Despite complaints by neighbors and pilots, FAA officials have stated they see no problem with a gun range being located near the Custer County Airport in Custer, South Dakota (southwest of Grand Rapids). Opponents of the gun range, which has been open since November, state noise and concerns of ricocheting bullets hitting aircraft (really?) or injuring innocent bystanders driving down the nearby highway as the reasons for their displeasure.
“We have to shut this shooting range down, I can’t go out on my deck and have a barbecue with my wife and kids. I’m afraid one of us is going to get killed,” says Bob Plaisted, who lives near the Southern Hills Tactical shooting range.
Before you jump on the “I can’t believe they built a gun range next to an airport” bandwagon, let’s look at a few facts. First, the runway is 20 feet higher than the gun range and surrounded by berms – effectively reducing any chance that a bullet’s trajectory could strike an aircraft. Secondly, the gun range has an agreement to halt firing when an aircraft is landing or departing the airport. Thirdly, there is no skeet shooting at this range – and guns are not allowed to be discharged into the air.
And in case you’re wondering how busy this airport is, Custer County sees approximately 66 aircraft movements a week, or about 9 a day. Not exactly busy by any standards.
Opponents of the range piled into a standing room only meeting with federal officials Tuesday, hoping to hear word that the “dangerous” gun range would be shut down. Unfortunately for them, they heard the opposite – with the FAA stating that there is no safety issue and the range may continue to operate. Good.
Another One Bites The Dust
The city of Cincinnati has flip-flopped on its plans to reconfigure the Blue Ash Airport, a general aviation airport located north of Cincinnati. City officials state the reason for the closure of the 91 year old airport is money – that it would cost the city millions to upgrade the airport to something which would be economically feasible. Of course, part of the reason for the money problem might be the decision by city officials to turn down approximately $500,000 in federal aid to the airport (so they would be free to shut down the airport if they pleased, if the city received federal aid then the FAA would have a say in closing the airport), or the fact they lost a chance to acquire a $3.1 million grant from the FAA last year because the city wanted to illegally spend the money it received from the sale of 130 acres of airport property (regulations require that money from the sale of airport land be spent on aviation related uses – or else face a huge fine. It wasn’t going to be).
What does Blue Ash plan to do with the land once the airport is closed? Build a park on it. Yeah, we all saw how well that turned out in Chicago…
Southwest Says It Won’t Make 1Q Profit – Blames Fuel Prices
Do you cringe every time you fill up at the pump? You aren’t the only one. A 15 cent difference in forecasted jet fuel prices, along with weakened ticket bookings in February, has caused Southwest Airlines to project a loss during the 1st quarter. Despite raising fares ten times in the past year in an effort to fight rising fuel prices, the company still hasn’t seen the increase in revenue that it had hoped.
They aren’t the only ones though – most carriers, including US Airways, Delta, American, and United, are expected to post 1st quarter losses. Only a hand full of carriers, mostly low cost carriers such as Spirit and Allegiant, are expected to post a profit.
**Please note that articles are constantly updated - to make sure you are reading the current version, please view the full and original article which can be found at The Charlotte Flying Daily News by clicking HERE.**
No comments:
Post a Comment