Linden Airport manager Paul Dudley stands beside an enormous snowplow that he uses to help ensure the airport is free of snow. He’s been quite busy clearing snow at the airport this winter.
LINDEN, NJ — For Linden Airport manager Paul Dudley, a Staten Island native and father of three who has been at the airport for 37 years and served as director for 31 of those years, the snowstorms that have blanketed New Jersey in the past month are just one more job. A pilot himself, Dudley can fly airplanes, multi-engine airplanes and commercial helicopters, none of which helps him clear the snow from the airport runways any faster. Servicing the airport is a time-intensive task, but Dudley wouldn’t have it any other way.
“People don’t realize how it benefits the general public,” Dudley said on Friday, Feb. 12. “Linden Airport serves three primary purposes. One of the most important is, we relieve traffic from Newark International Airport. If Linden was not here, a lot of that traffic would have to go into Newark Airport. When you and your family are sitting at Newark in the airplane, waiting to take off, one of the reasons there is less delay is because of what we do here at Linden Airport. We accommodate all of the corporate, charter, private, photo and air-tour flights. That relieves Newark and leaves room for the airlines to operate and reduces delays at Newark. We benefit the entire flying public by being here to reduce congestion at the larger airports.”
The second task of Linden Airport is that it serves as an off-ramp on the aviation expressway, Dudley continued. For companies and individuals coming to this area for business or personal reasons, it’s an exit and part of the national plan of airports that provide an aerial network of highways, so that anybody who needs to come to this area knows they have a place to land, park the aircraft, get fuel and get whatever services they need.
“The third thing that we do is we provide a base for aircraft that are owned by people who live in this community,” said Dudley. “If you have a boat, you keep it at a marina. With that, you have parking spots to put the boat, fuel, repairs, and that’s what we are. We’re like a marina for airplanes.”
According to Dudley, the Linden Airport also supports state and federal agencies, providing fuel and other services. The airport is used by the New Jersey State Police, as well as the Coast Guard, the FBI, the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, among others. The airport provides facilities for aeromedical use, supports organ transport and supports all activities that involve rescue, law enforcement and counterterrorism. Linden Airport is also the helicopter center for the region; a large helicopter air-tour operator is based there, and it houses all the news helicopters, including CBS New York’s Chopper 2, WNBC News’ Chopper 4, FOX 5 New York’s Chopper 5, ABC7 New York’s Chopper 7, the PIX11 news chopper, the Bloomberg News chopper and WCBS Newsradio 880’s chopper. The airport is also available for emergency landings.
In the midst of the COVID-19 shutdown, Dudley said, Linden High School held its June graduation ceremony at the airport, spearheaded by Linden Mayor Derek Armstead. Dudley detailed the hard work that was done to pull off the event.
“It was worth it,” he said. “It took me days to get that set up. I slept on that stage, to make sure nothing was going to happen to it. When the stage was brought in the night before, it took us half the night to set up, but I went over and I stayed at that stage, because there was a lot of trouble happening with people who were defacing public buildings, knocking over statues, spray-painting and rioting at the time.
“The last thing I wanted was to come in the next day and find the stage spray-painted or damaged,” he continued. “So I parked right in front of the stage, and that’s where I stayed that night. But to see the kids dressed up, cars decorated like parade floats, families crying at the graduation the next day — it was an experience I never expected to have.”
Although the airport is used for many purposes, huge snowstorms have proved to be a hassle. When the snowstorms hit this winter, Dudley and his staff of a half-dozen had to plow the snow themselves — a grueling series of 18-hour days of nothing but snow removal. Though Linden is a smaller airport comparatively, a great deal of work was still required by its smaller staff to clear away the snow.
“Linden Airport could not grow any bigger because we are hemmed in by a state highway — Route 1 — on one side and a county road on the other,” Dudley said. “A lot of the airports, such as Miami, L.A., Las Vegas, they were built in the middle of nowhere and had plenty of property where they can develop into big airports. Linden never got that big, because we could never expand.
“To support all of the activities going on with Linden Airport, the airport has to be open,” he continued. “We are a small airport. Just like with any other airport, snow events are an all-hands-on-deck event. … We have what amounts to a small city to clear. The runway is about 150 feet wide. We go back and forth, 6 feet at a time. We have to go up one side and down the other, plowing snow. It takes a long time. We have to clear the runways, the taxiways, the ramp areas, fuel facilities, parking lots and hanger areas. All of these spaces are vast. As a result, it takes a tremendous effort.”
Dudley said clearing away the snow gives him the opportunity to ensure everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing, as well as provide some training and mentoring. He said that, luckily, these snowstorms don’t happen often. But because the airport plays such a critical role, he takes it very seriously and emphasizes the need to get it done as quickly and safely as possible.
“We’re also here for emergency landings,” Dudley said. “You never know when someone is going to have a mechanical failure or some other problem where they need an airport, and, if we’re the closest one, we’d want to be able to be open and be there for them. In terms of how many hours we’re out there plowing snow, it’s pretty much doing whatever it takes. When the equipment breaks down is when you know you should stop.
“In this snowstorm, which was atypical of our events, we had an average of 18 inches, with drifts of over 6 feet, and the runway is almost 5,000 feet long, and that’s just the runway,” he said. “It takes a very long time and a great deal of effort. The good news is it doesn’t happen every day. We do the minimum to get open. With each progressive day, we do more and more to open up more space and clear more area.”
An airport director is responsible for doing all of those technical things that any good combination of a manager and geek can do, said Dudley. Some of those things are very technical in nature, involving systems of the airport that guide and direct aircraft and communicating with aircraft. The other side of it is trying to manage personnel. He said the manager is responsible for making sure the environment is a safe environment. All the manager can do is train people, lead them and give them some inspiration to enjoy what they do, and to make sure they do it properly to ensure the safety of everyone involved. When the traveling public gets on an aircraft or lands at an airport, he said, they expect it to be safe.
“You get immediate gratification, because you’re able to help so many people on a daily basis,” he said. “That’s the key, and that’s what makes it all worthwhile. Whether it’s someone who’s arriving here or someone that needs help departing from here to go someplace they’re excited about going to, it’s a very rewarding job. I never expected I’d be here for many years, but I’d do it again.”
“The Linden Airport is designated as a reliever airport by the FAA, due to the proximity of the three major airports in our region,” Seventh Ward Councilman Ralph Strano said on Wednesday, Feb. 17. A reliever airport provides additional capacity when the commercial airports reach capacity. “It serves as a point-of-entry airport for VIP’s during temporary flight restrictions in this area. The airport also serves all state and federal law enforcement agencies as a base of operations when needed.”
Strano acknowledged that the airport is home to all of the major TV news helicopters and Helicopters Inc., which offers charter flights. The helicopter company is what the FAA classifies as Charter-Type Services, Part 135, allowing them to move both passengers and cargo, as well as serve as a repair station. The airport is home to more than 80 fixed-wing general aviation aircraft that range from two-place ultralight aircraft to light twin-engine aircraft. More than 24 helicopters are based there as well, ranging from two-place trainers to charter helicopters. The airport also maintains two large corporate hangars.
“Paul Dudley has been our fixed-based operator for the last 30 years,” said Strano. “He basically leaves and breathes the Linden Airport. He, and a dedicated staff, work year-round to consistently have Linden Airport receive above-average ratings from the state of New Jersey DOT Aviation Division. Of late, he and his crew have been working overtime to keep the airport open with all of the snow we are experiencing and to keep that equipment in repair.”