Now We Know Why Complaints About Airport Noise Go Nowhere

To the editor: Mr. Topham’s July 12 letter promises readers “purely factual” content. He left out the most important fact of all: Patrick Topham oversees operations in the air traffic control tower at Nantucket Memorial Airport; the one person on this island who, if he chose to, could reduce airport noise over our homes. When the man who directs the traffic writes to tell his neighbors the noise is nothing, that is not a fact-check. It is the airport grading its own homework.

Here is a second fact he left out: why operations fell. In 2003, three commuter airlines, Cape Air, Nantucket Airlines, and Island Airlines, shuttled nine-seat Cessnas to Hyannis nearly every hour of the day, and every one of those short hops counted as two “operations.” Island Airlines shut down in 2015, and that ceaseless small-plane shuttle has been replaced by JetBlue A220s, regional jets flying for American, Delta, and United, and a rising tide of private jets. One A220 does the work of fifteen Cessnas. Fewer operations but bigger, heavier, louder aircraft.

Then there is the “voluntary noise abatement program.” Mr. Topham states that single-engine aircraft are exempt however, in truth, every aircraft is exempt since the program is voluntary. Pilots are merely asked to observe voluntary policies. Our letter proposed a simple solution: route aircraft over water, along already approved routes, and incentivize compliance. Mr. Topham’s answer is that there is no noise problem to solve, while completely ignoring the pollution issues raised in our letter as well.

Which brings us to a third fact he left out. Mr. Topham was careful to publish how far Mr. Stott and I live from the airport, three-quarters of a mile and eight-tenths of a mile, but somehow never mentioned that he lives 2.7 miles from the airport as the crow flies, well beyond the distances he so precisely cited for us.

Then consider his “best fact”: a twenty-year-old story told to mock a suggestion made in good faith by the wife of a Nantucket Civic League member. It was unnecessary, and it tells you all you need to know about Mr. Topham’s opinion of his neighbors. So does his closing shrug - live near an airport, hear airplane noise. On an island surrounded on every side by water, with approved over-water routes ready to be flown, that is not a fact. It is a refusal.

For years, islanders have wondered why complaints about airport noise go nowhere. Now we know. If you disagree with Mr. Topham’s conclusion that there is no problem, put it on the record: file a complaint through the airport’s online noise complaint form at https://www.nantucket-ma.gov/3811/Noise-Comment-Form, or call the airport at 508-454-1731. The flights are counted. Make sure the complaints are too.

Jerry Padian
Nantucket