Letters

Your article on the stunt by a local pilot [“Police Confirm They’ll Press Charges Against Pilot Who Buzzed Sag Harbor,” 27east.com, April 16] certainly raised safety issues. Chief of Police Austin McGuire has to be commended for going forward with possible prosecution of a felony. He is certainly taking a stand to protect, as his oath of office requires. Certainly not intimidated by the “sacred cow.”

Now we have the chairman of the East Hampton Town Airport Management Advisory Committee, in effect for a few years, make a statement that resembled a tissue for a runny nose: “You’re always going to have a bad apple in every barrel.” Duh.

Ask the South Breeze Drive residents and those in lower Wainscott about the daily low-altitude flights, some at no more than 250 feet. One resident there has so much footage of planes buzzing his home that it could be a double-feature in a movie house. They continue to this day.

My own experiences, and neighbors’, are of low flights rattling dishes and high-RPM engine noise that ruined many family gatherings. One grandchild of mine even refused to visit because he was so scared; when he was here, he ran in the house. Calls to the then-airport manager were futile.

Then, one time, three planes in tandem crossed two runways and were no more than 75 feet over the treetops. Calling flight standards was like talking to a tree stump. I confronted them at a meeting of the Noise Committee, of which I was a member, appointed by the Town Board. They thought it was funny. A coincidence? I wonder if the small plane pilots carry insurance?

So, if I recorded every incident, the “bad apples” would fill the closed landfill.

I used to attend the AMAC meetings, and they were mostly a joke. Look at the make-up of the panel. Their so-called voluntary compliance is pure BS. What happened to the sign that read: “Elevate to 1,000 feet Before Turning”?

Late-night helicopters coming in low would wake the dead. Not one iota of concern for the residents’ safety and peace in their own homes. I spoke at an AMAC meeting, and they were so dismissive.

Want another coincidence? Soon after I spoke, more “touch-n-goes” all flew low over my neighborhood especially and traversed that same route. Over and over. Like gnats at a barbecue.

It is well past the time that this airport be closed — stop polluting the air and groundwater. Most of all, eliminate the danger to those on the ground, since the area is almost built out. It is well past the time for those who endanger us to be held accountable. Reckless endangerment is a crime.

Arthur J. French

Wainscott