Report Inappropriate Comments

JanWitt,

I accept your proposal and am open to suggestions for coffee. The internet is a terrible place for productive, respectful discourse. Humans do a poor job of finding common ground if they aren’t engaging with one another in-person. We are all wired for tribalism.

You’re right! The airport today is a far cry from the dirt patch of the 1920’s. I also agree that air travel has continued to grow since the invention of powered flight. Aircraft will always make noise and more is being done to improve this than at any other point in history. Materials and aerodynamics have improved engines, rotors and propellers to reduce their signature. But aircraft are also expensive and, if cared for, last a very long time. Legacy technology will take many decades to fade out of the system. Manufacturer and NBAA noise abatement procedures are also playing a significant role in taking the edge off the racket wherever possible. Is it perfect? Of course not… and that’s where my “buyer/renter beware” comment to Coug66 comes from. The latest expansion of the airport was in the 1990’s for the runway overruns. These are an important safety feature for mitigating the risk to the public in the event of a landing mishap, but that didn’t fundamentally change the layout of the facility. So for the past 30 years or more, Olympia Regional has looked the same. My challenge to Coug66 is to bring something more productive to the table than “planes are loud and I don’t like them”. There are conveniences associated with living in a town with an airport, there are also consequences. Everything in life is a compromise.

And to your point, tetraethyl lead is indeed nasty stuff but there is nuance here that deserves plenty more discussion. Producing unleaded, high octane fuel which is safe for non-turbine aircraft is a major focus of the industry. The chemistry is difficult and a viable answer is more elusive than banning small aircraft from flying altogether. Much research is currently being done and there are some very promising unleaded fuels on the near horizon.

The conditional olive-branch you mentioned to be a “good neighbor” is a bit of a trap. Testing for lead would show us what we already know; there is some lead in the environment and those levels are probably higher near an airport. The results of that study, paid for by local taxpayers, would do nothing to abate the operations at a federally funded airport. I’m guessing this is why the Port of Olympia declined to do the study.

You and I are actually motivated by the same thing, I want us all to be better stewards of the planet.

However, I don’t feel that suppressing operations at our airport is an efficient use of our resources. As our community grows, so too will the number of operations at the airport. This is vastly preferable to the alternative of a community in decline. I believe we can have a productive conversation about how to clean up our community in a meaningful way. The least glamorous actions can sometimes make the biggest difference.

I’m serious about the coffee. Always good to hear a different point of view!