"Airport Land Use: 'This is our worst nightmare'-- neighbors want planes rerouted"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Neighbors want planes rerouted
Executive Airport has suggested changes to flight paths, but the Federal
Aviation Administration says the solution could be worse than the problem.
BY NIKKI WALLER
The Miami (FL) Herald


Monday's plane crash gave life to the worst fears of residents who have
spent years trying to persuade Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport and the
Federal Aviation Administration to reroute planes away from from their
neighborhoods.

Homeowners associations in Coral Ridge Isles and Knoll Ridge, the Lake
Estates Improvement Association and other groups have long complained of the
noise and danger caused by low-flying aircraft.

''This is our worst nightmare right here,'' said Linda Bird, president of
the Lake Estates Improvement Association. ``We all predicted that it was
going to happen. We just didn't know when.''

The homeowners want all east- and southbound jets departing from Runway 26
to be diverted north, along Interstate 95. The move would dramatically
reduce noise in their neighborhoods, they say.

Executive Airport has made the same recommendation to the FAA, but the
federal agency declared the change unsafe, said airport manager Clara
Bennett.

The FAA agreed to route those flights north at night, but deemed daytime
airspace near I-95 too crowded during the day, due to traffic from other,
nearby airports.

The airport also is working on other noise abatement measures, such as
continuous noise monitoring, pilot education, the closing of another runway
at night and preferential departures for westbound flights on runway 26 at
night, Bennett said.

She said the city is committed to finding new noise-reduction strategies to
propose to the FAA.

''We plan to continue and analyze new procedures that maybe the FAA will
consider,'' she said, ``but the FAA has the final say.

Monday's close call when a DC-3S crashed and burned on a residential street
left residents feeling as though their neighborhoods were at risk, Bird
said.

As of Monday evening, several homeowners associations planned to hold an
emergency meeting to discuss safety issues.

No one on the ground was hurt in the crash, and the three people on board
survived, but the plane could have crashed into any of four nearby schools
or a nearby hospital, Bird said.

Cindy Caird, 59, is a former flight attendant who lives a few blocks from
the crash site.

''It's scary. It's really, really scary,'' she said. ``They're taking off
over us, so low.''

Caird said the riskiest moments in a flight are the three minutes after
takeoff and eight minutes before landing.

''You always have that fear when you live near the airport,'' she said.


   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA General Aviation Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php

*****************************************