BIG Problem at the Hinche Haiti Airport... Read This...

Map Of Hinche Haiti

According to Le Nouvelliste, Residents of Hinche even use the airport as a ground to teach people how to drive.

What???

That's crazy!

Imagine a person who doesn't know how to drive getting out of the way of an airplane trying to land... Ohhh Nooo.... Deadly mix!

But why is this happening? How do we fix it?

Many years ago, when I was growing up in Hinche, across the way from the airstrip were farms but... NOT anymore! These farms have since been converted to residential areas.

The unexpected growth of Hinche Haiti!

Hinche, the capital of Haiti's Centre department, is a rapidly exploding little city. Hinche, in my opinion, has been the most ignored capital city in Haiti. Ignored mainly because... one comes to Hinche but noone really go through Hinche to get to any other part of Haiti.

But all of that that is about to change. Route Nationale #3 is full paved from Port-au-Prince to Hinche and very soon RN3 will connect Hinche to Cap-Haitien and that will tremendously cut the driving time from Cap-Haitien, trough Hinche, to Port-au-Prince.

Hinche has seen a lot new roads and many new constructions in the last 25 years. Hinche is quickly expanding beyond its borders.

There is only one problem...

Hinche is surrounded by water on 3 side. At the opening of the fourth side, sitting right next to the main road en route to Maissade, is a convenient little airplane landing strip that the US Marines carved back in 1929 in order to land their planes in the Central plateau.

Sad to say, nothing much has been done to it since 1929!

Yep... The airport in Hinche just that... a piece of land with no trees where small airplanes can land.

Here are a couple of things you need to know about this landing strip:

1 - It is HALF the diameter of the city of Hinche.

I am not exaggerating when I say the airport is half the diameter of Hinche... One end of the airport is at the center of town and the other end is at the edge of the city... Tout bon wi!

have another look at the image... The gray line is the airport...

2 - There are roads, at least four of them, that end right on the landing strip. Since it is not enclosed with any type of perimeter fence, people, cars, and motorcycles tend to go across it in order to access the main road (Rue Paul Eugene Magloire).

The last time I was in a car with a friend of mine he drove off the road right across the landing strip into his mother's front yard.

The way I see it, there are two ways to prevent this.

1 - Close off the landing strip (I'm sorry, the Hinche Airport) with a real perimeter fence, not the "Fil de Fer" that the article is talking about.

or...

2 - Move the airport out of town. Believe me, there is a lot of land outside of Hinche if the airport authority chooses to do it right.

Will any of this happen?

Haiti is my country, Hinche is my hometown, I don't have a choice but to be optimistic that it will happen.

Big Question: Does the Martelly-Lamothe Government want to do something about this?

You wont believe what Le Nouveliste wrote about this:

Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe has repeatedly announced that the government had a budget to improve the airport in Hinche. Aviation experts believe that, given the nature of [air] traffic, it would not be worthwhile to build a new site from scratch elsewhere. We know only too well the reality of our country. The new airport would most likely never see the day. The current field is more than enough for the present and future needs of the city, given the existence of the new road.

So in other words...

Since Hinche now has a paved road, and "AIR TRAVEL" to Hinche is only reserved for "evacuation of seriously ill people and the rapid movement of VIP delegations," the possibility of the Central Plateau to see the construction of a new airport, or even the rehabilitation of the dirty, dusty, animal filled, motorcycle-crossing, pedestrian-crossing, and car-crossing landing strip is slim to none... Not because the Government does not want to do it but... because SMART DUMMIES who are deciding for the greater good of the people of Haiti's Plateau Central think it is a bad idea.

Ha... Ha... Ha... Oh Yea...

Mesye!... Gen yon seri de moun k-ap panse pou nou ... Se krev coeur...

How can people who can't even dream of ever driving a decent car dream of constructing an airport?

It's donkey time! Hee Huhhh!

Tchipssss....

M'ale papa...

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