Skydive Laconia?
 

http://www.aerialphotonh.com/images/skydivead.jpg

If you've missed the news lately, two Floridians are trying to open a tandem skydiving operation at the Laconia airport in Gilford. In spite of the heavy transient and jet traffic that we experience all summer- especially NASCAR race weekends- they insist that they want to jump directly over and land on the airport. This of course will result in them falling directly through the flight paths of current traffic.

There's a Laconia Citizen article on it here.

I've got nothing against skydiving - I've done it myself - but this proposal is similar to placing a skate park next to RT93. I can't imagine a worse idea for the Laconia airport for many, many reasons.

So- do YOU want people jumping out of planes above YOUR home?

Why would any normal person even want to jump out of a working airplane? :eek:

I've done enough business travel that I've wanted to jump out of a working airplane several times.

Get seated next to (or even near) a sick crying baby on a 5 hour flight, and you'll think about jumping before you're an hour into it.

A little more info..
 

This is from the Gilford Steamer (1/1/09). More details from the folks proposing the business. They sound pretty experienced. I think if the safety issue work out. It would be a great business for the area.

http://www.gilfordsteamer.com/pdf/GIL.2009.01.01.pdf (go to the 2nd page on this PDF)

I wouldn't do it, but Mrs. SteveA jumped last spring in Key West. I think I was more scared about the whole thing than she was. She loved it and wants to jump again. The video of the dive company made of the whole jump is very cool. :eek:

Yup, that will do it ;)

PS: loved that picture that flyguy posted

Skydive Laconia
 

Greetings,

My name is Tom Noonan, I am one half of the Skydive Laconia proposal. My wife Mary is the other half. I came across this forum and thought it would be an excellent opportunity to introduce myself and open up a dialogue with anyone that had any questions or concerns.

A brief background on who we are: I grew up in Boston and my wife in Syracuse, so we are both born and raised New Englanders at heart. Up until 2006, we lived in Southern New Hampshire, when we moved to Florida to pursue our aviation related careers. It is our love of New Hampshire and desire to return there that has led us to pursue a skydiving operation at the Laconia Municipal Airport.

From the beginning, we recognized the fact that our presence at the airport would alter the status quo of daily operations, and our goal from the beginning was to work with the airport authority to ensure our presence there would create as minimal a disruption as possible. We genuinely want to be good neighbors within the community.

With that said, we also realized that it was highly unlikely that 100% of the community would embrace our presence. We were pleased to see however that at the November 2008 LAA meeting that the vast majority of attendees genuinely did embrace our presence and wished us well. We have also met with a number of local community members outside the airport, and they too have supported and embraced our goal.

What we represent is the potential addition of 100s if not over 1000 additional tourist to the Weirs Beach/Laconia/Gilford area between April 1-October 31 each year. These additional tourists will be patronizing restaurants, hotels, gas stations and many other community destinations. We also represent new jobs. If given permission to operate, we intend to hire local community members to work with us. They will learn highly specialized skills such as parachute packing and aviation related office management, and eventually we hope to train local residents to become our future skydiving instructors. These specialized trade skills will allow them to literally travel the world if they choose to, enjoying a unique new perspective of "job satisfaction" as they sail through the sky. Basically, we feel we represent a potential boost to the local economy that will be felt across a broad spectrum of the community, not just the airport.

With that said, we realize that unless your in our sport, very few people will ever truly understand what it is that we propose to do and how we do it, and it is simply that lack of understanding that tends to cause negative reactions in some. We sincerely encourage anyone that has any questions or concerns to email us the_noonans@yahoo.com, and we will do our best to reply to any and all questions.

We can certainly appreciate the original poster's question regarding "do YOU want people jumping out of planes above YOUR home?" To that I would answer that the probability of a skydiver crashing into someone's house is so remote that realistically you would be much more likely to ever have a plane crash into your house than a skydiver, yet we don't attempt to prevent aircraft from flying over residential areas. I can site numerous examples of aircraft "parking" themselves in people's homes unannounced, where as i cannot find a single instance of a skydiver crashing into someone's house. Another question that was raised in our November 2008 meeting was (as depicted in the above photo), the likelyhood of skydiver/aircraft collisions. I had to go back ten years to find two separate instances of these types of collisions, yet the NTSB states that there is an aircraft to aircraft collision every ten days in the US. Again, you are far more likely to ever have an aircraft to aircraft collision than you ever would a skydiver/aircraft collision, yet aircraft are not restricted from flying in the sky with each other. (Of the two skydiver aircraft collisions, both were skydivers and skydiving aircraft. One instance, everyone survived uninjured. In the other instance, the skydiver was killed, and the pilot, who survived, was violated by the FAA for negligence, flying a radical pattern rather than the predetermined one.) The truth is simply that the concern of skydiver/aircraft collisions at Laconia Municipal Airport is simply not a realistic concern based on all available evidence.

What the issue really comes down to is education. We expect people to question us and our proposal, and feel that if they truly listen to us with an open mind, they will see that our presence will create a minimal intrusion to the aviation landscape, while bringing a significant boost to the local economy.

If and when this proposal request gets resolved and we are given permission to operate, we invite the local community to come out and meet us and learn about what it is that we do. If you want to truly understand it, make a skydive with us, we'd be happy to show you our world in the sky.

We look forward to the completion of this application process and becoming good neighbors of the airport community and the surrounding areas. I will post here the next time we will be in the area for a future Airport Authority meeting, so that if you'd like to come out and meet us or have us answer any questions that you have.

Blue skies to all, and to all a good flight,

Tom Noonan

(P.S. - That really is a great picture in the original post, even from our side of the discussion, we can appreciate a good satire of our request. My wife and I both genuinely laughed when we saw it. Very well done.)

welcome
 

I, for one, can say I am glad you folks are here.
This is something I have always wanted to try, but it is one of those "well, I won't go out my way, but when the opportunity presents itself...".
Well, I guess it is presenting itself.
I'll see you this summer, if all goes well.

questions
 

Thanks to Tom Noonan for his post. Sounds like it is a business with some good potential for the Lakes Region. But what about the points mentioned by Bill Hemmel, about the interruption to current flight traffic given the proposal for the divers to land at Laconia Airport? I'd hate to see a new business negatively impact existing operations there.

Land in the Lake?
 

I am among the "why exit a perfectly good aircraft" crowd but if we parachuted into lake it would be a bit more ameniable to me. Is this possible? I can swim alot better than I can walk, or run for that matter.:laugh: It is intruiging.

As a "white knuckle" flier :eek: I can't really appreciate sky diving however I know many that love the sport. My feeling is, whatever floats your boat is ok by me. I am not even concerned that someone holding on to a few dozen yards of silk (nylon?) would fall on my roof. However, it does concern me that someone would be jumping into an area with real aircraft landing and taking off. I did see on the Laconia Airport website ( http://www.laconiaairport.com/laa/pilots_fielddata.htm ) that they list Aircraft operations: avg 97/day. Is it really safe to jump into the middle of that? Other than my concern about the landing area I wish you well. I might even be tempted to drive by the field and watch so long as I don't have to jump.

Good luck, Tom & Mary! My son decided a couple of years ago that he wanted me to take him skydiving for his 18th birthday. He'll be 18 this spring and until now I had no idea where to take him. I did a couple static line jumps out in Orange Ma back in the 80's but have been itching to do a free fall tandem for years now. I'm glad to see there may be a place local to give it go. If history serves I should be able to gather up a few of my more hearty friends and relatives to join us when we come. How many divers will you be able to take up at once? You'll have a place set up for tailgating after the jump right? Please let us know how you make out. We hope to meet you soon.

On purpose???
 

Actually weekend traffic can run a LOT higher- look at the jets in this weekend photo!

This is the crux of the problem. No one I know of has any objections to skydiving per se- it's relatively safe. It's that the operators insist that they must drift down into the middle of this air traffic and land directly on the airport- between the active runaway and an active taxiway. In fact, when the wind is out of the southwest, they actually propose drifting across the active runway!

Beats me why they can't jump into a nearby field and ferry their clients back.

Here's a view that may help clear things up:

http://www.aerialphotonh.com/skydive4W.jpg

clarity
 

Thanks Bill, for giving some clarity to the landing area through your graphic. I tend to agree that the skydiving business is a great idea, but the choice of a landing area is a problem. Hopefully Mr. Noonan will comment directly to your post, one aviator to another.

Skydive Laconia
 

Hi Mr. Hemmel,

I'd be happy to try and answer your question/concern relating to the landing area picture you have posted.

Your picture is an accurate representation of what we have requested of the Laconia Airport Authority, to be granted permission to land on the airport with the largest designated landing area being outlined by your yellow box. What is slightly inaccurate, is that based on prevailing winds, we expect the majority of all parachute operations to occur north of the runway, rarely, if ever, needing to cross the runway as your arrows are indicating. The majority of the aircraft patterns at the airport are south of the runway, so for the most part, our operational area will be completely separate from aircraft landing patterns. As we mentioned in our November 2008 presentation to the LAA, there are currently over 270 other drop zones in the US, many with jet traffic similar to Laconia, that safely accommodate a landing pattern such as we have proposed. There is nothing inherently unsafe about a parachute landing in your outlined area with taxiing and landing/departing aircraft nearby. Our parachutes are highly accurate and fly similar patterns to aircraft (albeit shorter patterns). Beyond that, the FAA makes no distinction between parachutes and aircraft at airports such as Laconia when it comes to airport access rights. The FAA states that parachutes have the same right to the airspace above the airport as any aircraft, and have the same rights to land on the airport. Imagine if we were requesting to open a helicopter flight school, would anyone question our request to land a helicopter on the airfield? In all likelyhood, no. And why would they. Just because our parachutes lack engines, it makes them no less an aeronautical activity than flying an aircraft. That's not our opinion, that's the FAA's position.

We understand that we represent something new and unknown to the majority of the aviation community. We have made every effort to communicate and educate those that we have worked with in the LAA to provide as much information as possible. The airport manager has an eight page mission statement we provided in August of 2008 and a 40+ page proposal to the LAA we provided in November 2008. By all means, I would encourage anyone that wants to learn more about who we are and what we propose to offer, stop by the terminal building and ask to see our information.

The other thing I would like to offer here is that we are not making any demands of the LAA regarding where we want to land, we simply want to work with the LAA to select the most viable landing areas to satisfy all involved. We are simply waiting for the LAA to say "okay, we agree you have a right to land here, let's work together to find a solution that serves the best interest of all involved here." The key word is "together". For lack of a better term, when it comes to drop zones and skydiving operations, based on our experience and positions, my wife and I are considered to be industry "experts". As such, all we want is to be included in the decision making process. If the LAA wants to say "no, landing in front of the terminal building is not possible". We want them to justify why. Simply saying "it's unsafe" is not enough. We, and subsequently the FAA would need more than that. We know from first hand experience that landing in an area such as what is outlined in your picture is an ideal location. It's done like that all across the country. Not wanting us to land there as a personal preference, or denying us based on the broad stoke of "safety concerns" goes against the federal grant assurances that airports such as Laconia Municipal Airport agree to abide by when accepting federal funding. To deny us landing there, just cause needs to be shown, and to be fair, based on our industry experience, it simply does not exist.

We genuinely respect your position Mr. Hemmel, but the truth is, you know very little about us or the minimal effect we will have on airport operations. Your opinions are based on common misconceptions of skydiving. Your question "do YOU want people jumping out of planes above YOUR home?" is an accurate example of that. The truth is that the neighbors of the airport are hundreds, if not a thousand times more likely to have a plane crash into their home than they ever would have a skydiver. Yet, the intent of your question (and entire first post) was to create an uninformed anxiety amongst the public to back your presumed position against us. If you truly want to understand how little intrusion our proposed operation will have on you and any other surrounding aircraft operator or resident, I would invite you to meet us for lunch prior to the next LAA meeting we attend. We would be happy to explain in detail to you, or to anyone interested, the specifics of our operational proposals. If it were of that sincere an interest to the community, we would arrange to do a community open house presentation for the residents of Laconia and Gilford. We offered to do that in August 2008, but were told that a "town hall" forum like that did not exist. If you, or anyone can find a location for us to hold the meeting, we would be happy to oblige you and hold a "town hall" style meeting for the community to address our request and their concerns.

We really do want the community to embrace our efforts, and are willing to share as much information as requested to set people's minds at ease.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom Noonan

Who has RoW ?
 

So what happens when a plane wants to either takeoff or land when the jump plane is in the air ? And on a summer weekend, which is when their business would be the busiest, what kind of hourly rate of takeoffs / landings does Laconia typically have ? Lastly what kind of space is required for the jump landing area and what, if anything suitable, is available nearby ?

BTW -sounds like fun. I may have to go visit that simulated sky dive place in Nashua (SkyVenture) and get "tuned up". :eek: :coolsm:

Skydive Laconia
 

Hi Mee-n-Mac,

I'll see if I can answer the questions in the order they were asked:

There is no reason other aircraft can't depart or land while the skydiving aircraft is climbing to altitude.

Our hourly rate of take offs and landings, at peak times, would be 2 per hour. Possibly 2.5, but that's highly unlikely.

I believe someone quoted in an above post that Laconia has 97 operations per day during peak weekends.

Our primary preference for landing would be one of the small (approximately) 100x100ft postage stamp sized grass areas out in front of the hangars. Specifically, whatever hangar we end up leasing or buying. Not the grass between the runway and taxiways. Our parachutes are that accurate, and we only expect at most 4-6 parachutes in the air at any one time, for a duration of 5-7 minutes, twice an hour or so.

The question if anything is suitable near by is a valid one, and it's a two part answer. The first half of the answer is that if there was a location off the airfield available, it would require at a minimum, a commercial vehicle, a driver, fuel and insurance, thereby increasing the fixed and variable costs per skydive disproportionately high. It's simply not economically feasible to expect to have to shuttle hundreds of people back and forth all season. Would a flight school be able to survive economically if they could take off from Laconia, but had to land at a farm and shuttle the students back by car? People may agree or disagree with this, but it is a legitimate business concern of any aviation business. The second part of the explanation is a little more complicated. The Laconia Municipal Airport accepts federal funding, and as such is bound by federal funding grant assurances. The federal funding is the reason the airport is the gem that it is. The FAA has gone to great lengths to spell out the fact that if an airport such as this accepts federal funding, they are required to accommodate all aeronautical activities, and they clearly spell it out in an Advisory Circular, that they consider skydiving to be an aeronautical activity. My wife and I pay federal taxes just like everyone else, and as such our federal tax dollars go in part to fund the Laconia Municipal Airport. We have a federally protected right to land our parachutes on the airport, and we are simply pursuing our rights to do so.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

I think it's more like putting a skate park in the -median- of I93 with access only through the travel lanes.

Scary!

Isn't there a large, vacant, and mostly unused parking lot directly across Route 11 from the Laconia Airport. You know, the p-lot with the water tower and the NH State liquor store. It's just a short jog back across the road from the p-lot to the hanger area like a quarter mile or so. Skydiver landing on an asphalt p-lot....at least you'll be able to find a parking spot, easy:D!

Convience more than safety I'd guess
 

Only if you're allowing vehicular traffic when the skaters cross. We do have the concept called traffic lights and that's the point of my earlier questions. I suspect (don't know) that departures and landings are on hold while divers are in the air above the airport. The question isn't so much one of safety but one of convience. Are sky divers required to get permission from the tower prior to leaving the plane, can they be told to hold while other traffic clears or is that other traffic told to hold until those in the air are on the ground ?

Why Laconia?
 

Your business would support only the tandem jumping and not other jumpers?

Please Forgive Me....
 

I have lived here, year round, for over fifteen years and have been a big fan of Mr. Hemmel. On more than one occasion, in fact, I have jumped up and opened both the front and back doors at the camp, on Paugus Bay, to let him fly through taking his wonderful photos.... However,.. with this thread, I am very disappointed with his attempt to put such a negative spin on Mr. and Mrs. Noonan's business project here, especially while so infant in it's process!

Tell me something Bill, how many folks on the board at the time of your licensing, were there that were of the opinion that a pilot and photographer could not possibly fly over Lake Winnipesaukee at a safe altitude of less than 125000 feet?

Like I said, forgive me.
Just my $2.00 worth, they tell me things are going Up and hopefully Forward....
Terry

Skydive Laconia
 

Hi Mee-n-Mac,

Advisory notifications are given via radio on a common traffic frequency and air traffic control prior to taxi, prior to take off, prior to exit and following exit. Our freefall altitudes and parachute flight patterns do not require the holding of other aircraft, departing or landing.

Pilot's of skydiving aircraft are not required to request permission to drop jumpers. They do however remain in radio contact with air trafic control and monitor the local frequency, and can and do hold jumpers from time to time if other aircraft are approaching.

To answer the other poster's question:

While the location and tourist nature of the area lends itself to a large volume of projected tandem skydives being made. We will also welcome experienced licensed skydivers to skydive with us. Regarding student training, from the beginning one of our primary goals was to provide the local community the opportunity to share our passion for skydiving and offer training for skydiving licenses. With that said, student training will be done by appointment and we will in all likelyhood schedule such training for general aviation's "non peak" times.

I hope that explains our intent.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom Noonan

Thank you Tom, you have been quite gracious with your answers. I have found on here alot (NOT EVERYONE) that some of these people just like anywhere else in the world just need something to pi## and Moan about. They probably other then FlyGuy have never flown out of Laconia, or ever even skydived before. I have jumped up in Moultonboro Airport 12 years ago (tantum) from 13k and cannot recall how long it took from actual jumping to feet on the ground, but I know it wasn't very long, so even if a plane had to wait for a diver to land, how long would they be inconvenienced 4-5 minutes?
I wish you the best of luck and WHEN you open I'll see you in August for a 52nd Birthday jump.

What's the usual altitude for jumping out the door up above Laconia Airport. and how long before you touch the ground? What shape and color are the parachutes? Can the parachutes be steered?

It would be more dangerous to have parachutists land near to the airport than on the airport. Airplanes fly landing patterns alongside the airport not over the airport. And while they're doing that their eyes are often looking at the airport more then straight ahead. The best place to parachute into is the center of the airport.

I've landed at many airports that have extensive parachute activity and never found it to be a problem. I have never jumped out of an airplane though and will never be a customer of the Noonans.

Some video
 

Less, This video isn't Mrs.SteveA, but the same dive operator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymucaOXui90

They jump from about 10K ', 40 second free fall, 5 minuet canopy ride.

What amazed me watching from the ground was how well they co-ordinated the whole event. They are a husband and wife team. She goes out just before the tandem, and starts the still pics and video. ( All from a helmet cameras with bite switches to control the cams)

We waited at the landing area and they steered right into it with no problem even though it was fairly windy that day.

They put together the video within 10 minuets of landing and the boss had her choice of music. Very professional operation all around.

I still wouldn't do it :eek::eek: But it came off as a classy operation and a safe thing to try.

I for one hope they get it approved.

Nothing personal
 

Absolutely not true. I don't know them, I have no financial interest in any airport business, and I don't care if they start a business or not. I think skydiving is one of the "funnest" things you can do in the air with your clothes on. I did it before either Noonan was born.

I don't dispute it's recreational value. I don't consider it unsafe per se. I don't envision any skydivers "crashing through houses" in the area. My initial question was intended only to get an active thread going- apparently that part worked.

I DO care if they want to willingly endanger both their customers and our local air traffic, which I believe will occur if they try to land on airport. There is a reason we don't let pedestrians cross RT. 93.

(BTW- Thanks for opening the rear door! :eek:)

Time IS money!
 

Many of the private jets you see at Laconia are chartered for $3,000-$3,500 per hour. If it was your charter, how long would you want to wait?

My own aircraft fees run slightly under $200/hour. Should I be forced to spend $20 waiting for someone else to land?

Skydive Laconia
 

"I DO care if they want to willingly endanger both their customers and our local air traffic, which I believe will occur if they try to land on airport"

Mr. Hemmel,

I am a professional skydiver. This is what I do for a living. To even suggest the idea that our business is going to "willingly endanger" both our customers and our local air traffic, is absurd. We can provide testimony from airline and corporate pilots experienced with skydiving operations that would disagree with your opinion entirely. (We have provided this testimony to the LAA).

Regarding wait times of other aircraft, our operation will place no more or less wait time restrictions on departing or approaching aircraft than any other aircraft on the airfield. A $3500/hr Cessna Citation charter will have the same wait time waiting for your Aerial Photography flight to taxi/take off as our aircraft. That is the extent of the inconvenience the local air traffic will be forced to endure from our presence. While we are actually skydiving (in freefall or under parachute), it is normal practice for other aircraft operations to continue uninterupted.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom Noonan

This appears to be a discussion among professionals and perhaps should be taken offline. I don't think that any of us has the expertize to understand the air traffic control ramifications that would be experienced with these types of occurances. Am I wrong?

If those who are qualified deem it safe (and that's not me), it seems to me that this is a great opportunity/attraction for the area. Sorry, Flyguy, but the relatively modest inconvenience of greater utilization of the airport shouldn't bear on the answer in this case. In fact, isn't greater utilization a good thing in the long run?

Maybe a good idea
 

I have flown, as a pilot, in and out of Laconia. There is no control tower at Laconia Airport that clears airplanes to land or take off. The aircraft operating in the area communicate on a common air traffic frequency. It works quite well at smaller airports such as Laconia.

I think that this business may be a good idea and the Noonans seem to be quite experienced, as well as willing to work with the local community. It is no secret that we can use additional people spending money in the area and supporting local businesses. You only have to drive down Union Avenue to see all of the vacant commercial space for rent to realize that we have a problem. Most small local businesses have 16 weeks to make enough money to carry them for the whole year.

I am concerned about the interaction of pilots and skydivers at an uncontrolled airport. If I am landing, or departing, in an airplane I want to be confident that a skydiver, even if he is blown off course, will not suddenly appear in front of me. If that is not a problem then I think that this may be a great idea for the community.

Not just a photographer..
 

You're right, Whimsey. Greater utilization would be a good thing, and the inconvenience isn't a serious issue (unless it's your ox that's being gored!) It would be a great idea -except for the landing on the airport part.

FYI- Having been FAA certified and actively worked as both an Air Traffic Controller and an Airline Transport Pilot, I have some experience other than just photography. I have also held a Commercial Helicopter and Flight Instructor ratings. Stopped keeping track of my flight time at around 6,000 hours on the early '90's. I therefore do consider myself qualified in this area, and believe that this "we have to land on the airport" approach will lead to decreased airspace safety. That's my qualified opinion based on both years of experience and familiarity with Laconia air traffic. I'm stickin' to it. :cool:

Dear Mr and Ms Noonan,

I am 125% behind you and am looking forward to the complete success of your business at the Laconia Municipal Airport.
Regards, Terry

http://www.uspa.org/AboutSkydiving/F...1/Default.aspx

I have a prospectiive jumper for you
 

:laugh:

Hi, welcome to the board. I think you will find that FLL will be your first jumper as he is always flying off the handle about something. Good luck.

How about operating out of Moultonboro airport when Laconia is having busy weekends? Ever thought of "SkyDive Plymouth?" You'd get all the PSU students, with a fresh crop of new arrivals every year...

Good Luck
 

I along with many other wish the Noonan's the best of luck with their business. As with most new idea's and business opportunities, there will be some who are out to sabotage the success. I for one would like to invite any and all new businesses to open in NH, God knows we could use the revenue. The Noonans will go through all of the strict FAA guidelines and the insurance evaluations prior to being allowed to open the business. And for me that is enough. I can only hope they won't get scared off before seeing their dream through, by overzealous folks with nothing better to do then make their lives difficult. I think it would be great to have an attraction like this over Winnie, and it would give my visitors an additional activity when they visit. My wife and I skydived in Las Vegas a few years ago. and although she will never partake again, we recommend it to everyone we know. Heck, I just might do it again, if it's available in NH. Good luck and I hope to meet you both when you get back to the Granite state.

Skydive Laconia
 

Hi CanisLupusArctos,

That's a good question. My wife and I have had a few discussions about the potential high traffic days at the airport during NASCAR weekends. If as we have been told, the NASCAR weekends bring in a particularly large number of aircraft for the event, we will in all likelyhood choose to close our operation at Laconia Municipal Airport for part or all of that first NASCAR weekend so that we can accurately assess the increase in air traffic.

If after assessing the air traffic that first NASCAR weekend, we felt that we could safely interact with the other air traffic despite the increase in aircraft, then we would consider operating on future NASCAR weekends, even if at a reduced rate. Or, if after the first NASCAR weekend we concluded that the increase in air traffic was not conducive to safely accommodating our skydiving operation, we would probably plan to just start taking those weekends off and attending the races ourselves.

Blue skies to all and to all a good flight,

Tom

This idea seems to be more well thought out than I had at first believed (01-16-2009 05:27 PM).

Most of the potential for conflict can be avoided by common sense and planning. For instance, not jumping the day before a race and the day after or at other times the airport is predicted to be busy.

Good luck to all involved.

Wow!
 

It's disappointing to read this thread where some people are posting personal opinions to discredit an idea they just don't agree with or understand. It seems to me that the Noonan's would know the safety and regulations associated with the proposal. It would also seem that the proposal is not without precedent. I am sure hundreds of operations at similar airports take place safely all over the country. I'll probably never be a client but I welcome them to the area nonetheless. They seem like intelligent careful business operators. Good Luck with your proposal and hopefully you can educate the public in the process.