Regarding the Wednesday article, “Plan to park giant radar platform in Everett raises concerns”:
As some of your readers may remember, in 2003 there were four finalists for the SBX: Adak, Everett, Pearl Harbor and Valdez. I was a management pilot for Era Aviation then, based in Anchorage, and was asked to attend a meeting in Valdez with community leaders there and the Navy. We were the only scheduled airline into Valdez so they wanted our opinion.
What we found out was there was going to be virtually zero impact concerning flights into and out of Valdez. Zero impact on the oil tankers going into and out of Valdez. As near as I could tell, zero impact except for the economic boost it would provide.
The people of Valdez know firsthand how fragile life is and how one event can change things overnight. After Good Friday of 1989, they are more skeptical than most concerning “experts” and what they have to say. They were all for having SBX based there, it was unanimous. They wanted to do their share for national security and saw this as a way to contribute.
As for people not wanting even a maintenance visit in Everett, I can’t understand it. It’s bad enough having closed-minded people being against something they know nothing about, but community leaders? Having the mayor and local representative against this is hard to comprehend. I guess we don’t need the economic stimulus this would provide.
Randy Moore
Arlington
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