Flyover Country

Came across an article today about a cell tower built too high near the end of a runway.  This is a big deal, especially when the obstruction isn’t lit.  Radio towers might seem unsightly from the ground, but they’re fairly small in terms of being able to see them from the air.  Even moreso at night.  The tower in question was built too high, so the light installed was activated so that pilots wouldn’t run into the damn thing and kill themselves trying to land.  Apparently there are some real idiots who want the cell service, but don’t understand what it means to have an obstruction that cannot be seen.

The FAA offered an alternative – paint the tower orange and white.

The FAA would prefer a flashing white strobe during the day and red beacon at night, but a possible alternative would be to paint the tower bright orange and white in 8-foot stripes from top to bottom, Papenfuss said. He asked the FAA to wait on its recommendation until town planners state their preference. His preference was clear: “You don’t want that god-awful orange and white paint you see for miles.”

Actually, dumbass, yes you do.  An airplane traveling at 200mph covers 2 miles in about 30 seconds.  That isn’t much time to see the obstruction while busy preparing to land, and avoid it.  Apparently some residents objected to the tower being lit, and after just a day or so complained, referring to it as a “tower of terror” – because of the light.

The article then takes a very SimCity like turn, with these gems:

“I’m totally confused. … I’m moving.”

“It really smells as far as I’m concerned”

the light is “pretty bad. You could get sunburn from it.”

“My house is lit up like a disco. I am inflicted with ocular migraines. … You need to drop their cell tower to where there’s no light, or tear it down.”

This is the type of nonsense you get from an uninformed citizenry crying NIMBY!