Suburban Airport

About 200 people turned out for an Anne Arundel County Council meeting last night to support the previously maligned plan to transform a west county airport into a housing development of condominiums and town homes. In its preliminary proposal, Polm Cos. of Millersville calls for 641 units at Suburban Airport, a Laurel airstrip that is home to nearly 70 planes. Before Rick Polm can build the development, dubbed Riverwood, the county would need to rezone the land off Brock Bridge Road. "This project is an outstanding example of what should be done to help the current housing crisis," Robert Johnston, a vice president with the Anne Arundel County Association of Realtors, told the council last night.

A small experimental aircraft flipped over while landing at Suburban Airport outside Laurel yesterday afternoon, injuring the pilot, state police said. The pilot, Matthew Jurotich, 65, of Bowie, was walking around and talking after fire and rescue crews freed him from the overturned plane about 12:30 p.m. Jurotich was the only person aboard, police said. Jurotich suffered minor injuries and was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center as a precaution. A preliminary investigation indicated that something caused the single-engine plane to lower its nose and overturn after it touched down, police said.

A small experimental aircraft flipped over while landing at Suburban Airport outside Laurel yesterday afternoon, injuring the pilot, state police said. The pilot, Matthew Jurotich, 65, of Bowie, was walking around and talking after fire and rescue crews freed him from the overturned plane about 12:30 p.m. Jurotich was the only person aboard, police said. Jurotich suffered minor injuries and was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center as a precaution. A preliminary investigation indicated that something caused the single-engine plane to lower its nose and overturn after it touched down, police said.

There's always lots of activity within earshot of Maryland City Park, be it kids playing on the playground, canines chasing their friends, or, behind a thick line of trees, thousands of cars whizzing down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. But about a month ago, park-goers could hear something else on the western outskirts of Anne Arundel County: foresters chopping to the ground a stand of leafy trees that extended more than 100 yards along a walking trail, all to clear a path for airplanes.

Two plane crashes near Suburban Airport in five months have alarmed Brockbridge Estates residents who fear the next crash may kill someone in their neighborhood."

Man killed in crash asleep at the wheelA 20-year-old Maryland City man was killed yesterday morning when he fell asleep while driving near his home.Joseph Gordon Ensley, of the 3300 block Sudlersville South, was pronounced dead at North Arundel Hospital two hours after the 3 a.m. accident.Police said Mr. Ensley was driving a Mazda RX-7 east on Brock Bridge Road near Suburban Airport when he fell asleep and lost control of the car, which hit a tree.Police said Mr. Ensley was not wearing his seat belt.

The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation to determine why a single-engine plane crashed into a house in the 3500 block of River Bridge Way in Brockbridge Tuesday evening, a spokeswoman for the agency confirmed yesterday.Joan Brown, the spokeswoman, said an FAA inspector went to Suburban Airport in Laurel to examine the plane about noon yesterday, the first step in what she said would be a "lengthy investigation."FAA investigators have not interviewed the pilot of the plane, Gary Hankins, 45, of the 300 block of Dameron St. in Maryland City.

A single-engine airplane crashed into a split-level house in Brockbridge last night, leaving the pilot with severe head injuries, but harming no one in the house, authorities said.The pilot, Gary Hankins, 45, of the 300 block of Dameron St., Maryland City, was flown to the Prince George's Hospital Center. He later was listed in critical, but stable condition.Randy Franklin, who lives across the street from where the Ultra Light aircraft crashed in the 3500 block of River Bridge Way, was in his garden when the plane come down shortly before 6:30 p.m. "I just heard two or three pops, like shotguns when the engine gave out and then it died and glided right into the house," said Mr. Franklin, 34."

A small plane that crashed shortly after taking off from Suburban Airport in Laurel Monday evening narrowly missed a road packed with commuters and a bike path that connects Maryland City to a nearby park.A volunteer fire chief said that if the plane had not hit a century-old, 40-foot tree, cushioning the impact, the pilot and student aboard the two-seater might have died."There were people driving right underneath the plane as it was crashing," said Ray Smallwood, the fire chief for the Maryland City volunteer fire station.

Suburban Airport doesn't really have a lounge, it has two yard-sale sofas and a coffee pot.And airport manager Charlie Crew doesn't wear a suit, he wears something more appropriate for pushing the vacuum cleaner or planning the next cookout or manning the radio or paying the bills.Suburban Airport is unapologetically small-time, tucked beneath the flight paths of the big-time airports near Baltimore and Washington. There's one short runway, most of the hangars are tents and about 75 propeller-driven airplanes call it home.

About 200 people turned out for an Anne Arundel County Council meeting last night to support the previously maligned plan to transform a west county airport into a housing development of condominiums and town homes. In its preliminary proposal, Polm Cos. of Millersville calls for 641 units at Suburban Airport, a Laurel airstrip that is home to nearly 70 planes. Before Rick Polm can build the development, dubbed Riverwood, the county would need to rezone the land off Brock Bridge Road. "This project is an outstanding example of what should be done to help the current housing crisis," Robert Johnston, a vice president with the Anne Arundel County Association of Realtors, told the council last night.

Two months after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted all flying restrictions at Tipton Airport, those operating the former Army airfield are not looking back. They say they're getting past losses incurred during the month when the federal government closed airports near Washington after the attacks Sept. 11 and the two subsequent months when flights were severely restricted. "In our case, we kind of made the decision to bite the bullet, if you will, and move on," said Tipton spokesman David Almy.

Two months after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted all flying restrictions at Tipton Airport, those operating the former Army airfield are not looking back. They say they're getting past losses incurred during the month when the federal government closed airports near Washington after the attacks Sept. 11 and the two subsequent months when flights were severely restricted. "In our case, we kind of made the decision to bite the bullet, if you will, and move on," said Tipton spokesman David Almy.

For much of the morning, Glenn Clevenger repeated himself as he answered the phone at Suburban Airport. "Hello? Yes, we're open now. No, there are no restrictions now." One by one, pilots strolled back into the Laurel airport's lounge yesterday, smiling -- for the first time in 100 days, they could fly again. "I can't believe it! We're back in the air," shrieked Jim Williamson, who has kept his Navion single-engine plane at Suburban since 1972. The scene replayed itself at Freeway Airport in Bowie and at Maryland Airport in Indian Head.

Suburban Airport doesn't really have a lounge, it has two yard-sale sofas and a coffee pot.And airport manager Charlie Crew doesn't wear a suit, he wears something more appropriate for pushing the vacuum cleaner or planning the next cookout or manning the radio or paying the bills.Suburban Airport is unapologetically small-time, tucked beneath the flight paths of the big-time airports near Baltimore and Washington. There's one short runway, most of the hangars are tents and about 75 propeller-driven airplanes call it home.

Once they thrived. Now they're being shut down, sold off, abandoned.They are community airports, and Maryland has lost five in the past decade. Five more of the state's 29 small public airports could close in the next decade.Across the country, these airports are closing at a rate of one a week, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).It is the 5,500 small airports, not the 28 major hubs like Baltimore-Washington International, that form the backbone of the country's aviation network.

Once they thrived. Now they're being shut down, sold off, abandoned.They are community airports, and Maryland has lost five in the past decade. Five more of the state's 29 small public airports could close in the next decade.Across the country, these airports are closing at a rate of one a week, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).It is the 5,500 small airports, not the 28 major hubs like Baltimore-Washington International, that form the backbone of the country's aviation network.

Two months after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted all flying restrictions at Tipton Airport, those operating the former Army airfield are not looking back. They say they're getting past losses incurred during the month when the federal government closed airports near Washington after the attacks Sept. 11 and the two subsequent months when flights were severely restricted. "In our case, we kind of made the decision to bite the bullet, if you will, and move on," said Tipton spokesman David Almy.

Two plane crashes near Suburban Airport in five months have alarmed Brockbridge Estates residents who fear the next crash may kill someone in their neighborhood."

The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation to determine why a single-engine plane crashed into a house in the 3500 block of River Bridge Way in Brockbridge Tuesday evening, a spokeswoman for the agency confirmed yesterday.Joan Brown, the spokeswoman, said an FAA inspector went to Suburban Airport in Laurel to examine the plane about noon yesterday, the first step in what she said would be a "lengthy investigation."FAA investigators have not interviewed the pilot of the plane, Gary Hankins, 45, of the 300 block of Dameron St. in Maryland City.