WAWARSING – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is backing up the contentions of an Ellenville hang-gliding instructor who says the Town of Wawarsing is denying him the right to operate at the town airport.

Greg Black, owner of Mountain Wings, Inc., has taught hang-gliding in Ellenville for decades. His property on Hang Glider Road has a "bunny hill" on which students can learn to fly hang-gliders. Once they master that, however, they move on to intermediate training, which Black could offer at the Joseph Y. Resnick Airport, which is owned by the town. Black said he uses a vehicle with a large winch, which pulls the glider into the air before detaching from it. He needs the long stretches of land at the airport in order to do that. He doesn't even want to use the runway itself, noting,"We'd be on the grass, on the side."

The FAA, in a July 3 letter to Wawarsing Town Supervisor Scott Carlsen, reaffirmed a ruling it made in 1996 and again in 1997 that Mountain Wings was an approved aeronautical activity, and as such must be allowed to operate at the airport. That is because the town receives hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in federal grant funding to run the airport; as part of those grants, it is obligated to allow any aeronautical activity to operate there.

"Any further denial of this aeronautical activity will be considered a violation of the Grant Assurances," stated a 1997 letter from the FAA to Gerald Depew, town supervisor at the time.

Town officials are saying an FAA safety survey must be done before allowing Black to operate at the airport.

"We don't want a hang glider, especially a trainee, getting into the flight path of aircraft," said town councilman Steve Bradley, liaison to the airport. "Yes, he used the airport before. But there are a lot more airplanes using the airport now than there used to be. We're trying to do this the right way and the safe way."

Bradley said he spoke to FAA representative Al Miller, who advised him of the safety survey. When contacted by the newspaper, Miller said his division deals with aircraft, not airports. Several calls to other FAA officials were not returned.

But Town Attorney William Collier agreed with Bradley's contention. "The town is ultimately concerned about the safety of the users of the airport, especially the commingling of gliders and fixed-wing aircraft."

The town has used those reasons to throw up roadblocks, Black said, to prevent him from operating. He said he is required to provide additional insurance, of which he presented copies recently. He was told he needed radios, which he says he already uses. And Collier has yet to draw up a contract, Black said.

Because the town appears to be dragging its feet, his glider business is suffering, Black said.

"The season's already half over," Black said. Because of the town's refusal to allow him to use the airport, Black must direct intermediate students to an airport in Middletown, which means a loss of income not only for him but for the town itself.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey is supporting Black's fight. In a June 18 letter to Carlsen, Hinchey reaffirmed the FAA's contention and urged the town to allow Black's access to the airport.

Carlsen supports the town attorney's contention.

"There have been no attempts to stall him (Black), at least since January, and I have repeatedly explained this to Greg Black," Carlsen said in an email on June 25. "His contract is outdated and his insurance information appears to be insufficient ... As recently as this morning, I have been advised that the FAA will be conducting a safety survey. The Town Board cannot circumvent the FAA and must wait until they render a decision."