob. Much additional hawk migration information is also readily available in several landmark books published by both university and trade publishers—some as recently as 2004. In addition, other wildlife and environmental data pertaining to Heidelberg Township also exist—especially in publications issued by the Wildlife Information Center, Inc., Slatington, PA. ALL of these publications need to be read and pertinent data included in the Environmental Impact Statement.
Donald S. Heintzelman
Zionsville, PA