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AIR updates Civic group about airline issues

3 min read

Members and guests of the Fort Myers Beach Civic Association heard various options to mitigate noise from aircraft flying over the Beach to and from Southwest Florida International Airport at the non-profit group’s recent monthly meeting at St. Peter Evangelical Church.

They also got some hope that resolution is in the offing: A subcommittee called Airline Intrusion Relief -fronted by Beach resident Tom Merrill – addressed the issue and a plan may be forthcoming in two to three months. Councilman Tom Babcock is deeply involved with the subcommittee’s stance and the ongoing aircraft issues which have occurred since the redesign of airspace on Sept. 30, 2008.

The discussion stemmed from a Federal Aviation Administration meeting held at a Beach resident’s home. AIR and Babcock presented their case to Bob Ball, the executive director of Lee County Port Authority, and Doug Murphy, the regional administrator for the FAA.

At the civic meeting, Merrill used visual aids to show the history of flight patterns over and around the Beach and compared them to the current strategy. He stated noise complaints increased once planes started flying lower than 3,000 feet and sometimes as low as 1,600 feet.

“When you take a look at our geographical position, we have planes coming in from the north end and up the south end,” said Merrill. “Our entire island is susceptible to aircraft now.”

Merrill offered proposed alternative routes from both directions.

“We have solutions to allow them to run the airplanes over an unpopulated area instead of a populated area,” he said. “Instead of keeping the seven-mile marker from the north, they could run it back to maybe six miles. From the south, if they turn the airplanes two miles earlier before going to the Gulf of Mexico, they can come up the Back Bay and then they can turn.”

As of now, Merrill says the FAA is running aircraft 30 miles out of the way over a populated area.

Beach resident Tom Cameron, another member of AIR, spoke to two air controllers about the noise pollution at the FAA meeting.

“They stated that aeronautically there’s absolutely no reason airplanes can’t fly at 4,000 feet,” he said.

Babcock, who was instrumental in getting a resolution passed by the Fort Myers Beach Town Council on the matter, is optimistic that a change is in the near future.

“What was promised to us at the conclusion of this meeting with the FAA is that they will put together what we call a subcommittee that will include (Southwest Florida International) airport’s airspace redesigners, the redesigners in Atlanta, possibly controllers as well as representatives from Estero and Fort Myers Beach to go through this evaluation process,” said Babcock. “They said they should come to some conclusion in 60 to 90 days.”

AIR member John Pohland attended the FAA meeting and mentioned the fact that businesses are also affected by the aircraft noise. He thinks change is not far away.

FMB Civic Association board member Lee Melsek believes the involvement of Lee County Commissioner Ray Judah and FAA advisory board person Fran Myers is essential.

All participants agreed that communication – including letters and phone calls to Lee County Commissioners and U.S. Senators – is crucial to initiating another redesign favorable to the Beach residents and economical to the airline industry in general.

Babcock said a community organization can lead to change.

“Fiddlesticks (Country Club) is what got (the old redesign) changed,” said Babcock. “They put a tremendous amount of effort and let the commissioners know what was going on. They kept their legislators informed.”