A Struggle for Friendly Skies: Noise Complaints Continue

By RITA SAVARD, Sun Staff

NASHUA -- Pilot Rob Holland zig-zags his small biplane toward the airstrip. He's hardly an amateur, but moving the craft from side to side is normal, since the type of plane he's steering doesn't allow him to see what's directly in front of him.

The roaring engine rumbles through the floor and fills the cockpit. Holland smiles. Within minutes, he catapults into the air, a patchwork of earth shrinking below. He climbs to 3,000 feet.

"They say the sky is the limit," Holland quips through his headset. "But really, it's just the beginning."

What happens next can induce a rapid heart beat, sweaty palms, rubbery legs and the need for, well, a barf bag.

Nothing is visible through the Plexiglas canopy overhead except blue sky. Peering from left to right, the earth seems to pull back like a green and brown curtain. Spins. Loops. Rolls. Hammerheads. Screaming through the sky, Holland spirals vertically toward the earth. From the ground, it might appear like the plane's about to crash. But Holland is in total control. Before you can blink, he's rearing up and flying gracefully toward the clouds."


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