When we first moved to Tracy in January 2000, and saw (and heard) the stunt planes doing cool flips and dives, we thought it only added to the charm of our new home town. It didn’t take long for us to begin to realize the downside, when a Saturday afternoon nap would be nixed by the loud whining of the planes as they dove and looped through the sky just to the south. The charm faded somewhat and at times the noise was annoying, but still – it was their space and they were here first, not to mention the fact that we were told Tracy was one of a small number of places in the country that had such a window for stunt pilots and aerobatic flying. Despite the annoyance, I thought it fair that their waiver was renewed last year, after expiring two years prior. So our proximity to the Tracy Municipal Airport has had its ups and downs – so to speak.
What is far beyond annoyance, and crosses into the realm of true danger are the pilots (flying mostly Cessnas although this morning it was a yellow bi-plane) that buzz our homes just north of the airport at dangerously low altitudes – less than 100 feet, and sometimes as low as 60 feet, banking and steep climbing literally directly over my house. If my house were twice as tall, many of these bozos would run right into it. I could easily hit them with a baseball (or a paint gun ;) as they fly over. What’s worse, a few truly creative pilots have lately taken to repeatedly flying in a circle (actually an ellipse) just over our homes – six and seven times in a row early on Sunday mornings. Apparently these individuals have nothing better to do on a Sunday morning other than get their jollies annoying and endangering the local residents.
The landing and takeoff patterns at the Tracy Airport do not coincide with the paths of these planes, and the distance from here to the airport can in no way justify the altitude. These inconsiderate morons are joyriding – not to mention violating FAA regulations for minimum safe altitude, which is 1000 feet over congested areas except when necessary for takeoff or landing. I have taken video and captured and looked up N-numbers – the FAA’s identification of registered planes. This lookup provides name and location of the registrant, and I have tracked some to local addresses and some from elsewhere – when I gave one N-number to an individual at the airport, he recognized it but indicated that the pilot wasn’t a tenant of the airport. The FAA reports the number as assigned to a Cessna registered to an entity in Seattle.
With last year’s small plane crash into a home in a residential neighborhood in Roseville killing three including a sleeping teen and which according to witnesses happened for unknown reasons as the plane was flying above the residence; and the crash in south Florida this summer that engulfed two neighborhood homes in flames and killed five, you would think (or at least hope) that these pilots would recognize the danger of such low flying over neighborhoods and operate with more caution, consideration and restraint.
Not so, apparently. Well keep this in mind, Baron – I’ll be gunning for you. Signed, Snoopy
Note: The newly formed Transportation Advisory Commission will hold its inaugural meeting on October 11th in the City Council Chambers where residents can voice their concerns.