Click here for billboard press release

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If you are visiting our web site for the first time, welcome.
We understand our billboard raised some questions; we hope we address some of them below.
Please click the above link to our press release for more information.
The bottom of this page will take you to our full site which provides footnoted information as well.

In our opinion, repetitive, low-altitude flight training over residential areas is bad for New Smyrna Beach's image.  We are merely pointing out an existing and GROWING problem.  Our airport grows each year, and we are not opponents of growth. Unfortunately, the most significant growth at our airport is because of repetitive flight training which negatively affects the community.   Approximately 80% of operations are flight school training. Tower employees boasted of reaching 200,000 operations in 2008.  This places our small-town airport on par with the top 50 busiest airports in the United States.  http://www.faa.gov/news/updates/busiest_airports/ ; It compares to five international airports and to cities with populations of half a million. All of these airports charge landing fees to produce revenue. New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport does not. Why not?

The real estate market is poor.  Why would you call attention to the noise problem?

Everyone can agree that this is a difficult market.  We are hopeful that in drawing attention to the problem, the result will be some form of solution.  The problem exists; it's not easily going away. According to Florida law (Ribak v. Centex), you and your realtor can be held liable for not disclosing "off-site defects" that materially affect the value of your home when you sell.  Realtors have already reported showing homes and buyers asking, "Is it always this bad?"  The homes were miles from the airport.

As reference, the South Causeway is two miles from the airport.

If airplanes bother your members, why did they move next to an airport?

Actually, the majority of our members do not live next to the airport.  We have members that range from beachside to Sugar Mill.  Many members are numerous miles from the airport and still experience frequent nuisance noise from training over flights. Decibel levels of 75+ have been recorded miles from the airport. Sixty-five decibels is the federal reference for nuisance aircraft noise. Each three decibels doubles the perception of noise. Studies site a maximum 40-50 decibels (daytime) as a standard public expectation for suburban residential areas. 

With anticipated additional growth of the airport, we will continue to gain members as more people are affected by potentially broader patterns and more flights. Imagine your peaceful neighborhood suddenly subjected to student pilots in loud single and double engines practicing over your roof top in 30-second intervals.  Many neighborhoods that did not have a noise issue in the past have one now.  Yours could be next. Future plans call for runway lengthening to accommodate larger airplanes, jets and more flights.

You knew there was an airport, so why are you complaining?

There are small-town airports, and then there is New Smyrna Beach's "unique" (so described by NSB) airport. For most of our members, the airport existed prior to the purchase of their home.  However, prior to tower completion in 2004, the airport was exactly as anyone would expect for a charming small town with a population of 23,000---local pilots, a few small commercial commuter flights, the amazing vintage airplanes, an occasional small-business jet mixed with small amounts of flight training.  For many years, the airport was an asset to the community and added to the 'charm'.  In fact, the highly controversial tower was erected in spite of the objections of many local residents and pilots who feared it would bring too much traffic.  

Currently, 22 flight schools use our airport at no cost, and many local pilots avoid the airport because of training congestion and safety concerns with so many novices in the air.  The often 24 hour/7 days a week abuse of our environment by flight school training has put New Smyrna Beach's airport operations on par with five international airports, in cities of half million populations! 

Is this what people expect of charming New Smyrna Beach?  People come here for a "laid back coastal town, free of crowds, pollution and noise that plague other Florida beaches."  This is a marketing phrase used on over 35 web sites promoting our community.

Why don't you northerners go back to where you came from and quit trying to change things?

We address this because it is often said.  The largest portion of our membership, including our board of directors, are native Floridians and people who hail from the South.  Regardless of where people are from, everyone has the right as a taxpaying citizen to the quiet enjoyment of their home.    

Are you trying to close the airport?

Absolutely not.  We recognize that the airport is a valuable asset to the community; we do NOT want it closed.  We only seek to regain what has been lost--quality of life and the quiet enjoyment of our homes.  We believe the community will benefit from the reduction in nuisance noise. People come to New Smyrna with an expectation of the 'charm' that the City markets itself on.  The charm will continue to rapidly erode as flights increase and impact more areas.

I live near the airport and the noise does not bother me.  I don't understand your problem.

Each individual's perception of noise can vary based on a number of factors.  Some examples: time of day and days of the week that you are regularly at home, type of construction of your home, amount of time that you spend outdoors, current flight patterns, sensitivity to noise, reduced hearing, existing ambient noise levels in your home, generally growing accustomed to certain noises and being ambivalent about them.  If you live in an impacted area and are not affected, consider yourself lucky!  Hundreds of your neighbors do not have the same experience. 

I still don't understand, and I think your group just likes to complain.  You just can't deal with change.

We can assure you that with families, businesses and full-time careers to juggle, we don't find any of this enjoyable. The time dedicated to this effort is significant, and the effects of nuisance noise are substantial.  Imagine if you moved into a lovely new home with the expectation of being able to live in comfort.  When you purchased you knew that there was a somewhat busy street a mile or two away.  You could occasionally hear a semi, a horn or loud pipes on a motorcycle.  However, the noise was infrequent, and it did not interfere with your daily routine. You go about life and enjoy your home for five, 10, 15 or more years. 

Suddenly, you start noticing the frequency of loud motorcycle pipes has increased.  It gets progressively worse, and you discover numerous motorcycle training schools are using the same street that has been of no concern in the past.  You wake up to them at 6 a.m.; you finally fall asleep to them at 12 p.m.; sometimes you hear them at 4 in the morning.  It's almost never ending.  You pray for bad weather so you can have some peace; you are happy to go to work to escape the drone.  Unfortunately, there isn't any relief for those who are retired or who work from home.

On the weekends, you try to have a cookout, and you must shout at your friends over the noise coming in 30 to 60- second intervals.  Your children complain that they can't concentrate on homework because the noise is annoying.  Friends ask, "How on Earth do you live with this?"  Fortunately, this would never happen as there are noise ordinances and laws that apply to motorcycles.

Many taxpaying citizens in New Smyrna Beach live with the daily bombardment of aircraft noise from flight training.  They purchased a home with the reasonable expectation (and legal right) of the full use and quiet enjoyment of their property. 

We are not opposed to change or growth in our community, but corporate profit for a few should not be at the expense of so many.

Are you guys really trying to shut down the railroad?

Recently, the NSB Shadow web site made the anticipated uneducated and biased comments about our organization, our members and the billboard. This person obviously has their own agenda and certainly the right to do as they wish on their own site. The Shadow is quite notorious for dubious facts and often outrageous unsubstantiated claims hiding behind the mask of "political satire". The web site in question displays a letter that refers to the group that paid for the billboard and states that the web site "intercepted" a copy of a draft petition we circulated regarding closing the railroad.?This letter is not from our group and in fact appears to be a complete fabrication as no one named "John Hitchhitch" lives on Turnbull Bay Road or anywhere else in Volusia county according to government records. We do not nor have we ever had an issue with the railroad.?And once again, we are NOT trying to close the airport.

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