Local Officials Cite Two Accidents Within One Month
Bruce Pelly thinks Palm Beach Helicopter is a danger to people
who live near the Lantana (FL) airport and he's said so in a letter
to the FAA. Pelly, the Director of Airports in Palm Beach County,
wants the school moved to a less populated area.
Tuesday, a Palm Beach Helicopter
aircraft went down near Boynton Beach (FL). It was the second
accident involving a school aircraft in 30 days. That, said Pelly
in his letter, proves how dangerous it is to train rotor pilots
over his county.
"The helicopter activity around Lantana airport is a safety
concern," he wrote. "Once again, the department requests assistance
to locate helicopter-training activity away from populated areas."
The letter was obtained by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Other local officials and airport neighbors -- especially those
in nearby Atlantis (FL) -- have long complained about the noise
from student flights into and out of Lantana.
"The residents have been right," said county Commissioner Warren
Newell, who lives near the helicopter school. "We've had two
accidents," he told the Sun-Sentinel.
Palm Beach Helicopter owner Randy
Rowles (right) was upset at word of Pelly's letter. He pointed out
to the Sun-Sentinel that fixed-wing aircraft, not helicopters, had
gone down, causing fatalities. He specifically mentioned the crash
of a Piper Geronimo in January that left two people dead when the
aircraft went down in the driveway of a home in Lake Osborne
Estates.
"In one breath, they're telling me they're helping me and
attempting to give us assistance, and in the next breath they're
saying my operation is dangerous," he told the paper. "The county
is doing everything to shut me down... and I don't appreciate
it."
Rowles said he's done everything he can to accommodate county
officials. He said he's even looked for an alternate site for the
helicopter training facility. But in fast-growing South Florida,
finding that kind of space isn't easy.
"We've looked at a number of locations west of existing
communities," aviation department spokeswoman Lisa De La Rionda
told the Sun-Sentinel. "We're very willing to do what we need to do
to get the helipad there, but it's the piece of property that we
have not been able to secure."
The county really has no control over the activities of Rowle's
school. In May, Pelly asked the FAA, if the county established a
training area, could it require Palm Beach Helicopters to use it?
The answer was "no."
"Helicopter training ... cannot be arbitrarily restricted based
on noise at a federally obligated airport, such as LNA," wrote FAA
District Program Manager Miguel Martinez in response to Pelly's
question.
But after Tuesday's accident, Pelly said the problem was no
longer confined to noise.
"The issue of repetitive operations is not a noise or access
issue, but an in-flight safety issue," Pelly wrote in the letter
acquired by the Sun-Sentinel. "For this reason, the Department goes
on record declaring that continued repetitive helicopter flight
operations over the communities surrounding the Lantana airport
pose a safety concern."
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