Why a consultant for air traffic?
There are many misconceptions about airline flights over Fort Myers Beach. The latest is the town council decision to bring in a consultant. Some politicians and local media have ramped up the rhetoric that all is fine as our airport and consultants have been working on things, so our town is wating money. has been spent and consultants have been hired so our town is wasting money. Sounds good, but what has actually happened?
In the mid 1990s, changes in flight patterns began to change. Together with former United Airlines pilot, Dave Smith, I brought this issue to Town Council in May, 1998. Two very significant statements were made by Senior RSW management at the time: “33 percent of aircraft is flying over the Beach” and more importantly, to quell council concerns, “We cannot establish a railroad track over any one area.”
Fast forward 16 years to 2014 and here are the results:
In terms of actual number of planes over FMB, the increase is about 250 percent. Who could not interpret this as a “railroad track” in the sky? Most past politicians have been in continual avoidance, at best. For years they have asked us to wait a little longer but the results are clear. The latest twist offered is a well-worn 50-page “white paper” from the airport that offers much of the same while avoiding some of the obvious. And often the words don’t match the actions. For example, although keeping planes at 3,000 feet has been a stated objective for about 16 years, an important electronic marker just off our coast for pilots is still set at 2,000 feet.
While other communities have defended their airspace, FMB has been the loser and has been singled out to take the brunt of airline traffic.
Our new town council majority recognizes the need to change direction. Hiring a consultant with solid background as a former transportation secretary with contacts within the FAA offers a clear path toward moving forward instead of backward. This is a huge change. It’s called defense of our tourism industry and our residential quality of life.
Continually transferring noise from other communities to ours is clearly not according to FAA policy, but this is what has been happening to FMB and it has been helpful to others. Now we have a choice to belatedly do what is right for our community.
Listening to those who want to keep dumping noise and jet exhaust on our community often spin this issue as if it were against business, tourism, or the airport. The fact is, this issue is simply about routing aircraft to avoid our island community rather than to target us. This has been done for others and there are ways to do the same for FMB. The long term health and prosperity of this community depends on defending against outside forces the same as we do with any other threat.
While various changes have been incorporated in the system to help other communities, only voluntary measures have been offered to FMB. And, the big burden of developing and implementing these voluntary measures has been placed on an already overburdened Air Traffic Control. As creative as their solutions have been, they fall short of the mega changes that have taken place out of their control.
We formed our town about 20 years ago to have control over our own destiny. It has worked for many issues, but we walked away from defense of our airspace. Our town is up against some entrenched forces, and this council needs your support.
Instead of asking why hire a consultant to defend our community, perhaps we should wonder why we didn’t a long time ago.
-Tom Merrill initiated awareness for this issue and is a member of Air Intrusion Relief, a community-driven organization formed to help in solving aircraft issues. Contact for A.I.R. is Fmbairplanes@yahoo.com.