Pleasure Flying in Urban Areas

Vogl’s letter is a typical display of what might be called urban chauvinism.

I take no exception to what I interpret as a call for banning uncontrolled aircraft from large areas near commercial landing patterns, so as to eliminate the accidents and close calls that have been so common recently.

My objection is that Vogl complains about noise intrusions and dangers to folks on the ground from aircraft “over cities.” The fact is that such noise intrusions are relatively insignificant in already noisy cities, as compared with generally quiet non-urban areas.

A reasonable law would prohibit ALL flying lower than, say, 5,000 feet above the ground, with the narrowest possible exceptions to permit takeoffs and landings and to allow for genuine emergencies.

JIM JACKSON

Tehachapi