Originally published in 2000
By Jim Cummins
This installment of airport compliance deals with discrimination. We’re not talking about discrimination based on race, religion, or age which is, of course, prohibited under existing laws but the discrimination of not allowing parachutists, ultralights, crop dusters, or other recognized aeronautical activities’ proper use of the airport. Does this mean that an airport owner must automatically allow unrestricted use by parachutists, ultralights, or crop dusters? Well, not really.
Let’s use parachute jumping as an example. A jump club makes a request to use an obligated airport as a drop zone. They must make this request because, according to FAR Part 105 .17, no person may make a parachute jump onto any airport without the prior permission of the airport management. The club presents all the credentials and certifications of the national parachuting organizations, at least the minimum amount of insurance coverage, and waivers saying they will not hold the airport owner responsible in case of an accident. They run a well-respected operation and abide by all the rules and regulations dealing with parachute jumping. However, the airport owner states that parachuting onto the airport would not be safe and therefore denies the request.
Determining the safety of parachuting onto an airport is not a decision to be made by the airport owner. The FAA is the designated authority to make that determination. If there is any concern about the safety of parachute jumping at an airport, the airport owner should contact the Airports Division of the FAA Southwest Region in Fort Worth. This contact should be in writing. The Airports Division will review the situation and contact another FAA office, the Flight Standards Division. Flight Standards may do an-on-site investigation and meet with the parties involved. These two FAA offices will further review the situation and make a determination.
If the determination is that parachute jumping cannot be safely conducted at the airport, the airport owner will not be considered to be in noncompliance with its grant assurances if the club’s request is denied. Please note that the process of loading jumpers onto an aircraft to be dropped at another location may not be denied under this safety determination. The loading of jumpers and actual jumping onto the airport are two entirely different activities.
If the FAA’s determination is that parachuting onto the airport would not constitute an unsafe condition, then the airport owner must work with the parachutists to come to an acceptable arrangement. Reasonable restrictions and conditions may be implemented and appropriate fees may be charged, but absolute denial would be contrary to the airport owner’s grant assurances.
This same type of study may be done for other aeronautical activities. If a request for use of a non-obligated airport is denied, neither TxDOT nor the FAA could become involved in reviewing that decision. The only obligations an airport owner has to TxDOT or the FAA are ones contained in the grant contracts. If there are no grants, there are no obligations.