During a packed town hall, North Perry airport officials pledged to conduct safety and environmental studies in response to recent crashes in Pembroke Pines.
Over 200 people registered for the event held at the South Regional/Broward College library on Wednesday night to share their thoughts with airport officials.
Residents and leaders of Pembroke Pines, which neighbors the busy airport, were unnerved after a private plane slammed into a tree last month — injuring the occupants and narrowly missing people’s homes.
Some of the major initiatives sought by the city, and supported by the airport, included an update to a safety study from four years ago and a separate study to examine lead contamination near North Perry. On other items, like reducing total flights and increasing scrutiny of private plane maintenance, airport officials expressed doubts.
Despite the concerns from the community and high attendance, the mood in the town hall was calm. At the outset, elected officials urged attendees to remain civil, to hear out North Perry’s presentation and submit comments in writing. They did so.
Outside of the venue, however, Pembroke Pines resident Tarrance Sheffield had a more dim view of the engagement.
“Every time this happens, we come out for this here,” Sheffield told WLRN, “You're gonna have two, three meetings and they're gonna be right back to the next plane crash.”
There have been 35 crashes and incidents stemming from the airport since 2020, according to the city. The causes included poor plane maintenance, fuel contamination, engine failure and pilot error, federal investigators found.
One of the worst crashes occurred in March 2021, when a plane struck a car carrying a mother and her 4-year-old son in Pembroke Pines. The boy was killed, along with both of the plane’s passengers.
Sheffield said a plane from the airport had previously crashed into his yard.
“ Everytime a plane comes out, you're constantly looking up,” he said — something other Pembroke Pines residents have echoed.
The role of North Perry
North Perry is what’s known as a “reliever airport,” easing congestion from larger airports like Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport.
It houses, services and oversees private and light commercial planes. The airport also hosts flight schools, aerial advertising companies and helicopter/plane tours. As of last year, the airport housed 417 aircrafts.
North Perry has one air traffic control tower. Part of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) national contract tower program, the tower has limited hours and is staffed by a private firm rather than by FAA employees.
However, North Perry is the busiest federal contract tower in the nation, the airport has said. In the last two years, the airport has exceeded its own projections for annual flights by the year 2035. The airport saw more than 317,000 flights last year alone.
Broward County oversees the airport as well as Fort Lauderdale’s through its aviation division. The CEO is Mark Gale, who said Wednesday he doesn’t want to see crashes either. Gale said North Perry passes its safety inspections by the FAA.
“ The things that we are responsible for immediately at that airport – I think we do a very, very good job,” Gale told reporters before the meeting began, “But we still have accidents and incidents occur.”
'A lot of handcuffs'
Elected officials like Pembroke Pines Mayor Angelo Castillo have pushed North Perry and Broward County to face safety issues from the airport. The July crash led the city to pass a resolution urging a safety study be conducted.
On Wednesday night, Castillo welcomed residents at the start of the meeting and set the tone.
“ We love you North Perry. You're part of our history. But be good and be safe,” he said, “Or be gone.”
Gale gave a presentation to attendees about the airport’s operations, and what he saw as limitations to its authority.
Castillo and others want the airport to build in more scrutiny of maintenance into its leases with private plane owners.
Gale said that largely falls under the FAA, the agency in charge of inspecting planes for air-worthiness and clearing pilots to fly. Representatives from the FAA were invited but did not attend.
Another ask from Pembroke Pines officials is restricting the number of total flights at the public airport — something Gale says they can ask the FAA but it’s ultimately up to the agency.
“The FAA puts a lot of handcuffs on our immediate control to do certain things,” Gale said.
“That’s not going to stop us from looking at or asking what can we do,” he continued, “If we think the number of operations at the airport are too high.”
The major requests that the airport supported included conducting a safety study and resuming a 2023 request to measure lead pollution from burning jet fuel.
While Broward County allocated $30,000 to conduct the air pollution study in 2023, no study was ever started nor work done. Gale said the agency was currently working on the “scope” of how far away from the airport to measure in order to get started.
‘We all want to make it home’
After the meeting concluded, James Goez, a 31-year-old pilot who flies commercially and out of North Perry, stood in a circle chatting with other pilots.
He said he felt like Pembroke Pines residents were unfairly demonizing the airport and pilots.
“ A lot of us take great pride in what we do as pilots. We all wanna make it home,” Goez said. “ I don't do this 'cause I want to crash and die.”
Goez fears that they ultimately want to see the airport closed altogether.
He maintained that while some pilots make mistakes and need to keep their planes better maintained, the overall number of crashes at North Perry pretty low — compared to its total number of flights.
“ They're attacking the airport and they're trying to play with people's emotions,” Goez said. “They call it ‘Scary Perry,’ but I don't understand why?”
