New commercial jet flights demand radar at Hilton Head Island Airport | Letters
After reading The Packet’s article about American Airlines adding yet more flights to our little airport’s increasingly busy flight schedule, I thought about our nation’s first air traffic controller – Archie League.
Archie had one thing in common with the controllers at the Hilton Head Island Airport – they both only use(d) binoculars and a radio.
I then thought about the main reason I resigned my position as a contract air traffic controller at the Hilton Head airport – lack of equipment, especially radar.
Our airports director Jon Rembold has lobbied the FAA to install a radar display and a communications line to Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort approach control at the control tower. So far, the FAA has denied his requests, citing costs.
North Myrtle Beach Airport’s annual traffic count is much less than ours, yet they have a radar display in the tower.
Am I suggesting flying out of Hilton Head Island Airport is unsafe? Of course not. But as our airport grows, so does the need for these items, especially radar, which will greatly enhance safety and most certainly help with efficiency and noise abatement.
Brendan J. Massett
Hilton Head Island
Vote in favor of Beaufort County School District bond referendum
A recent letter noted that passing the Beaufort County School District bond referendum on Nov. 5 will not solve all the problems the district faces. The issues the author raised are best addressed by our state legislature, and it is up to each of us to keep pressing our local delegation to make those statewide changes.
While school districts may not be able to address all the problems they face, each has a tool in their respective tool kits: the opportunity to present a defined referendum for voter support.
One letter that particularly caught our attention endorsing the referendum was from young 10-year-old Violet Srutek. She enumerated the many ways her school is in need of, and would benefit from, the passing of this referendum.
We want Violet to look back on her school experience in a positive way, we want her to be proud she graduated from a Beaufort County school, we want her to succeed in her post-secondary education and her chosen career.
We also want Violet’s parents to continue to work and live in Beaufort County. We do not want them, and the many parents who send their children to Beaufort County schools, to relocate because we, the voters in this county, are not addressing the needs of the school district that would give their daughters/sons the education they deserve.
We are voting “in favor” of each question on Referendum 2019. Please join us.
Joan Apple and John Lemoine
Hilton Head Island
Make new bridge to Hilton Head pay for real needs
Bridges to Education and Affordable Housing
On the assumption that the new bridges to Hilton Head Island will be built, why not make them a solution to issues on the island.
Place EZ Pass high-speed tolls on the eastbound side of the bridge. Charge $1 for every vehicle and earmark the proceeds for affordable housing, and to help remove the microscope from the calculation of the Beaufort County teachers’ salaries.
Employers could choose to reimburse their hourly workers. Capital can be raised now via a bond issue based upon projected revenue from present traffic studies.
David Butterworth
Hilton Head Island
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This story was originally published October 23, 2019 at 9:31 AM.