BOAT PIX - Helicopter Training Academy - investigation continues...
Every resident knows BOAT PIX N220DM caught here on camera buzzing a home at
100 feet MSL (mean sea level) ie about 30 feet above the pine tree he flew over
to get to the home. Buzzing homes, marinas, restaurants and businesses at half
that altitude are documented througout the area.
BOAT PIX INSTRUCTOR
Martin Sintov in a helicopter crash March 28, click this link for story
"Aren't we glad that engine didn't pop off when they were buzzing our
houses..." Osborne resident.
CLICK
HERE FOR VIDEO DOCUMENTARY 19 minute
"Reckless Endangerment is a crime consisting of acts that create substantial
risk of serous physical injury to another person. The accused person isn't required
to intend the resulting or potential harm, but must have acted in a way that
showed a disregard for the foreseeable consequences of the actions." (from
uslegal.com)
As the Radar traces in this video documentary show, Lantana is an airport "out
of control." And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
As a Commercial pilot with instrument and multi-engine ratings, I racked up
1200 hours in the years I flew freight and people just about everywhere. And
I must say, I am thoroughly ashamed of the juvenile and dangerous pilot behavior
I've documented during the past four months and it's not just helicopter instructors,
students and pilots that are endangering the public... some fixed wing pilots,
instructors and students are flying dangerously and putting the public at risk.
Let me be very clear... we're not lumping all pilots into one category. There
are some very responsible and courteous pilots ...but altogether too few and
they are not forming groups to monitor the others as we did. We all laugh about
"sensitivity training" in the work place... but actually that's what's desperately
needed at Lantana Airport especially for instructors who aren't even teaching
the basics of courtesy like... "what a PREFERRED RUNWAY is" and "why
it’s called THE NOISE ABATEMENT RUNWAY." And you know the contempt for
extending public courtesy is from the top down when a Palm Beach Helicopter
instructor calls the abatement procedures "ridiculous" right in front
of his boss who nods her head in agreement.
As the former Mayor of Atlantis and LWM observed, there wasn’t a single scrap
of paper anywhere on the airport that would tell a pilot, student or instructor
that Lantana Airport was a NOISE SENSITIVE AIRPORT. And for months the DOA (Department
of Airports) seemed unconcerned because they were convinced they had educated
all the pilots in south Florida about the NOISE ABATEMENT PROCEDURES.
But as you might imagine, when the County's own DOA (Department of Airports)
decided not to let the public in on what those NOISE ABATEMENT PROCEDURES were
and what they meant... and they refused to post them on their own NOISE ABATEMENT
website... you could almost hear the sigh of relief from tenants, operators, instructors, pilots
saying ‘…if the DOA hides them, why don’t we hide them and
that way we won’t have residents complaining that we’re not flying where we
should. And we won't have potential students seeing all this stuff about NOISE SENSITIVE AIRPORT which might cause them to go elsewhere to train.'
The ommission of educating the public on these PROCEDURES caused the people
much harm during the past five years as they had no idea what they were entitled
to... they were entitled to RELIEF as the County expected at least 'a good faith
effort' to comply from the training schools who they allowed to stay on the
field. In the end, there isn't a single trace anywhere that shows compliance
making it "universal non compliance."
The quality of instruction at Lantana airport is so poor ...they're not even
teaching the basics of flight patterns. For helicopters it’s every man
for himself flying the pattern that suits him on that day - where he wants,
when he wants and how low he wants ...which is one of the primary reasons helicopters
have become a world renown blight on communities and sensitive environments.
Good neighborly flying is all about respect for others and keeping the kindergarten
basics of "my rights end where yours begin" in focus.
For fixed wing training, the night of February 17th highlights the poor training
and monitoring problem which we will cover in a seperate report.
And there's the much deeper overall aspect of the problem which government
has never addressed. Helicopter training schools don't even belong at a small
airport embedded in an urban setting with communities only 1300 feet from the
runways. It has clearly proven to be be a non compatible use of public land.
And any decent study conducted BEFORE allowing training schools in would have
shown what any resident here knows... it's clearly the wrong thing to do and
the public has paid dearly to make that abundantly clear to government.
Perhaps that's why some clever monied interests may have seen to it that no
study was conducted... knowing full well what the outcome would be. Without
the study, they at least had a chance to get their foot in the door and extend
their influence.
No doubt our County Commission got schmoozed into it WITHOUT ANY STUDY of its
effects on the people. It’s pretty obvious they were ill advised; since by not
engaging reasonable and due process, the people suffering the harm paid for
the result of what the study would have told them... “non compatible use of
public land,” ie, if you do it, it will harm the community.
The unconscionable act of government proceeding in such an irresponsible manner
with the resulting harm to the communities is acknowledged by the mere existence
of these PROCEDURES and their design to give the public relief. But tenants,
operators, instructors, students and pilots seeing no consequences for non compliance...
simply brushed them aside and went on with 'business as usual.'
The “out of control” problem at Lantana Airport extends even to pilots who
operate large twin engine aircraft who routinely buzz homes on departures and
approaches with some outrageously noisy old aircraft that at some point soon
are supposed to conform to new noise standards.
Twin Beech N326TC is a good example. He was so low and loud departing runway
15 (7:38 PM 4/8/2010) that as he flew over the High Ridge Road community on
his way down to Opa Locka airport… a resident who was riding his commercial
sized lawn tractor reported the sound of N326TC completely drowned out the noisy
lawn mover.
Most pilots would agree that incidents happen but the consistent and pervasive
nature of these offenses all over the place day after day was an absolute shock.
In the video, the radar traces verify a dark and dangerous attitude behind
flying that has effectively become "road rage from the air." And as we know,
'road rage' is a form of bullying and arrogance that endangers lives. It's no
different when it comes from the air in the form of using an aircraft to intimidate
residents... the message seems to be from a child… 'we are beyond your reach,
we are above you, we own the air above your home, I paid $30,000 dollars to
get my license and we are not going to give up our control of any airspace so
don't even try to complain or we can make it even worse.'
There is a saying among pilots that is targeted to young pilots whose testosterone
and arrogance are overriding their better senses:
There are old pilots,
And there are bold pilots,
But there are no old… bold pilots
To be continued…..
