Marlboro Airport as seen from the air. (Photo by Dudley Darling, published under a Creative Commons )
The single runway of a tiny, privately-owned airfield west of Boston suffered severe damage when President Barack Obama paid a visit in April. Now the owner is petitioning the government to fix it.
Marlboro Airport (9B1) proprietor Robert Stetson, 64, tells The Boston Globe that when dozens of heavy SUVs, firetrucks and other security vehicles in the president’s entourage rumbled down his 1,659 ft asphalt runway in a single file, they caused at least $100,000 worth of cracks and damage to the pavement—damage he fears could cause a plane crash.
The President was in town on April 1st to visit emergency workers responding to the state’s worst flooding in decades. Mr. Stetson agreed to allow the President’s swarm of six helicopters—including Marine One—to land at Marlboro, but apparently did not anticipate all the trucks, which are a bit bulkier than the small Cessnas and Pipers which make up most of the field’s traffic.
Reportedly the White House has called Mr. Stetson with contact info for the Secret Service’s Boston field office, but what sort of help he will receive remains to be seen. In the meantime, Stetson has enlisted the help of local politicians and
