"John Doe" wrote
Because if you *don't*, you're giving the extremists and rabid
anti-aviation people all the ammo they need.

It doesn't matter, they have all the ammo they need, hopefully they'll
just do the honorable thing and turn the gun around on themselves.
There is no appeasing some of these, maybe you're not one of those,
but you know they exist. Just like on the pilot side, there are the
ones hellbent on ruining it for the rest of us. I know the type, they'd
also try to help in the airport survival but then they'd go out and
intentionally go **** someone off. It'd always be hard to explain
to the neighbors and only make matters worse - I'm not denying
they exist, and what that one pilot did to you after you 'asked' him
to limit his activities over your house, I wouldnt defend.

If you managed to **** me off, a person who served on a flight crew in
the service of this country and formerly gung-ho supporter, even once
proudly
wearing a Pratt and Whitney round motor belt buckle, imagine how livid
others
in the general public are becoming.

I gotta say something here, as this is the second time you've mentioned
your previous somewhat pro-aviation feelings, and often I've seen many
in the anti-aviation groups say the same thing - how they used to be this
or that. Some people are prone to bitching. Some people are prone to
not letting things get to them as much. Some like to jump into fights,
make a lot of noise, and feel self-important for being in a militant
anti-something cause. I'm speaking more of some of your counterparts
than you, and after your last post it sounds like you might not come
back. But, to me anyway, you could be the most decorated pilot there
ever was, but if you're a whackjob, you're a whackjob, regardless of
what previous aviation manufacturer flag you waived. If you've got
something constructive, I dont care if you've never stepped foot in
an airplane if it's something that can help the situation.

Reach out. Talk to us. Work with us. The so-called efforts to accomodate
the
public that you cite haven't been applied to here at all. It's a joke,
right?

Maybe it's a joke there, doesnt mean it is everywhere else. Isn't here.
It's been a few times the city tried to shovel something through, getting
the public on it's side, when it was many of those people who'd get
screwed later with more noise. Example: a tower for our uncontrolled
field. You'd think that users who want the airport to survive would jump
all over this as it'd make it even harder to do away with the airport.
You'd
think the neighbors would hate it as it'd guarantee the long term survival
of
the airport. The city had the neighbors begging for the tower when they
were done with them. The city said 'that way we can keep a closer eye
on all these (supposed) violaters', 'we can take back control of the sky
over your house' (they got tired of the FAA telling them they have no
jurisdiction above the ground, nevermind this'd be an FAA regulated
contract tower). What they didnt mention was little things like PAYING
FOR IT. Since they always take from the airport fund, and love to
show how broke it is all the time, how would they continue to fund
the tower and it's employees. Can you say 'more airport revenue needed'
and how's that done? More tenants, more fuel sales, charter service, maybe
even airline service - eventually the thing the neighbors fought the
hardest,
a longer runway! They also failed to mention that often towers do what
they need for traffic, as in not follow some voluntary noise abatement plan
if safety or traffic warrant. Like a right hand pattern, or longer upwind
or downwind, etc etc. Sometimes it's just a matter of education, and in the
end, everyone was against the tower and the city dropped the issue.
So the neighbors won, but they didnt even know what the fight was. Not
one of them pointed out those facts above, it was all users/pilots. You
could say it was self-serving, but the implications of the tower would
hurt them more than it'd hurt me.
Just because some haven't reached out, talked, and worked with you,
dont generalize. It's a two way street.

In case you don't get my drift, I've had more than enough, I've patiently
tolerated more than enough and I've been radicalized.

Well, there you have it, radicalized - just like I said before, a militant
anti-something cause, this one aviation. Usually these types are not
new to their anti-something leanings. They usually just add to the
problem and offer little in the way of solutions. Do me a favor and
don't parade your kids around for your cause, holding the signs YOU
made and YOU believe in. Have all the free speech you want, just
dont prostitute out your kids - they may not agree with you when, and
if, you let them have an opinion of their own.
I don't know about some of you, but I'd feel pretty lousy about myself
being 'radicalized' into any cause - short of kill or be killed, that's a
cause worth fighting for. This one though is being fought by a small
vocal inflammatory minority that are getting 'kookier' by the day and
could be in danger of alienating themselves out of any logical person's
thoughts or feelings.

Too long as usual,
Chris