Easy for folks living near the airport to say they like the noise, as the sky dive plane doesn’t make much noise until it has traveled five kilometres from where they live.
Then it starts its climb, and mostly this is in a southerly direction along Tronson Road, so people living out that way are the ones who have to suffer, and who incidentally did not choose to live anywhere near the airport.
And thanks to one of our elected representatives, Coun. Brian Quiring, who has the uninformed comment, “I don’t have a lot of sympathy for people complaining about the noise at the airport.” Had he done any research, he would have discovered that the maximum noise is not at the airport, as noted above. Thanks for your support, Brian! And how about Chalmers? He apparently knows all the complainants, for he is quoted as saying, “Most of the noise complaints were made by two people and sometimes on days when they were not flying.” How does he know there are only two? I spent a half an hour on the phone with the airport manager, and he listened while the plane swooped over our house (five kilometres from the airport) at its noisiest.
As Chalmers admits, “A climbing aircraft will create a greater level of noise.” Guess what, all you friends of the sky divers, the climb doesn’t start at the airport, so you’re not suffering through any noise like those of us five kilometres away.
And why, Mr. Chalmers, do you have to use the same route every time you leave the airport, with all the wonderful Vernon-loving tourists in your plane? Could you not vary the route so that you’re not flying over the same houses incessantly? By the way, thanks for lately using the less noisy planes to “cut down the number of flights over the city,” presumably in high season. Not sure you should be using the noisier plane “in the shoulder seasons when there are fewer people going up.” After all, during Canada Day weekend, your customer volume must have “soared” enough to have you keep the Piper aircraft for all flights!
Steve Gosse
