Risk near runway at MacArthur Airport
BY SANDRA PEDDIE AND EDEN LAIKIN
Newsday Investigations Team
June 9, 2006
Cracks that pose a potential safety hazard to airplanes have appeared on the newly constructed apron where planes pull up outside the expanded Southwest Airlines terminal at MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, Newsday has learned.
The cracks are considered risky because debris can become lodged in them and then get sucked into airplane engines. Debris that falls off planes, and other garbage, are known as foreign-object debris, or FOD, and incidents related to it are tracked by the Federal Aviation Administration.
In addition, aviation and town sources said, the apron may not be stable because the concrete was poured in bad weather in 2004 and didn't solidify properly.
The type of plane used by Southwest, the Boeing 737, has been nicknamed "the vacuum cleaner" by some pilots because its engines are so low to the ground. In January, an airplane mechanic was killed in El Paso, Texas, when he was sucked into a Continental 737-524 while repairing it, according to aviation records.
Robert Rasmussen, a Texas pavement engineering consultant, said cracks are a problem because "If the layers get soft because of moisture, support weakens. It will only take so many times of an airplane riding over the cracks for it to take its toll."
Southwest spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger said the company, which hired the contractors, is "collecting information to begin work on the repair." She said the airline had not received reports of damage related to cracks.
The Suffolk County district attorney's governmental corruption bureau has been investigating the expansion project and subpoenaed records related to the apron Wednesday, town sources said.
District Attorney Thomas Spota declined to comment, but sources said the subpoena asked for records, correspondence and tests on all paved surfaces at the airport.
The apron, which is where planes pull up to gates 5 through 8, was part of an $82-million expansion project at MacArthur. Southwest added four new gates and currently is renovating four other gates. The second phase of the project was to be completed next month, but that could be delayed due to the problem.
Apron construction cost $12.4 million and was completed in 2004. PavCo, a Holbrook paving company, worked with the Scalamandre Organization, a Freeport firm, on the job.
William Fehr Jr. and Sr., partners in PavCo, did not return a call for comment. Martin McCarthy, Scalamandre vice president and comptroller, said there were no problems with his firm's work.
PavCo is currently facing federal fraud charges for bid-rigging. Their lawyers have said the Fehrs are not guilty. In November 2001, Fred and Joseph Scalamandre, the Scalamandre firm's founders, admitted paying off organized-crime figures with $1 million generated through income tax fraud.
The cracks resulted from a problem in the sub-base of the apron, according to sources familiar with the problem. It was supposed to be 9 inches thick, elevating the 15-inch-high concrete apron above the ground level and protecting it from heaving damage caused by frost. However, the sub-base was only 6 inches, putting the apron below the frost line. That subjected the apron to the freezing and thawing that occurs below that level, leading to chipping and cracking.
Town Attorney Pierce Cohalan said the town was cooperating with prosecutors and would address the problem. He could not say what measures would be taken or how long they would take.
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.
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