True Or False? Airport Noise Edition

To the editor: On July 14, Jerry Padian made a bold statement in his letter “Now We Know Why Complaints About Airport Noise Go Nowhere”. Instead of providing you with more facts, which he thought he could refute, let’s play a game of "True or False"… just for the craic! (Mr. Padian's words below in italics)

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.

– False. My job is to provide a safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic. “Airport noise”, although I assume you mean airplane noise, is somebody else’s job.

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 Island Airlines shut down in 2015, and that ceaseless small-plane shuttle has been replaced by JetBlue A220s, regional jets flying for American, Delta, and United, and a rising tide of private jets.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.

– I’ll give you partial credit for this; however, you’re only helping me prove my point. First off, Cape Air and Nantucket Air are the same company. Additionally, this is the first year that the A220 has been in full service. Regardless, I bet the people who live in Monomoy or Madaket are thrilled to not have an additional fifteen C402s over their house every hour. Replace fifteen aircraft over Monomoy/Shimo with one over the moors or out over the ocean??? Well, that just seems to make sense and I’d be willing to bet that one vs 15 is more environmentally friendly. Also, the real reason why operations have dropped is 14 round-trip high-speed ferries from Hyannis, plus a few more from Harwich and New Bedford. Don’t believe me? Go downtown at 7:10 and watch the 450+ workers get off the Hyline.

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. 

– True, so why the debate???

He lives 2.7 miles from the airport as the crow flies, well beyond the distances he so precisely cited for us.

– True! And as I told the Noise Advisory Committee several years ago, I applaud them for their effort because where I live in my low-rent district I very rarely have a plane over my house, but those of you along the shore now have planes flying by. So, thank Christine Silverstein, Johnny Johnson, and others. I would, however, like to point out that I live half a mile from Nantucket Cottage Hospital and regularly have Boston Medflight helicopters flying over my house at about 400 feet. Windows rattle, you can’t hear the tv, and conversations need to stop. But I don’t complain; instead, I have empathy because I know that someone is having a really bad day. So, you say a prayer and be thankful we have this incredible resource made available to us, which my family had to use almost a dozen times this past year.

Then consider his “best fact”: a 20-year-old story told to mock a suggestion made in good faith by the wife of a Nantucket Civic League member.

– I never said who this was; you are assuming that they are Civic League members. However, my point remains the same – they were only worried about themselves and not others living on Nantucket - NIMBY. Move the noise to Madaket so they don’t have to hear it. Is that fair to the people who live in Madaket? I’m sure that there are Civic League members who live in Madaket that wouldn’t have been too happy.

So does his closing shrug - live near an airport, hear airplane noise. 

- We all have our crosses to bear - airplane noise, sewer bed smell, gas-powered leaf blowers, summer traffic, steamship boat whistle, etc.

Mr. Padian, I hope that you have a safe, orderly, and expeditious flight back to White Plains, because that’s what matters to me and all those at Nantucket ATCT.

Cheers!

Patrick Topham
This letter represents my views only and not those of the FAA, Nantucket Memorial Airport, or the town of Nantucket.