Boulder Municipal Airport Contact List
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Boulder Municipal Airport
Airport Phone: 303-441-3108 Noise Complaint Line: 303-424-4100 bma@bouldercolorado.gov FAA Hotline Reporting Form |
Guest opinion: The elephant in the room is sitting on the runway
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The most important topic concerning the Boulder Municipal Airport, barely discussed in news reports or city communications, is that pilots and aviation businesses are free to do what they want. There are no rules or governing authority concerning how they treat their neighbors on the ground. The issue isn’t about having an airport, the issue is about democracy and should city property be used and controlled by a group that is unaccountable to the general public.
How is it that a handful of aviation operators got control of city property worth at least $350 million? The simple answer is the city received grant assurances from the FAA on the condition that the city not impede aviation operations in any manner. In effect, the pilots have been granted the right to fly anywhere anytime in perpetuity. My own story started three years ago when I sent a note to the airport about planes flying directly overhead. The planes were not following Boulder's departure standard, but cutting the corner, flying over our home that was built 50 years before the airport. The reply from Boulder indicated that “there’s nothing the city can do, all restrictions are voluntary.” Two years later, after a dozen requests to pilots to follow Boulder’s departure rule, we had a meeting with John Kinney, the airport’s manager, and the business operators from BDU. The meeting concluded with the owner of Journeys Aviation stating, to the best of my recollection, “There’s a misperception here, the rules aren’t requirements, only suggestions. We are free to do what we think is best.” Imagine a bunch of students on The Hill telling the neighbors that the “noise ordinance is only a suggestion, we will decide how much party noise we can make.” Since the city is powerless, I contacted the FAA. The officer from the Flight Standards District Offices agreed, stating that it was a violation and that an investigation would be scheduled. Six months later I met with an FAA manager and made my case only to have him cherry-pick the data and then declare that it was not in the public’s interest for the FAA to hear any more complaints about noise or altitude violations. There it was: The FAA will not enforce its own rules. I was astounded |
by his apparent dishonesty; the Boulder aviators understand this, confirmed by my own requests that they follow Boulder’s departure rule only to be told, “The FAA says we can do what we want.” That “want” does not require a “safety exception” only their desire to fly unimpeded. Pilots who have zero regard for the people they fly over are free to operate as they see fit, treating us on a continuum between indifference to aggression. Complaints recorded each year do not reflect the level of aggravation. Most give up when they realize the city is powerless and the FAA won't act.
Similarly, aviation proponents, when ticking off the benefits of having an airport, leave a fundamental assumption unstated: We will not modify our equipment for any reason. Perhaps they are unaware that this same battle between pilots and the public took place in Europe 30 years ago. The German people instituted noise limits and German manufacturers rose to the occasion building propellers, exhaust noise suppressors and modifications to burn unleaded fuel. The piston aircraft are the same between the U.S. and Germany, but Germany does not have a servile and dishonest air administrator. Letters to the Editor in support of Boulder's airport are full of superlatives. The airport is "an inspiration", "a beacon" or "a sense of community." Sadly, none of them mention the root cause of the complaints: The planes are spraying noise and lead! The character of people who fly airplanes is not the point. The issue is one of putting a valuable city resource under local democratic control rather than in the hands of a few whose profits and amusement are subsidized by the people they fly over. An airport under local control could still be an inspiring beacon of community, one that follows rules set by the entire community. Before the city makes any decision on the 179 acres it must get rid of the Faustian FAA contract. Now, there is no obligation to treat the people on the ground with respect. By breaking the contract with the FAA, the city can champion democracy and justice. Hopefully Council Members Benjamin and Yates will consider the root cause of the problem and support local democratic control. |
