Part Of Regional Noise Reduction Effort

An intergovernmental committee in eastern Florida recommends the a regional flight training operation near the town of Yeehaw Junction, one of several ideas on reducing noise over populated areas.

The Treasure Coast Regional Noise and Flight Training Assessment Committee will ask local governments as well as the State Department of Transportation to back the ideas in order to reduce noise impact in Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee Counties.

The committee was formed as part of a $260,000 Florida DOT study on the impact of flight training operations. For 18 months, the group has worked in virtual obscurity, worried that its findings would never be widely released.

"We have to effectively implement these rules, and I don't know if we're going to get to that point," said committee member Eric Menger, director of the Vero Beach Municipal Airport, as quoted in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. "I just have this aching feeling that we've done all this and we don't want it to go away."

Another issue: enforcing aviation noise rules. While committee members say they expect local government to support the idea of a regional training center, as well as it's other major recommendation -- banning construction in noise-prone areas close to airports.

"Without the hammer of the state, it's just words," said committee member and Sewall's Point Commissioner Tom Bausch, also quoted by the Sun-Sentinel.

FMI: www.dot.state.fl.us