Opinions
Airport editorial sparks letters to editor
Newspaper should praise
rather than 'go after'
Hoke County 'citizen'
To the Editor:
Your recent editorial, "Chaos at
Airport," was the straw that stir
red this resident of Hoke County
for the past 24 years, to respond
for the "other side." 1 have never
observed a newspaper to "go
after" a citizen as The News
Journal has for several years been
after Gene Thacker, and Raeford
Aviation.
When a newspaper speaks,
many readers take what is written
"as gospel." Your paper is a
powerful tool to influence the
public. I only wish its influence
was used to praise a local citizen
and his private enterprise which
has brought so much fame to
Raeford and Hoke County world
wide - not even mentioning taxes
and monies spent for local benefit.
What airport facility did we have
13 years ago?
Men and women from some 14
foreign countries as well as all
parts of U.S. do not regard
Raeford Aviation as an embarrass
ment. They train here because of
the sound operation, including the
utmost in safety and Gene Paul
Thacker's guiding hand through a
potentially hazardous sport.
The presence of military aircraft
including helicopters does not
create safety hazards - the military
adhers to the strictist safety rules.
The fact that a helicopter took off
did not create an accident with
plane with jumpers.
The jumpers' plane took off too
soon after the helicopter but
thanks to the grace of God the
mental and physical ability of pilot
Tim Thacker he was able to bring
plane in without serious injury or
death.
A human error which will make
a better pilot of Tim.
Two other airplane crashes
referred to were due to pilot error
and no jumping was going on.
In the past 13 years of operation
of Raeford Aviation some 500,000
jumps have been made: unfor
tunately there have been 3 deaths
but not evidence of perilous opera
tions but equipment malfunction
and jumper errors. We have had
more deaths in Hoke County by
accidents and murder this year
alone.
The people should know
Raeford Airport is public and any
plane can land here.
Raeford Aviation has no control
of this - to link $750,000 of mari
juana being seized and a plane con
fiscated to the perilous way facili
ty is operated is unsavory to say
the least. How much I wonder is
confiscated at Miami Interna
tional? This could have occurred if
the facility was under choicest
"Blue Ribbon Commission." The
embarrassment was that those who
flew the plane in were not ap
prehended.
Raeford Aviation has liability
insurance so tax payers won't have
to worry about being "target of a
suit."
No one I know in this communi
ty has personally done more for
making Raeford and Hoke County
known throughout the world in the
past 13 years and under such per
sonal abuse which 1 feel is a "red
herring" to hide personal animosi
ties.
Let's turn it around and give
praise where due and work
together for an even finer Raeford
Airport and community.
Charles Hottel
Proud - Not Embarrassed
Citizen
Airport editorial
filled with errors
To the Editor:
1 read your article in View
points, 26 April 1984 and was a lit
tle surprised that the portion titled
"Chaos at Airport Raises Ques
tions" did not have a By Line. This
fact noted, I suppose the article is
the position of the management of
The News-Journal. There are some
obvious errors in the article, which
could have been accidently omitted
by the author, or possibly could
have resulted from very poor in
vestigation on I he part of same
author.
The "latest (aircraft) accident"
which your management feels
"does not instill public
confidence" happens quite often
at airports around the country and
especially involve light aircraft
following larger aircraft. The pilor
of the Raeford aircraft was very
competent, he waited several
minutes after the helicopter took
off prior to starting his take off
run. On the day the "incident" oc
curred, there were no winds and
the turbulance caused by the
helicopter did not clear the area as
fast as normally would happen.
This kind of accident, although
quite common was not due to the
pilot not following FAA pro
cedures for light aircraft.
The article continued with the
questions "who is accountable for
safety" at Raeford Airport and
"why the Army feels (it) is the best
place to learn to fly a helicopter.
No one person is officially cited to
be responsible for the Raeford
Hoke Airport, but the airport is
funded by the Federal Government
and so all operations must con
form the FAA standards and pro
cedures, the airport is open to
general aviation and therefore the
Army operations may occur if the
military desires. Obviously if the
Army had any qualms of the safety
of Raeford operations they would
not allow their members to en
danger US equipment or person
nel. In fact I would go so far as to
say that if Army pilots had any
questions about safety at Raeford
airport, they would be the first to
inform their command and the
FAA.
As to how "local taxpayers
could find themselves in court"
over a real or "hypothetical" acci
dent is totally unfounded. To date,
no funds from Hoke County and
little or no funds from the city of
Raeford are used to operate the
airport. Raeford-Hoke Airport is a
Federally Funded Operation.
Having made tfie funding of the
Raeford-Hoke Airport clear, I
believe the taxpayers may lay their
fears to rest.
Return To Office
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COMMISSIONER
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The incidents which have occur
red at Raeford in the last 10 mon
ths cannot be attributed to a lack
of safety at the airport as the
editorial stated. All three airplane
crashes were investigated and
found to be pilot error. The
skydiving fatality was also in
vestigated and the resolution was
that the skydiver simply did not
deploy either of his parachutes. As
to the plane and marijuana that
were confiscated, all the facts are
not publically known. The incident
was investigated and completely
conducted through the auspices of
the FBI and local authorities. The
two aircraft that were'sabotaged at
Raeford-Hoke airport are owned
and operated by Gene Paul
Thacker. I challenge the author of
the editorial and/or the manage
ment of The News-Journal to find
out the status of that investigation.
1 raise the question "Is Thacker a
member of the community and
what "benefit" did he get from
these sabotages?" Had it not been
for the thorough preflight inspec
tion of the jump pilot and Thacker
there would have been serious
damage to the aircraft and possibly
the loss of several lives.
Also, did the author consider the
amount of revenue generated by
the skydiving community of Fort
Bragg and the surrounding area, or
the fact that the facility is con
sidered to be the BEST of its kind
in the world.
Each year foreign national
parachute teams from Canada,
Great Britain, Sweden, Norway,
Denmark and some 10 to 15 other
nations come to Raeford to train.
Elements of the Golden Knights
(The US Army Parachute Team)
train at Raeford almost daily. Fur
ther, two instructor pilots and
several skydiving instructors
(myself included) train all their
students at Raeford-Hoke airport,
and I will assure you that all FAA
and United States Parachute
Association rules and regulations
are followed to the letter.
The sheer number of individuals
that use the Raeford-Hoke Airport
lead most logical thinking people
to believe that "safety is at the top
of ihe priority list." 1 question the
fact finding policies of the
management of The News-Journal
and their dedication to finding out
the whole story, reporting the facts
entirely before drawing supposedly
founded conclusions for the com
munity that it supports.
Johnny L. Mullen
Instructor
United States Parachute
Association
Airport operated
in safe manner
To the Editor:
I would like to respond to your
April 26 editorial entitled "Chaos
at Airport Raises Question."
I am a professional pilot, flight
instructor, skydiver, and ultralight
pilot. I would not fly, skydive or
train students at an airport which
was not operated in a safe manner
and in accordance with the Federal
Aviation Regulations and the
United States Parachute Associa
tions Basic Safety Regulations. 1
do all of these things at Raeford
Hoke Airport.
The Raeford Parachute Center
is known around the world for its
exceptional skydiving instruction
and its safe operation. Each year
hundreds of skydivers come to the
Raeford Parachute Center to train
from all over the world (at least 18
countries at last count). They also
spend thousands of dollars per
year to boost your economy.
In your editorial you mentioned
the unfortunate skydiving fatality
in March. This accident happened
to a member of one of the
parachute clubs from Ft. Bragg.
They were jumping as a club
operation at Raeford Airport as all
of the Ft. Bragg clubs do from
time to time. The subsequent in
vestigation determined the in
dividual failed to open either of his
parachutes. Every safety precau
tion had been taken and all regula
tions had been followed. Nothing
more could have been done by the
crop zone management to prevent
this accident. Furthermore, this ac
cident could have happened
anywhere.
The aircraft accidents that you
mentioned involved only minor in
juries to a few of the occupants of
the aircraft - less than most
automobile accidents. The lives
and property of local residents
were never in any danger. The first
accident involved a local Raeford
private pilot who somehow missed
the airport on a night landing and
landed in a field off the airport.
The second accident involved a
very experienced, out-of-state
pilot, who simply forgot to lower
his landing gear, the most recent
accident was caused by a very ex
perienced skydiving pilot who mis
judged the severity and persistence
of the turbulence produced by the
CH-47 (Chinook) helicopter mak
ing low level passes over the run
way. None of these accidents could
have been prevented by anything
the airport manager could have
done.
Your suggestion to prohibit the
Army from practicing take-offs
and landings at the Raeford-Hoke
Airport is forbidden by federal
regulations. Since this is a Federal
ly funded airport it is unlawful to
discriminate against any part of
the aviation community by pro
hibiting their use of the facility.
This includes the military,
skydivers, ultralights or any other
aviation function.
The drug smuggling aircraft of
which you wrote was being pur
sued by US Customs officials from
Florida. The plane probably chose
to land at the Raeford-Hoke Air
port because the customs officials
had to land to refuel at the time the
drug plane was over Raeford. The
airport management is not respon
sible for apprehending drug smug
glers. The question should be ask
ed why the local law enforcement
officials were so slow to respond to
a drug smuggling aircraft which
was followed, for several hours,
from Florida. Perhaps if the drug
smugglers had been apprehended,
the sabotage of the skydiving com
munity was unjustly blamed for
the drug smuggling. The sabotage
of the skydiving aircraft was pro
bably an attempt to stop the
(See LETTERS, page 10B)
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