For years there has been in place a Coordinated Disaster Plan at the existing airport. In the event of a plane crash, the hospitals, EMS, Sheriff’s Office, Panama City Police, Lynn Heaven PD,  Highway Patrol and several Panama City Fire department stations are prepared to respond. This multi agency plan is in place to provide first response to crash victims. These agencies can be on the scene in minutes. While the Airport Fire Department is a very necessary agency, they are primarily equipped to “poke and foam”.  Their role is to extinguish an airplane fire. They are not prepared to treat and transport burn and trauma victims. One of the biggest lies regarding the need for a new airport was that PFN was unsafe.  The new safer airport is now, 19 miles from Bay Medical Center. Much of that route is thru very congested traffic. Will the West Bay, Vernon, and Ebro Volunteer fire departments be deploying the multi-agency disaster plan? These volunteer agencies are selfless, dedicated heroes, but they are hardly equipped to handle a plane crash. When a 737 jet ingests a flock of Wood Storks on takeoff and is forced to ditch in the trees a mile or so from the runway, who will be chopping a path to the scene?  The Department of Forestry will be the only agency that would even have a chance of finding the crash site. Is the Forestry department trained in first response? Will victims be transported to the hospital on a logging truck? For the record if PFN were “un- safe” the FAA would not have allowed it to operate. Unsafe was a lie.

#2 Weather and Lake effect fog

As the prevailing sea breeze comes off the Gulf and North Bay and starts to weaken over the very mass of land where the New Airport is situated, the recipe for convective thunders storms and dense fog is complete. A Low lying wetland near a body of water. On any given Summer day anyone who has spent any time in Bay County has seen the black wall of morning and afternoon thunderstorms that forms just north of the bay. Often regenerating themselves for hours with little or no movement.  These same factors create thick dense fog in the cooler months. Many days in the spring and fall you can depart to the north and marvel and the thick, cake like fog layer that forms over these airport wetlands. It usually takes hours to burn off.  The existing PFN experiences many hours of delay due to fog each year. However because of location and other factors it dissipates fairly quickly. The calm, moist air over the wetlands of the New Airport will be a vastly different situation.  Most airlines as a matter of policy establish landing  and operation minimums that are far more strict than those of the FAA. Flying into an airport with dense fog conditions and or active thunderstorms will not be something any responsible airline will do. Plan on many flights diverting or never leaving their point of origin because of the Florida wetlands weather.

#3 Wildlife and Bird Strikes

Every airport regardless of location faces an ongoing threat of some animal and bird strikes. The current PFN location records bird strikes routinely. Fortunately most of these only result in minor damage to aircraft. Small sea birds, sandpipers, pigeons, are primarily the population near PFN. Now consider an airport built on top of 300,000 acres of remotely located wetlands. This will be like flying low to the ground through an episode Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. The long term plan will be to destroy and develop the surrounding parcels of land to the point no wildlife will be left, but over  the next several years there will be a heightened danger to aircraft in the area. Large birds like bald eagles, turkey buzzards, geese, and flocks of ducks will all be competing for airspace over the New Airport. Then there is the discussion of deer, wild hogs, and alligators, warming themselves on the runway. Before you bet your life on a new fence that will surround the airport, understand there isn’t a fence made that is 100% animal proof. Ask the border patrol. We’ve all seen what a car looks like after striking a deer at 55mph. Now imagine the landing gear or wing of an airplane striking an animal at over 100mph.  A pilot cannot swerve, and braking in time will also be unlikely. The scene after such a strike could be disastrous.