It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a Noise-Abatement Issue!

Finally, he wants to encourage more westward departures. For reasons of physics, pilots must take off and land into the wind, except in calm conditions. And since the wind at the airport generally blows from the east, most planes have to depart toward the east. Therefore they must fly over the more heavily congested residential areas of Miami. But according to Bunting, planes almost always take off toward the east -- even in calm conditions. This, he insists, is unnecessary. He wants to gradually wean the control tower and airlines from the habit of eastward departures by requiring westward takeoffs during nighttime hours when the wind speed is five knots or less. Bunting hopes to present his ideas to the Dade County Commission in the next several weeks.

As Bunting's plans progress, yet another source of relief is in the works for the deafened masses. In response to citizen complaints, the county commission recently voted to form a task force to look into aircraft-noise issues. The group is supposed to include representatives from local neighborhoods, government, and the aviation industry. Ever the gadfly, though, McCoy is not placated by the commission's decision to create a task force. In fact, he notes, that vote was three months ago and as far as he can tell, nothing's happened since then. He has a theory: Officials are purposely delaying so that the airport's fourth runway, which is now under review, won't be subject to new policies.

But McCoy's own commissioner, Barbara Carey, clucks at the notion that political subterfuge is at work. "Everybody's been on vacation since August. We gotta rest our nerves!" scolds the commissioner, who cosponsored the task-force resolution with Commissioner Bruce Kaplan. "The issue is in the county manager's office, and he's supposed to be putting together the members of the team. I'm going down there today to ask about it."

Adds Bunting, patiently (of course): "We're trying to build up trust. I have complaints from the 1940s basically saying the same thing as today -- this situation has prevailed for years! We're now trying to get a handle on it.