I am writing this letter at 4 a.m. on a Thursday morning. I gave up trying to sleep after the second small aircraft flew low over my house; the first flight was at 3 am., the second 15 minutes ago. This is a frequent occurrence in my neighborhood, which is in the direct flight path near Horace Williams Airport.
It’s a sure thing that these planes were not part of UNC’s MedAir flights. I learned many years ago — after research, phone calls, and emails to the airport management and the university — that these frequent, late-night flights are unrelated to serving the medical needs in our state. No, AHEC only flies between the respectable hours of 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. These are private flights—which are technically not allowed, since the airport is supposed to be closed outside those hours. I was told by none other than Horace Williams management that the airport authority simply “looks the other way†when these flights occur, since they are often piloted by well-to-do plane owners coming or going from a football or basketball game at UNC. Money talks.
I was overjoyed when I learned that Horace Williams Airport was to be closed. But when I learned that the private pilot lobby had managed to sway the state legislature to site another airport in rural Orange County, I knew something fishy was going on. These pilots show no regard for the noise pollution generated by middle-of-the-night flights over sleeping residential areas. The private pilot lobby is cynically using UNC’s AHEC program as a smokescreen to hide their real intentions—the continuation of round-the-clock leisure flights.
I urge county residents to continue the fight to force UNC to choose RDU as the only fit and proper site for AHEC operations. Orange County should not be footing the bill for a project that benefits primarily a wealthy special interest. For more information, see the website of the lobbying group Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (www.aopa.org). If you search for “Horace Williams†on this site, you will see many examples of the influence this group has had on decisions made by the state legislature.
Denise Caignon
Carrboro