A Physicians Air Transport King Air 200 medevac aircraft was hit by a bullet while parked at Hawkins Field in Jackson, Mississippi, on Monday and local officials didn’t seem very surprised. Apparently a dispute over the city’s garbage collection contract has led to people on the ground taking potshots near the airport “I don’t think it helped that they put the garbage trucks on the airport’s property. It’s a lot of hate now for the airport, and some are shooting guns at planes and that isn't the answer," city councilman Kenneth Stokes told WJTV. He called for more police enforcement.
I lived in the Jackson region for quite a while and have flown in/out of Hawkins over a number of years. I suspect that the people shooting at planes don’t have the ability to comprehend that the airplanes have nothing to do with the garbage service, nor how serious it is to shoot at an aircraft. In their community, gunfire is a standard way to address conflict. Maybe we could let a couple of A-10s shoot an approach there and respond to any aggression.
Do they have very long straight roads in Jackson so aircraft can load, taxi up to the bins, empty them, and then take off again with the garbage?
Or have they some sort of suction device like those used to unload grain from ships and people put all the garbage in one pile and the aircraft trails a hose to suck it up – pilots who love low and slow can now get paid for doing it?
We need to know.
I haven’t joined the Divestiture Of Common Sense event in The Race To The Bottom Show - now streaming! - yet. Could someone explain how airplanes operating from the local airport have a connectable dot to garbage collection?
Stricter Gun Laws, yeh since we know clearly that these kinds of criminal always follow laws. Maybe they should make a law against shooting at planes…of wait.
Apparently only that the garbage trucks are parked on airport property. What I fail to see is what shooting guns at airplanes has to do with garbage trucks. It’s as idiotic as shooting at cars on a road because the road construction is taking so long.
Sad that we live in a world where one has to be on the lookout for NOTAMs warning of “numerous gun shots in the area” (I don’t know if there actually is one, but it sounds like it’s a known issue and that there should be one).
The act was illegal already. Why do you think stricter gun laws would help? I suppose when someone at your airport violates a rule, you want the rules changed to give you more trouble when you use your plane?
It’s almost like our founders thought of this reaction in the beginning, isn’t it?
If it’s like any other airport there’s probably ample, unused ramp space. Maybe, just maybe, if not everyone was allowed to have a gun. Maybe, I don’t know, some sort of background checks and licensing? You know, like what it takes to own and operate an airplane. Won’t solve every problem, but might, just might, reduce it a bit.