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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02 18 1990 River's Edge Neighbors Now Share Edgy Nerves6A, Sunday, February 18, 1990, Vero Beach, Fla., PreasJournal Sebastian River Area *Grant •Micro -Little Hollywood *Barefoot Bay •Sebastian •Fellsmere •Roseland oVero Lake Estates River's Edge Neighbors Now Share Edgy Nerves Two Plane Crashes In Weeks Raise Residents' Concern By PATRICIA DiLALLA Sebastian Bureau Chlef In an urban setting or in a dif- ferent era, River's Edge subdivi- sion would be called a neighborhood It's the 164i �f piac4 wnesre housewives still hang their laun- dry outside to dry. Because of its small size, only 50 lots, people know their neighbors, and like them enough to pal around with them. Just about ev- eryone has a welcome mat to make visitors feel at home, but some have doubled the greeting by hanging welcome signs near their front doors as well. Children play boisterously at swimming pools while retirees down the block pass the time fish- ing the river. But the children of River's Edge aren't laughing much any more. They're crying. Afraid to leave their homes. And the usually friendly adults turn an angry eye on people they don't know. People who fly over their houses. The adults are angry Coe because they're worried. Within the past two weeks, there have been two plane crashes at their subdivision. As conversation turns to airplanes, as it frequently does nowadays, they remind each other that bad luck usually comes in threes. So far they've been lucky, they say. Next time, they might not escape unscathed from a crash. -"We feel very vulnerable," sake Virginia Buck. "I'm afraid." Yes, the residents at River's Edge say, they knew the Sebastian Municipal Airport was on the other side of Roseland Road when they moved there. But it didn't matter because as recently as three years ago they weren't bothered by the few planes that used the airport, even though their houses lie directly under the flight path for Runway 13. In fact, says Ed Cocciardi, he was initially pleased at the air- port's close proximity. When he lived in New York, he enjoyed visiting the airports to watch planes land and take off, so he thought he would find the same enjoyable experience here. His good feelings about avi- ation, however, have changed a great deal over the past two or three years as flight traffic has increased, particularly that of student pilots who use the airport to practice. "Right now, I hate the airport with a passion," Cocciardi says. "I would like to see it closed and moved to the west side of I-95." The Cocciardi house sits a slop- ing lawn away from the Sebastian River. The setting is peaceful and relaxing, just what the retired couple was looking for when they moved to Florida. ^iardi "I have seen planes come down and I don't think they are 75 feet above the trees," says Vito Veneziano. "They really come in low." Sometimes, the planes approach the runway with their wings "wob- bling," or the pilots cut the engines, Marge Cocciardi says. And the noise forces conver- sations on the ground to stop until the planes pass overhead. ..ie OWUmc ui o...ue days is so bad, "I don't think 5 minutes of the day goes by that I don't hear a plane in that sky," Cocciardi says. "It's like sitting with water dripping on your head, waiting for the next drop." Not all residents complain about the airport and the flights. Some are pilots themselves. Former pilot Philip Sherman says he moved back to River's Edge in November and has found it quieter than living in a condo - "I used to call it God's half acre," Cocciardi says. Not any more. As more student pilots started practicing their maneuvers at the air- port, residents started to complain. M. Veneziano V. Veneziano minium on U.S.1 where noise from trains and trucks on the road was worse. Sherman blames the city for the confrontational situation that has grown around the airport. "The city should have zoned the property around here for industry or other things so people couldn't build up to it," Sherman says. "It's not the air- port's fault." j After two years of con- troversy on the future of the airport, and growing criticism of student' training flights, the con- flirt leveled off while the city planned for an air- port/community compa- tibility study. And then, on Feb. 3, She two single -engine planes trying to land on runway 13 collided in midair. One pilot involved in that crash is still in serious condition at Orlando Regional Medical Center. The other, a 19-year-old whose plane nose-dived into Charles Stevens' yard, died instantly. Stevens was sitting on his patio when the plane fell. "We got so used to (the planes) before, we didn't pay much atten- tion," Stevens says. "I pay more attention to them now. I am upset." Residents grieved for the dead pilot and his family. They com- forted their children and each other. And raised questions about safety. Airplane parts still littered lawns and roofs when the second crash occurred Wednesday. A Piper Warrior II lost power to its engine and tried to land at the airport. It didn't make it. The pilot landed the plane on Roseland Road and crashed into vegetation near the entrance to River's Edge. No one was injured in that incident, but the plane ended up where schoolchildren customarily wait for their school bus. "I have grandchildren who come to see me and go to school on that bus," says Maria Veneziano. "I am frightened. I don't want to let them come here any more." The effect of the crashes on sub- division residents was electric. What they feared but never really expected to happen, did. Another accident. It didn't matter that in 40 years of the airport's existence there have been only three seri- ous accidents, the first 15 years ago. And it didn't matter that the pilots of the planes involved were licensed and experienced fliers. What does matter is that the vast majority of planes traveling over their heads are being pi- loted by students — one study commissioned by the city of Sebastian estimated their number to be 91 percent of the operations at the airport. And what has come to matter more and more to the residents is that those students, who are coming from flight schools in Vero Beach, are foreign born, with a shaky command of English. How, many ask, can it be safe for people with poor communication skills to fly out of an airport where there. -,is no control tower and where pilots have to keep each other informed of their wherea- bouts? In the meantime, the City Coun- cil has been grappling with its own worries since the two recent acci- dents and has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to do a safety study at the airport. And, at a special meeting Wednesday, council will decide whether to temporarily close runway 13/31.