Kimberly Gibbs: Curious change of Mile-Hi Skydiving plane routes on day of judge's visit

By Kimberly Gibbs

Ten years ago, if you had asked my opinion about skydiving or airplane noise I would have replied with complete indifference. All that changed about five years ago when I began to notice planes flying constantly over my neighborhood, about 8 miles from the airport. I later learned that they were skydiving jump planes — climbing steeply and noisily, circling constantly yet never going anywhere. After joining with other concerned citizens throughout Boulder County, our efforts to reduce the community noise impact eventually led to a lawsuit against the skydiving company. That lawsuit, Citizens For Quiet Skies et al. vs Mile-Hi Skydiving concluded on May 21, with Judge LaBuda ruling in favor of Mile-Hi.

A critical juncture in the trial involved the judge's site visit to observe Mile-Hi's flights, which are conducted within an established "flight box." The flight box encompasses an 85-square-mile area south of the Longmont airport and includes Hygiene, Niwot and Gunbarrel. In the days leading up to the site visit, Mile-Hi was observed dramatically changing its flight patterns and flying far outside the box, even though the owner testified that they must remain inside it at all times. As we suspected, during the site visit the plane flew several miles outside the box, all the way to Hall Ranch near Lyons, completely bypassing the Gunbarrel observation site. The flight tracks can be viewed on WebTrak (webtrak5.bksv.com/den3 beacon code 0331) at 3:35 p.m. May 2, 2015. If Mile-Hi was not concerned about the level of noise from their operation, then why would they make such an effort to avoid flying anywhere near the judge?

Confident in their victory following the whisper-quiet site visit flights, Mile-Hi embarked on a curious journey that same evening at about 7:25 pm, circling repeatedly around a plaintiff's home near Prairie Fire Circle (also on webtrak). This abusive conduct was completely in line with the credible testimony presented by a Mile-Hi pilot who claimed that the owner, Frank Casares, had personally directed him to buzz the home of a plaintiff and purposely create excessive noise.

Contrary to statements made by Mile-Hi's public relations firm, Mile-Hi has shown no interest in being a good neighbor — in fact, just the opposite. Since the trial's conclusion, Mile-Hi has significantly increased their activities, flying as many as 3 noisy turboprop jump planes concurrently. They are starting earlier in the morning and continuing later into the evening. The community noise impact will only increase unless their operation is regulated. And finally, in an effort to silence me, they have threatened a libel action for sharing this completely accurate information via social media (details on Facebook).

There is a solution to this important quality of life issue — we must regain local control over skydiving operations and noise regulation. If this is an important issue for you, we invite you to learn more at CitizensForQuietSkies.org.

Original article can be found here:  http://www.timescall.com/columnists/opinion