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Noise alleviation on take-off invites the possibility that pilots be required to operate aircraft in a manner which approaches the limitations of the aircraft. Fortunately, this has been fought. The remedy should be a well-financed study of noise alleviation by basic design, as recommended in Project HORIZON, the zoning of airports, the study of means to accelerate take-off so that the aircraft will be at higher altitude in a given time.

If more airports are needed for safety, and community support is essential to proper management, what can be done to persuade communities that an airport is a desirable neighbor; that a regional airport plan is an economic and social necessity?

One could easily prove that on balance the airport provides more safety than danger to the surrounding community. The availability of air transportation for community and individual emergencies, for the rapid delivery of medical aid, food, shelter economic development makes the airport a good neighbor. This has been proven in many disasters. Much more can be done to counteract community antagonism to airports. Airports have ample space to provide for safely operated recreation areas, swimming pools, skating rinks, training centers for learning to drive, so that the public might be attracted by their recreational and safety potential rather than repelled by the very rare though dramatic danger from falling aircraft and by noise nuisance. In the case of war, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, epidemics, a community will be fortunate to have an airport nearby. The aviation industry should exploit this. How many citizens of West Berlin want Tempelhof abandoned because of noise or danger from falling aircraft.

THE COMMUNITY AS A THREAT TO SAFE AIRPORTS

The community acts as a threat to safety of airport operation by permitting the erection of obstructions to navigation, such as TV towers, by weak zoning laws, by not recognizing the need to support the high quality of management and maintenance that an airport requires.

THE SAFETY OF THE AIRPORT POPULATION

The use of airports as a community center would lead to a considerable increase in the population of the airport. The total of casual visitors added to the workers (5,000 at Logan), the visitors who accompany passengers, and the passengers themselves (3 million passengers, 3 million visitors at Logan per year), creates a problem in providing for the safety of population that use the airports. The airport is a community unto itself, with all that this implies from the standpoint of employee and public safety.

As airports become increasingly important centers of public use (Logan is expected to double its passengers to 7,000,000 in 10 years) there will be a need for close attention to health maintenance and accident prevention among both workers and the public. The health and well-being of workers affects the safety of flight. A medical center might be provided at all major terminals


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