Thanks to those who are asking more questions about the above.  This post will help you understand what the process is becoming & why.

For years complaints have been made to both the Half Moon Bay & San Carlos airport managers regarding planes disregarding rules & regulations for flying into the HMB airport.  Since nothing has been done to change this, it’s led us to pursue this suit.

Complaints include planes flying “out of pattern”; low flying below FAA regulations for safety reasons; and flying over the most densely populated areas creating excessive noise pollution for the community.

By taking this action, our goal is to stop those pilots, instructors, etc. coming out of “all” airports who abuse the right to fly over to this airport, and all those who refuse to regulate them.

We have rights as citizens & homeowners that are being abused.

We have lived across from the airport for 22 years, and find that the helicopters which have been flying around in circles, every minute or two, are much more of a noise problem than the occasional noisy airplane. I have to admit that some of the planes seem very low over our area, but I think that the perception that they are too low is just that, a perception. Judgement of their height is difficult by an amateur such as myself. Most don’t seem excessively noisy.

I don’t really know if there are a few rouges who abuse the use of the airport, but if so, they should be dealt with individually. It always amazes me how often people move next to an airport, knowing it is there, and then complain about the noise.  Duh

My concern with the planes flying north out of HMB airport is one of safety. Why do they turn right and fly over the homes in Moss Beach putting my family, neighbors and property at risk instead of going a mile further north and fly over Montara mountain open space where the risk to people and property is much less. Or better yet why don’t they turn left and fly over the ocean. Do we have to wait until there is an accident to have this fixed?

I am not against the airport, in fact I think it could be an asset to the community in times of emergency or even a potential economic benefit to help the coastside. But it is a community resource and it should benefit the whole community.

Interesting Google result on searching for ‘“Small Plane” Airport “Take off” Landing Accidents FAA’ returned an article from Oregon Aviation Attorneys:  Bend has the Most Plane Incidents in ... http://www.aviationattorneys.com/regional-content.cfm/state/or/article/120436/Bend-has-the-Most-Plane-Incidents-in.html. Now granted this is an attorney’s website specializing in aviation accidents but three things stand out:

  1) Bend airport is a non commercial airport and it sounds like it is similar to HMB
  2) majority of these crashes involved small, single-engine planes, ... only minor injuries and fortunately there were no fatalities (so far)
  3) Ian Gregor, an FAA spokesman in California claims that there are usually a larger number of accidents near airports, which only stands to reason

So, when I moved here almost 30 years ago, the airport was here and I can live with that (although some planes are quite noisy and we should look at noise abatement) but common sense tells us that the pilots have a choice to go up and fly and accept the risk but they don’t have a right to put the Moss Beach residents at risk and they should fly patterns which minimizes those risks. If it is just a few “bad apples” then the HMB pilots and airport needed to police it better and inform the community of all actions taken to prosecute those violators. But this to my knowledge has never been done so now we have litigation. Had they been more pro active, then some of the residents would not have to be in the position of bring a lawsuit which I am sure they would have liked to avoid since they always cost you more time and money than you expect.