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Donald Hugh

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  1. Leslie Campbell's article An airport in our midst in the July/August issue was very informative. I live overlooking Victoria's middle and outer harbours, and have clear views of both Middle Harbour's Alpha Runway (East-West) and Outer Harbour's Bravo Runway (NE-SW). Leslie Campbell’s article quotes Transport Canada's Simon Rivet on the subject of “noise mitigation strategies” implemented by Transport Canada for Victoria Harbour air traffic: “We only allow three-bladed turbo-prop aircraft, which is the quietest version of a floatplane in existence.” It is true that turbo-prop aircraft make up most of the traffic in Victoria Inner Harbour Airport, but there are also a number of smaller piston-engined aircraft that take off. Hence, I challenge Rivet’s statement “we only allow”. One's attention is certainly attracted to the piston-engined aircraft; one's hearing suffers when these noisy beasts take off. It is time to enforce the ban on aircraft that do not meet the three-bladed turbo-prop rule. Rivet is also quoted as saying: “Best practices include the reduction of reverse thrust when landing, with sufficient room to allow for a natural slowdown, rather than have to put it in 'reverse', which is quite noisy.” According to Rivet, “the preferred runway for landings is eastbound on Alpha Runway” – that's the runway right through where people live. But an important percentage of landings are westbound on Alpha Runway, taking advantage of the wind from the south. This means that aircraft are now heading west, away from town. There is then every incentive for pilots to stop as quickly as possible on landing, because they're going the wrong way – away from their destination. I would estimate that eight out of ten landings from the east involve pilots reversing engines to stop as quickly as they can, creating completely unnecessary, high-decibel noise, to the annoyance of all who live on both sides of Middle Harbour. Pilots and airlines are their own worst enemy. If they keep on behaving this way, they're going to get themselves kicked out of the harbour because of the noise they create. The use of reverse thrust should be prohibited except in the case of an emergency. Leslie Campbell interviewed a few of the thousands of people who live and work on both sides of Middle Harbour. Many are concerned about the safety of mingling aircraft with boats, canoes, the Coho and other harbour users. We are told that aircraft fly within 50 meters of buildings on the Songhees side. This means that airplanes are passing within only a few meters of the boats tied up in the Victoria International Marina at the foot of Cooperage Place in Middle Harbour. The alarm clock for the occupants of those boats will be the 7AM flight out of Victoria – the first in the day. In my mind's eye, the thousands of inhabitants on both sides of Middle Harbour will one day rise up and shout, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"* They will take to small boats and fill the harbour, preventing all aircraft movement. The problem is, where are they going to go, these airplanes, if they get chased away? To solve the problem of the safety and noise in Middle Harbour, Alpha Runway should be closed. The aircraft will simply have to use Bravo Runway. -- Donald Shields * from the movie Network
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