soimelk
Active Member
I am a private pilot, and have many friends in aviation related professions. I realize the massive economic benefit of having an airport downtown that can service aircraft with greater range. I am amazed that the Q400s we fly into the airport right now, people are OK with keeping, but you tell them "we're building an aircraft that will be as loud or quieter than the current ones, it just uses a different method of propulsion" and they freak the f*** out. People keep framing the argument as "no jets". What have jets ever done to you, man? They're more efficient than turboprops and can be quieter with the proper equipment. It's easy to measure noise. If Bombardier delivers on their promise of jets quieter than turboprops, what's your problem?
Then there's the issue of expansion. Well, the runway needs to be expanded anyway since Transport Canada put in new regulations for runoff areas. A bad landing could currently put a plane in the water, do we want that? We'll need to extend the runway anyway. Porter wants a little bit more so that they could fly larger aircraft in. It's not a big deal. It's only going to slightly extend the marine exclusion zone, it's not the doom and gloom everyone thinks it is. It is a large city, and large cities evolve. At least we are lucky we have a lake and the airport isn't in the middle of the city, other cities are not so lucky and have heavies flying right into the city centre.
Alright. So if you're with me that the noise isn't an issue, that the extension itself needs to be done anyway, what do we have left? The traffic situation at Bathurst St there. "Think about the children" and all that. I accept that that is a concern, but fellas, you're downtown. There's going to be traffic. That problem is a completely separate concern from "nojetsTO". Jets are not going to cause traffic problems, Rob Ford's policies cause traffic problems. If you assume, like I do, that the city will keep growing then the area is going to become higher trafficked as a matter of fact, regardless of whether you put bigger planes or more flight slots into Billy Bishop.
And this is just a personal opinion, but I prefer the whine of a jet engine to the hammering noise of a turboprop feathering its props. If we can confirm that the aircraft are no louder than the current Q400s in terms of air pressure (decibels), what's the harm?
One rule of politics I've adopted during the Ford era is whatever Ford is passionate for, generally it is the wrong response or idea. In this case, Porter and the Port Authority are asking Torontonians to approve an expansion of the airport, and for taxpayers to pay for at least 100 million in landisde infrastructure to make it easier for Porter to expand. Besides the many obvious negative consequences that a mid sized international airport on the waterfront would cause, the fact corporate welfare is being expected by the petitioning parties and Ford, I'd say the idea to expand doesn't make fiscal sense.
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