Teterboro Airport


Teterboro Airport is a general aviation relief airport in the boroughs of Teterboro, Moonachie, and Hasbrouck Heights in Bergen County, New Jersey. It is owned and managed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and operated by AFCO AvPORTS Management. The airport is in the New Jersey Meadowlands, from Midtown Manhattan, which makes it popular for private and corporate aircraft. The airport has a weight limit of on aircraft, meant to make it nonviable as an airline airport.
The airport takes up almost all of Teterboro and consists of : for aircraft hangar and offices, for aeronautical use and runways, and undeveloped. The airport has more than 1,137 employees, of whom more than 90% are full-time.
In April 2009 the Federal Aviation Administration reported that the airport had the third highest rate of wildlife strikes of any airport in the United States, based on takeoffs and landings.
Teterboro is home to many private aviation charter companies flying nationally and globally.

History

Teterboro Airport is the oldest operating airport in the New York City area. Walter C. Teter acquired the property in 1917. North American Aviation operated a manufacturing plant on the site during World War I. After the war, the airport served as a base of operations for Anthony Fokker, the Dutch aircraft designer. The first flight from the present airport site was made in 1919. In 1926
Colonial Air Transport at Teterboro was the first private company to deliver mail by air.
During World War II the United States Army operated the airport. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey purchased it on April 1, 1949, from Fred L. Wehran, a private owner, and later leased it to Pan American World Airways for 30 years until December 1, 2000, when the Port Authority assumed full responsibility for the operation of Teterboro.
In January 1954, Arthur Godfrey buzzed the Teterboro control tower with his Douglas DC-3, resulting in the suspension of his license.
In 2003 U.S. Congressman Steve Rothman helped authorize a federal bill to retain a ban on aircraft exceeding a weight of from taking off from Teterboro because of excessive noise in the surrounding residential areas.

Facilities

Teterboro Airport covers at an elevation of.

Buildings

Nineteen hangars on the airport have a total area of about.
Two large office buildings are centrally located, one at 90 Moonachie Avenue and the other on Fred Wehran Drive, which houses the Department of Homeland Security. Both buildings have a total area of.
Additional office and shop space totals an area of. There is also an operations building, maintenance facility and two fuel farms.
The airport contains the Aviation Hall of Fame of New Jersey.

Control tower

The control tower was built on the east side of the airport by the FAA and went into operation on October 29, 1975. The original control tower is not operational but is still part of the original wooden Atlantic Aviation hangar on Industrial Avenue. It is on the northeast corner of the hangar.

Runways

6-24 is long and wide, with High Intensity Runway Lights. Runway 6 approach has an Instrument Landing System and a Medium Approach Lighting System-R. Runway 24 approach is equipped with both a Precision Approach Path Indicator and Runway End Identification Lights systems. Runway 6-24 underwent complete overlay and grooving in 1987.
Runway 1-19 is long and wide, with HIRL. Both runways 1 and 19 are equipped with REIL systems. Runway 1 approach is equipped with a VASI system. Runway 19 approach has an ILS and a Precision Approach Path Indicator. Runway 1-19 was overlaid and grooved in the summer of 2000, and included the installation of centerline and touchdown zone lighting. Runway 19 is the preferred runway for noise abatement procedures.

Taxiways

About of taxiways exist on the airport. Most are wide and have centerline and edge lighting.

Aircraft

In 2017 the airport had 178,369 aircraft operations, averaging 488 per day: 65.6% general aviation, 34% air taxi, 0.3% military, and <1% airline. 121 aircraft were then based at this airport: 81% jet, 10.7% helicopter, 6.6% single-engine, and 1.7% multi-engine.

Other

The Aviation Hall of Fame of New Jersey is on the airport grounds. Founded in 1972, it is the first state aviation hall of fame in the nation, honoring the men and women who brought outstanding aeronautical achievements to the state. The museum offers visitors an opportunity to view historic air and space equipment and artifacts, photographs, fine art and an extensive model collection. The library has more than 4,000 volumes and hundreds of aviation video tapes.

Public transportation

Teterboro Airport can be reached from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on New Jersey Transit bus routes 161, 165 and 144. The Teterboro station is the closest rail station along NJ Transit's Pascack Valley Line, but the Wood-Ridge station is also close to the southwest of the airport.

Incidents

In 1956 and again in 1958, Thomas Fitzpatrick flew stolen aircraft from Teterboro and landed them along city streets in the Hudson Heights, Manhattan neighborhood.
In June 1966, in Hasbrouck Heights, a two-engine Piper Aztec going to Teterboro Airport crashed, striking a tree and narrowly missing homes on Burton Avenue near U.S. Route 46. The pilot sustained injuries including a skull fracture and was taken to Hackensack Hospital by ambulance. He was carrying film for Eastman Kodak.
On September 23, 1981, a Ronson Aviation Bell 206B helicopter and a Seminole Air Charier Piper PA-34 airplane collided in flight over East Rutherford, about 2 nautical miles south of Teterboro Airport. The airplane had a flight plan to Teterboro from Syracuse, New York. The helicopter was inbound to Teterboro from Woodbridge, NJ. The two collided at about 650 feet. The helicopter fell into the Meadowlands Sports Complex parking lot, and both persons aboard were killed. The airplane, with about 8 feet of its left wing and its right engine missing, made a gear-up landing in a marsh about seven-tenths of a mile east of the collision point. The pilot was seriously injured, and the passenger received minor injuries.
On December 9, 1999 a small plane crashed between two houses in neighboring Hasbrouck Heights, killing all four people aboard, injuring three people on the ground and setting a garage on fire.
On March 9, 2002 a single-engine Cessna 210 with a flight plan to Montauk, NY, crashed shortly after takeoff about 2 p.m. killing the only occupant and pilot. Upon impact the plane skidded about 225 feet before it burst into flames, narrowly missing cars on US 46 about 100 yards away.
On September 9, 2002 a Piper Saratoga carrying a Canadian family took off from Teterboro Airport and crashed into a housing development in Hunterdon County 10 minutes later. The parents were killed, and the two children were critically injured. The incident caused millions in damage.
On February 2, 2005 7:18 a.m. a Bombardier Challenger CL-600-1A11, N370V, hurtled off a runway at Teterboro Airport, skidded across US 46 and slammed into a warehouse during the morning rush, injuring 20 people, 11 of them on the plane. It was mere coincidence – a red traffic signal – that thwarted a full-scale disaster. A moment later, and the intersection would have been swarming with commuter traffic. Forty-five minutes later classes would have been in session at a nearby high school. An hour later the warehouse would have been filled with 200 workers. The two pilots were seriously injured, as were two occupants in a vehicle. The cabin aide, eight passengers, and one person in the building received minor injuries. Five people remained hospitalized, one of them gravely injured. A 66-year-old Paterson man who was riding in a car the jet struck was on life support, authorities said. Later that year, Congress passed legislation authored by U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg that directed the FAA to install 1,000-foot arrestor beds at all U.S. airports.
On September 2, 2005 at 2122 local time, a Cessna 177A, N30491, crashed in South Hackensack during an emergency landing at Teterboro airport. A Teterboro employee observed the plane descending toward runway 24, lost sight of it as it descended below the horizon, then saw two or three bright flashes. The pilot sustained fatal injuries and the passenger serious injuries.
On October 11, 2006 a Cirrus SR20 took off from Teterboro and crashed in New York City at 2:42 pm local time. The aircraft struck the north side of an apartment building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan; it caused a fire in two apartments on the 40th and 41st floors, which was extinguished within an hour. The aircraft was owned and piloted by New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, who died in the accident along with his flight instructor. As a result of this accident the FAA established restrictions on flying up the East River.
Two midair collisions have occurred over the Hudson River involving aircraft that departed from Teterboro, one in 1976, and one in 2009. As a result of the later accident the FAA came up with new guidelines for pilots flying the Hudson River, including mandatory reporting points and separating slower helicopter traffic from faster fixed-wing traffic via assigned altitude blocks.
On January 15, 2009 Teterboro Airport was mentioned as a potential landing area for the crippled US Airways Flight 1549, whose engines were disabled after a flock of birds flew into the plane. The pilots determined they did not have enough altitude to make Teterboro, so they successfully landed the plane into the Hudson River, now known as The Miracle on the Hudson.
On August 21, 2009, around 3:00 a.m. a Beechcraft Baron crashed while attempting to land. The pilot and passenger survived but sustained burns requiring the attention of Saint Barnabas Medical Center's burn unit, the only one in the state of New Jersey. The plane was believed to have originated at Reading, PA, and was carrying blood samples for Quest Diagnostics, which has a lab on property adjacent to Teterboro Airport.
On October 1, 2010 at about 1:45 p.m., a G-4 Gulfstream overshot the runway. It was stopped by an arrester bed. Seven passengers and two pilots were on the plane. No one was injured. The cause of the accident has not been determined.
On December 20, 2011 a single-engine TBM700 crashed on Interstate 287 near Morristown after leaving Teterboro Airport headed for Georgia. Five people, including a family of four and one other passenger, were killed.
On May 15, 2017 at about 3:30 p.m., a Learjet 35 crashed about away while approaching Runway 1. The pilot and co-pilot were killed; no others were on board. It had departed Philadelphia International Airport shortly before. The National Transportation Safety Board safety recommendations from this accident included a requirement for "operators to establish programs for flight crewmembers who have demonstrated performance deficiencies or experienced failures during training and administer additional oversight and training to address and correct performance deficiencies."

In popular culture

On July 24, 1973, Bob Gruen photographed Led Zeppelin in front of The Starship, the band's private Boeing 720 passenger jet, before it departed for a gig at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The photo is considered an iconic shot of the band.
In 2003, Jay-Z coined the nickname "clearport" for Teterboro on his song "Excuse Me Miss", in reference to Teterboro's having less traffic than other major commercial airports in the New York metropolitan area.