ABOUT US AND OUR CONCERNS

We are a group of Markham and Richmond Hill residents that share similar concerns and issues on Buttonville Airport operation in several areas:

1) The safety issue of training/pleasure flights. Many aircraft used for training are older single engine aircrafts. The area surrounding Buttonville lacks open fields for aircraft emergency landing. Training and Pleasure flights represent ~ 33% of all aircraft accidents, according to Transportation Safety Board of Canada statistics from 2008

2) The safety and noise issues generated by these training and pleasure flights circulating over our heads and our neighbourhood. At times there are 112 flights per hour – almost one every 30 seconds.

3) Buttonville operates 7 days/24 hours with late night non-emergency flights.

4) The support of our politicians to resume/continue GTAA funding for the privately owned Buttonville airport even though 10’s of millions of public money have already been provided to this airport in the past. There is no discussion about increasing user fees. There is no discussion about auditing the airport to assess IF the money is indeed needed.

5) The lack of public consultation and community involvement on public funding of this airport and on airport operations and expansion that affect us. For example there is a recent contract to train 300+ foreign students. This increases the concern about safety.

6) The lack of urgency for relocation of Buttonville airport away from our densely populated urban communities.

7) The lack of established process to handle complaints from residents affected by Buttonville Airport.

Residents may not be aware of many issues related to the airport operation, or assume they have no power to affect the airport. The reality is that what was once open fields and farm land are now densely populated communities where we live and work, where our children go to school. The operation of an airport, especially one where 50% of the flights are for training pilots and for pleasure use with the use of older single-engine aircrafts, leads one to be concerned about suitability of the airport given the density of today’s development and that which is planned for the future. Simply put, if an aircraft loses power, it will crash into a home, or school, or office.

Nothing can remain status quo. The fact that our areas used to be open fields and now are densely populated communities is a vivid example of our changing environment with changing need. We have the right to complain and to take action. The lack of open field for emergency landing, the nature and frequency of many of these flights should no longer be tolerated in our residential neighbourhood.

Get involved and join our group. Only by working together, we can have some say on the operation of the airport that affects our safety and our daily lives.

ButtonvilleNoiseAndSafety Group

************************************