Aviation Day Held at Norwood Airport as Community Leaders and Pilots Clash Over Longstanding Noise Disputes-September 18, 1989

Offering $10 bargain rides aboard an eight-seat Piper Cheyenne, Norwood Airport hosted an open-house “Aviation Day” yesterday designed to improve strained community relations and showcase the facility’s economic contributions.

While families like Kevin, Maria, and two-year-old Kyle Hildebrant of Wrentham enjoyed aerial tours over Norwood, Brockton, and surrounding towns, the event unfolded against the backdrop of a decades-long friction between local residents and aviation operators.

Community Outreach vs. Decades of Noise Complaints

Organized by the Norwood Airport Association—representing 135 pilots, plane owners, and aviation companies—Aviation Day was intended to bridge the gap between pilots and residents living near the town-owned facility, which has operated since the 1940s as a hub for recreational aircraft, small commercial operators, and a Logan Airport helicopter shuttle.

“This is our way of opening our doors to let people know we make a contribution to the community and to the economy,” said David Margolis, vice president of the airport association. Margolis argued that the airport suffers from misunderstandings and bad public relations, asserting that the association wants to “educate people… to get a more favorable town opinion so the rantings and ravings of a small number of people are given less credibility.”

Conversely, Walter Grady, a former airport commissioner heading a noise study committee, maintained that resident grievances are widespread and well-documented. “For past 20 years, there has been broad-based community complaints about the noise,” Grady said. “The basic conflict here is that the community would like perfect quiet while the airport community would like no restrictions on commerce.”

Legal Battles and Ongoing Noise Studies

The tensions have frequently boiled over into local politics. A few years ago, residents formed Stop Norwood Airport Growth (SNAG) to lobby for nighttime flight bans and stricter activity limits. In November 1986, SNAG successfully pushed Town Meeting to approve an 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. curfew, though a federal court judge subsequently blocked the measure.

The town later secured a $150,000 federal grant to fund an airport noise study covering Norwood, Canton, and Westwood, conducted by the Wakefield engineering firm Metcalf & Eddy. However, the study’s conclusions—which relied on 24-hour average noise levels rather than individual flight impacts—drew sharp criticism from Grady and State Rep. Gregory W. Sullivan (D-Norwood).

Sullivan successfully persuaded the study committee to send consultants back to the drawing board to examine the disruptive impact of single nighttime flights. “A jet takes off and rocks you right out of bed at 3 a.m.,” Grady noted. “That’s an event that’s not forgotten.” Sullivan is actively seeking $9,300 in state or federal funds to complete the single-flight analysis, expressing optimism that data-driven, tougher local controls can resolve the conflict within a year.

Meanwhile, commercial operators like Allen Bishop, vice president of Eastern Air Charter, remain skeptical that tensions will ease without a pragmatic compromise that avoids cumbersome regulations. As the debate continues, community leaders like Sullivan emphasize that extreme positions—whether shutting down the airport entirely or imposing total curfews—are unrealistic, leaving a balanced compromise as the primary path forward.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger