Twenty-seven homeowners who live four miles from the end of the Williams Gateway Airport runway, near Phoenix, Arizona, are suing Pulte Homes for failing to tell them how busy the former Air Force Base would be.

Residents allege in their suit that in literature about the development, Pulte simply said the airport was closed. Pulte's disclosure reports to the Arizona Department of Real Estate say: "The Williams Air Force Base has been closed as an armed forces facility. The flight paths were over the subdivision when the base was open, but are not now."

"Pulte was well aware of the airport and knew it was going to affect the value of the property, and potentially the health of those residents - and didn't disclose that," said Richard Mack. The former air base was closed in 1991 and reopened as Williams Gateway Airport in 1994. The former base now houses the Arizona State University-East campus, a flight school operated by the University of North Dakota and numerous aviation related activities, including repeated touch-and-go training flights.

Williams Gateway officials estimate the airport currently hosts nearly 200,000 annual operations and is expected to increase that traffic count to 300,000 by 2005.

The suit accuses Pulte of fraud, consumer fraud, negligence and misrepresentation and seeks unspecified compensation for diminished property value.

Michael R. Wood filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court last year, seeking to obtain a judicial declaration that the Hayward Airport is not "owned" by the City of Hayward, but by the U.S. government. Hayward's airport was developed by the U.S. Army in World War II, and later transferred to the city under a Quit Claim Deed containing specific terms and conditions. The U.S. government retained rights of reversion (i.e., repossession) if these conditions are ever abrogated by the city.

District Court Judge Susan Y. Ilston agreed with the City of Hayward and the U.S. Attorney, and denied Wood's petition on the grounds that 1) he had no legal standing to sue; 2) that the United States government "has no interest" in the property; and 3) that there is no case or controversy extant.

Wood appealed his case to the Ninth District, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, citing extensive case law and precedent to support his position, and pointed out that unless the District Court's ruling is reversed the rights of aviation users of all former military airports transferred to local jurisdictions under the Surplus Property Act of 1944 would be jeopardized, and sponsors such as Hayward would be free to ignore the terms and conditions by which they acquired these airports.

Last month, the Ninth Circuit denied Wood's appeal in an unpublished ruling. Wood has filed a petition for reconsideration, and if that fails he is prepared to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

This has been a costly undertaking for Wood. He has now established a web site to broadcast his crusade to the world and request donations. The site contains references to case law and precedent, and reproduces the pleadings of both sides to the controversy, as well as the court rulings. The address is: http://www.helpsaveourairportsusa.com