NOTAM Recommends Steep Approaches, Departures

Is this southern Florida... or Baghdad?

WPLG-10 reports the FAA recently took the unusual -- and disturbing -- step of issuing a Notice to Airmen for pilots flying into Kendall/Tamiami Executive Airport (TMB) southwest of Miami, after bullet holes were found in the fuselages of two aircraft based at the busy general aviation field.

To avoid the chances of being hit by gunfire, pilots are advised to make steep approaches into the airport, and to make haste when climbing out on takeoff.

Not surprisingly, users of TMB are hopping mad... and fearful the gunfire could hit a pilot. "It could kill," says Robert Dean, owner of Dean International Flight School based at TMB. "That's super dangerous, so somebody who is doing something like that really needs to think about it."

The bullet holes were found over a two-month period, notes CBS affiliate WFOR-4. The FAA issued the request following an investigation by the Miami-Dade police department, that so far has failed to result in any arrests.

At this point, it's not known whether the gunfire was the byproduct of another criminal activity, or a random event...  or a rabid NIMBY taking matters into their own hands. As ANN reported in July 2006, TMB was at the center of an unusual dispute between Kendall city officials and residents living near the airport.

Close to 250 residents called for an area near the airport to be used for the Century Homebuilders development... instead of for industrial use, which is usually far more preferable to place adjacent to an airport, for safety reasons.

Residents responded, essentially, that it was bad enough they had to look out their windows, and see an airport... they didn't want to see industrial buildings, too.

FMI: www.miami-airport.com/html/kendall_tamiami.html