A few months ago there was a fight over seaplanes landing on Oregon's Waldo Lake; it was discussed in this thread:
http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56108
Eventually the opponents of seaplane landings took their fight to the Oregon legislature, where they recently got a law passed banning seaplanes. You would think that the ban proponents would be satisfied with that. Not so, as this letter to the editor titled Passing aircraft disturb Waldo, too in our local newspaper shows:
http://www.registerguard.com/rg/opinion/29899624-78/eugene-noise-aircraft-oregon-says.html.csp
The author no doubt stands behind his words since he sent it off to be published by the local newspaper, and should therefore have no problem having it placed elsewhere in the public record (bold emphasis added by me): The detrimental effects of noise are well-documented. Likewise, we recognize the health benefits provided by peace and quiet.
In Eugene, for example, our community is subjected to nearly 1,000 train horn blasts every day (go ahead and count them — I did). It’s important, therefore, that there are places where we can go to escape such noise.
For that reason, I have only praise for those citizens and lawmakers who are working to keep the Waldo Lake basin a comparatively quiet place.
A permanent ban on both motorboats and seaplanes is an important first step. But the Waldo Lake area will not be truly quiet until we address another source of noise that is largely ignored: aircraft flying overhead.
In the past, the noise from motorboats and the rare seaplane has been sporadic and occurred only during the day. But noise produced by aircraft, mostly commercial jetliners and cargo planes, occurs 24 hours a day.
On a typical weekday, aircraft noise sullies the peacefulness of the Waldo area nearly half the time — about 25 minutes of every hour (again, I’ve counted the minutes myself).
Some visitors to Waldo may not even notice the aircraft noise or, if they do, they’re not disturbed by it. That doesn’t mean it’s quiet.
Whitey Lueck
Eugene
http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56108
Eventually the opponents of seaplane landings took their fight to the Oregon legislature, where they recently got a law passed banning seaplanes. You would think that the ban proponents would be satisfied with that. Not so, as this letter to the editor titled Passing aircraft disturb Waldo, too in our local newspaper shows:
http://www.registerguard.com/rg/opinion/29899624-78/eugene-noise-aircraft-oregon-says.html.csp
The author no doubt stands behind his words since he sent it off to be published by the local newspaper, and should therefore have no problem having it placed elsewhere in the public record (bold emphasis added by me): The detrimental effects of noise are well-documented. Likewise, we recognize the health benefits provided by peace and quiet.
In Eugene, for example, our community is subjected to nearly 1,000 train horn blasts every day (go ahead and count them — I did). It’s important, therefore, that there are places where we can go to escape such noise.
For that reason, I have only praise for those citizens and lawmakers who are working to keep the Waldo Lake basin a comparatively quiet place.
A permanent ban on both motorboats and seaplanes is an important first step. But the Waldo Lake area will not be truly quiet until we address another source of noise that is largely ignored: aircraft flying overhead.
In the past, the noise from motorboats and the rare seaplane has been sporadic and occurred only during the day. But noise produced by aircraft, mostly commercial jetliners and cargo planes, occurs 24 hours a day.
On a typical weekday, aircraft noise sullies the peacefulness of the Waldo area nearly half the time — about 25 minutes of every hour (again, I’ve counted the minutes myself).
Some visitors to Waldo may not even notice the aircraft noise or, if they do, they’re not disturbed by it. That doesn’t mean it’s quiet.
Whitey Lueck
Eugene
