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The Whidbey Examiner • Thursday, January 24, 2013
viewpoints
We need to find other options for OLF flights Editor, There have been two recent articles related to the Outlying Field in Coupeville, each attesting to the urgency of the need to continue the important pilot training that takes place there. There seems to be an underlying message, in these articles, that people may not acknowledge, understand, or care, just how essential this training is. I would like to point out that nothing could be further from that perception. I have lived below the touch and go flight pattern for 40 years. Admittedly the noise has been an intrusion, but it was tolerable; it was possible to sleep, talk on the phone, watch TV, work, garden, or be outdoors on a nice summer night around a fire at the beach. Unfortunately the Growler has brought a wholly different experience, one that precludes all of those activities, one that is fraying people’s mental and physical health. No one signed an agreement to endure the unsustainable, unbearable bombardment of the Growler. I am unaware of any one that does not agree that it is imperative for this training to occur. The question is, where are there air fields that provide the conditions necessary to train that do not impair the health and welfare of citizens. There are alternatives, out of population areas, where pilots could train without traumatizing others. I hope this can be addressed.
Jan Pickard Coupeville
Grateful OLF provides practice space Editor, I know that some of you are upset by the noise of the planes flying, landing and taking off from the Outlying Field, whether they are Growlers or Prowlers, it matters not. When I heard the sound last week on a beautiful, sunny day, I was reminded of another sunny day not too many years ago. That day, my son came home from a deployment aboard the USS Nimitz. He arrived safe and sound of body and spirit even though he had spent several months in the Persian Gulf. He was a fire fighter on the flight deck and spent many hours in a space called “Crash and Salvage.” It means just what it sounds like. If there is a crash on the flight deck, his job was to get out there, pull the pilot from the wreckage and put out the fire. In all the months of several deployments,
he never had to do that. The pilots brought their planes in with precision and skill and if I may say so, not a little daring. So when my afternoon in the garden or my evening watching television is disturbed by the noise, I give thanks to God that they are out there practicing.
Carol Reafs Coupeville
Ready to protect self from loose dogs
Editor, As an avid hiker and mountain biker I have been accosted too many times recently at our state parks by aggressive dogs not on their leash. Please be aware that I will be carrying bear spray at all times and will not hesitate to use it against aggressive dogs.
Examiner The Whidbey
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