Why there is no compliance
First a few facts… at times during the week, Lantana Airport may have
a much as two and a half times more flight operations than PBI in an area one
quarter the size.
During the fifteen year presence of helicopters at Lantana Airport, at no time
did the County ever approve helicopter flight training over ANY populated areas
around the airport.
In the mid 90’s when helicopter schools applied for tenancy on the airport,
the County Commission recognizing the clear threat to the neighboring communities,
formalized its intent to protect the public by authorizing and publishing NOISE
ABATEMENT PROCEDURES issued through its DOA (Department of Airports).
It is clear the County Commission had anticipated ‘a good faith effort’
and compliance from helicopter training school tenants. But during the past
decade and more specifically the past FIVE YEARS, the DOA (Department of Airports)
failed to gain any compliance to these relief measures.
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By December 2004, after years of non compliance with these PROCEDURES by training
schools; the County intentionally added airport boundary definitions to the
PROCEDURES to beef up its efforts to gain compliance and once again confined
training operations to that area above the boundaries of the airport.
The DOA (Department of Airports) distributed these PROCEDURES among training
schools and pilots but failed to distribute, promote or even post them on their
own NOISE ABATEMENT website so the public could learn that the helicopters were
not supposed to be training over their homes.
So poor was the DOA’s leadership in dispensing this relief information
to the public that in January 2010, LWM and the Mayor of Atlantis discovered
that there couldn’t be found anywhere on the airport …any indication
that Lantana was even a NOISE SENSITIVE AIRPORT. There were no diagrams posted
anywhere showing the correct noise abatement flight patterns, no information
on what a preferred runway is.
And all throughout this time, the County’s formal “pleas”
and requests to helicopter training schools to become ‘good neighbors,’
were met with continued defiance and operations in blatant violation of the
County’s express will to protect the public. Hence the public continued
to suffer harm as the tenant and other helicopter training schools, operators,
instructors, students and pilots assumed control over Lantana Airport.
Denying the public access to information critical to their comfort is a serious
offense against the people, especially considering the past FIVE YEARS of pain
and suffering inflicted on the various communities surrounding the airport because
the DOA never informed the public that the helicopters weren’t supposed
to be training over their homes.
The public, deprived of this information critical to their wellbeing ...quickly
fell into despair and losing all hope of relief… they stopped filing complaints
as they came to believe that the County expected them to endure the training
operations over their homes and neighborhoods. So pervasive was the mood of
despair that one uninformed Civic Association President wrote “unfortunately
the helicopters are here to stay,” implying that residents should just
give up and take the abuse.
So the communities surrounding the airport continued to suffer harm while the
County Commission actually thought the surrounding communities were at peace
with the airport because the DOA was reporting only a few isolated complaints here and
there. Even CCAN (Citizen’s Committee on Airport Noise)
Chairman Paul Agnew fell under this misconception showing how little in touch
government is with the reality on the front line.
With the DOA withholding knowledge of these PROCEDURES from the public, helicopter
training schools got the obvious message that the County wasn’t serious
about compliance. After all, if the public didn’t know where the helicopters
were really supposed to be flying, there would be few if any complaints regardless
of where helicopters flew and regardless of what they did. So the helicopter
operators got a green light for ‘anything goes.’
And as a caveat, fewer complaints meant less work for the DOA who could then
focus on other activities instead of gaining compliance with the anticipated
relief the County Commission had intended for the people.
Ironic that government authorizes the most critical entitlements protecting
the public and an organ of government nullifies that action by keeping that critical relief information
hidden from the public …essentially advocating for the very
commercial interests the County Commission is trying to protect the people from.
And the DOA never promoted general knowledge of this critical information to
civic groups and neighborhood associations …but did encourage the very tenants
violating the County’s PROCEDURES to interact with civic groups so as
to tell them what a wonderful effort they’re making to please the public!
And of course, an uninformed public was more prone to believe a ‘big lie.’
The real reason helicopter training schools have refused to comply - $$$$$
As you might expect, driving this whole aberration is economics and influence. The economic
engine driving helicopter schools is the leased-back helicopter the cheapest
being an investment of about a quarter million dollars. Investors get return
only when their investments are in the air… not on the ground.
So training schools are pressured to put as many helicopters in the air as
possible and therefore they had to find a way NOT TO COMPLY with the dreaded
NOISE ABATEMENT PROCEDURES because it would reduce profits since traffic patterns
confined over the airport would only allow one to two helicopters at a time.
However, if training patterns could be expanded over the communities (as it
is now) it would allow for unlimited numbers of helicopters training simultaneously
which would drive up the profit margin to more comfortable levels for investors.