A search of the Internet will reveal many references to the problems that both the noise and pollution of commercial airport cause to communities. We have listed below a few of the relevant web sites and reports.

• Noise pollution activists take flight
  
• Stockholm Environment Institute - Aviation and Sustainability
  
• Zurich votes on airport restrictions
  
• WHO technical meeting on aircraft noise and health
  
• A follow-up study of effects of chronic aircraft noise exposure on child stress responses and cognition
  
• Exposure-Effect Relations between Aircraft and Road Traffic Noise Exposure at School and Reading Comprehension
  
• What are the Health Effects of Airport Noise and Pollution?
• Health Issues: Did you ever wonder what blows out of a jet airplane?
• Health Issues: EPA Estimation and Evaluation of Cancer Risks Attributed to Air Pollution in Southwest Chicago
• Airports: Deadly Neighbours.
• Citizens Against Airport Pollution: Airport Noise Pollution Research
• Cause and Effects of Noise Pollution, University of California.
• Airport noise is harmful to the health and well-being of children and may cause lifelong problems
• If you live within 6 miles of an airport, you are at heightened risk of dying prematurely
• Kids near airports don't read as well because they tune out speech
• Avation and Sustainability - SEI Policy Paper
• Avation: The social, economic and environmental impact of flying
• Large APAC cities with only one international airport
• Biological And Health Effects Of Exposure To Kerosene-Based Jet Fuels And Performance Additives
• GreenSkies Campaign
• Environmental Policies at Airports - GreenSkies Campaign report
• Air quality around airports
• EEA (2004). Environmental Signals 2004. The European Environmental Agency
• WHO (2003). Health Aspects of Air Pollution with Particulate Matter, Ozone and Nitrogen Dioxide
• WHO (2004). Systematic Review of Health Aspects of Air Pollution in Europe.
• The Plane Truth - Aviation and the Environment
• Sleepers 'at risk' from jet noise.
  >> Link to BBC Health News

Aircraft crashes are uncommon so we shouldn't worry about them.  However, they do occur and generally on landing and takeoff.  Here (right column) are links to some sites that track these incidents and a couple of interesting reports.

2008	April 26 - Two people died when a Thorp T18 light aircraft crashed at Whenuapai Airbase narrowly missing a building. Eyewitnesses said the aircraft nose-dived and ploughed into the ground.
2008	February 8 - Eagle Airways Flight 2279, a BAe Jetstream 32 from Blenheim, New Zealand to Christchurch, New Zealand, is hijacked ten minutes after takeoff by a passenger who attacked both pilots and one other female passenger. The hijacker is eventually restrained by the co-pilot and the flight lands safely at Christchurch International Airport. It was the first hijacking incident in New Zealand.
2005	May 3 - Airwork Flight 23, a Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner crashes in Taranaki, New Zealand killing both crew members.
1995	June 5 - Ansett New Zealand Flight 703, a de Havilland DHC-8, crashes during a landing approach near Tararua Range, New Zealand killing four of the 21 people on board.
1979	November 28 - Air New Zealand Flight 901, a DC-10, hits high ground on Mount Erebus, Antarctica, during a sightseeing flight, killing all 257 people on board. This is also known as the Mount Erebus disaster.
1963	July 3 - the DC-3 Skyliner ZK-AYZ Hastings operating New Zealand National Airways Corporation Flight 441 from Whenuapai Airport, Auckland to Tauranga crashed into the Kaimai Ranges. All 23 aboard died, making it the worst air disaster in mainland New Zealand at that time.
1940s	Two aircraft crashed at Whenuapai airfield during WWII but these incidents were kept secret until very recently.