I doubt seriously that a light helo or airplane could actually bring down a bridge by impacting it, but the concern of the people living on the island is extremely valid.
This is from memory so I hope the details are close.
My then future wife and I had a vacation planned in late October of 2001 at South Padre Island in far south Texas. Airline tickets were bought, deposit on the condo was paid, etc. About a week after 9-11, a barge got outside the channel and hit the one and only bridge connecting the island to the mainland, and knocked down 2 long spans, killing 5 people. Needless to say, after 9-11 and the bridge going down, I followed events pretty closely praying the vacation could be salvaged.
There are about 5000 people who reside on the island, most of whom work off the island, and many of the employees who work the tourist businesses on the island, live off the island. So the disruption was terrific.
Boats were able to carry people and supplies back and forth to the mainland right away, but it took several days to get 2 small car ferries to the island. Then for several more days they were used strickly to get stranded cars off the island. Then for several more days, they were used to get resident's cars to the mainland, so they could drive to work after the passenger boats carried them back and forth each day.
It wasn't until mid October that enough large ferries were brought into the area that they finally allowed 2-way car traffic to and from the island to be carried on the ferries. We arrived on the island about 2 weeks later. They had no gasoline on the island (all the tanks at the stations were dry), so we got on the ferry in the rental car with a full gas tank, and did not use it all before we returned to the mainland near the end of the vacation. By the time we arrived, most of the businesses were open, but many had reduced hours of operation, and the island was unusually quite.
The disruption was enormous economically for both residents and the local tourist businesses, and after the bridge was repaired (took about 4 months), the city government started work on funding the construction of a second bridge.
So the concerns of the people who both live on the island, and who profit from the island's tourism, is extremely valid.
Last edited by Flight Safety; 27th Jun 2003 at 06:04.