Susan M. Woods

My congratulations and sincere appreciation to Leslie Campbell for an exceedingly-well-written article, which presents for public viewing many of the safety and health concerns related to the design and operation of Victoria Harbour Water Airport. In 2017 Transport Canada (TC) advised that, by the end of that year, there would be an amendment “to raise the current certified water aerodromes safety level to one comparable to that found at certified land airports.” This was yet another in almost 20 years’ worth of unfulfilled promises, but this was the first time that TC actually admitted to applying a lesser level of safety when certifying water aerodromes, which, to me, was and is reprehensible, especially when the water aerodrome/airport is located in the heart of a city with planes approaching at greater than 100mph within 50m or less from a popular walkway and multi-storey residences, a distance that could be closed in less than a second! I've seen and reported to TC on too many close-call incidents to think anything other than it's a case of "when", not "if", a crash will occur here. I firmly believe that TC’s recently-released notice is no coincidence. TC media relations staff were approached by Focus in early May, so TC was well aware that the article would soon be made public. TC’s had more than 19 years to prepare the text of such an amendment and, I believe, had it ready just in case. I think “just in case” arrived in the form of the Focus article, which now has made TC take the first step to right the wrong I believe they’ve perpetrated here since 2000 when TC certified Victoria Harbour Water Airport. Thank you Leslie Campbell and Focus magazine for this achievement!! I urge all those who have similar concerns about our water airport to visit https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/NPA-APM/actr.aspx?id=57&aType=1&lang=eng and respond to TC CARAC’s invitation. Susan M. Woods