Bedford Minuteman
October 24, 2002

Letter: Choosing trees over pilots?

Those who would see Hanscom Field closed are at it again, only this time they are playing with public safety. Trees and other vegetation are penetrating the approach surfaces at each runway end. These trees are a hazard to navigation!

While Massport and the local conservation commissions are negotiating the final orders of condition, ShhAir has pulled the rug out from under everyone by appealing the project to the state and potentially delaying the vegetation plan for up to a year. What ShhAir has done is appalling and a serious threat to our safety. This is a public safety issue, not an academic exercise in urban development or a law school seminar in local/state relations.

While the appeal process drags out, the aviation community will cross its fingers and hope that tragedy is avoided. For the towns, thank ShhAir, their appeal removes local control from the project, so any hope the towns had of leveraging Massport is lost, yet again. It is loose, loose proposition for everyone.

The ShhAir Web page implores you not to fly out of Hanscom. Now we know why; ShhAir has chosen trees over lives - Save A Tree, Kill A Pilot.

Joseph J. Dini

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