Quote of the Week:  "We’ve worked hard to make jet engines quieter and to reduce the number of people affected by airport noise” Transportation Secretary Norman Minetta 
  

Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter #289.......................................September 12th, 2004 Past newsletters can be accessed at: http://pages.prodigy.net/rockaway/ACNewsmenu.htm  The PASSUR airport flight tracking system at http://www.passur.com/sites.htm (you must have Java installed to view it) Bill Mulcahy rockaway@prodigy.net 

FAA "Reduces" Aircraft Noise By Concentrating Impacts On Communities!!!

As Bill Sees It: (Editorial) Russian Plane Bombings Bringing More "Intimate" Searches Of  Air Passengers!!! The government and the airlines are really getting nervous after it was shown that "terrorists" blew two Russian planes out of the sky. As it only takes enough explosives the size of a cigarette pack to down a jumbo jet, we may soon see air passengers having to get completely nude for searches. This bodes ill for the airlines, several of which are either in or close to Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I feel sorry for anyone who is holding this polluting industry's stock. FAA's Illegal Policy: Reducing Noise Numbers By CONCENTRATING On  Poor And Minority Communities: I talked to FAA and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) people this week about the corrupt system they use to politically route planes. What they told me was very enlightening. What the FAA does is give over their legal mandate to protect Americans from unhealthy levels of noise, to local politically-controlled airports. This, of course, allows the wealthy and politically connected local communities to control the airport's routing policy, which the FAA then rubber stamps!!! This allows concentrated and discriminatory plane routing over the poor, minority and politically weak residential areas. This system works very well for the FAA (and the protected communities) except for the fact that IT IS ILLEGAL!!! It violates the rules and regulations that the FAA and Dept. of Transportation are "supposed" to be following to comply with various EPA and Presidential environmental justice orders. For example, the FAA's own rule (revised in June) on FAA policies and procedures for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Order 1050.1E states that the "FAA must conduct analysis, including appropriate demographic analysis of the potential effects, to identify and address potential impacts on these (poor and minority) populations that may be disproportionately high and adverse." This sounds to me that concentrating impacts on one community, especially poor and minority, is not supposed to be the standard policy of the DOT or FAA. Where is the Inspector General? Is taking the FAA to court the only way to get them to comply with the law ? This is something they know that poor and minority communities don't have the resources to do. FAA's Eastern Region Hides Their Dirty Deeds From The Public!!! The last thing the FAA's Eastern Region, located at JFK Airport, wants is to talk to their victims. However, they must have a regional Public Affairs Office that you would think is "supposed" to assist  the public. However, on their web site they claim it is only for "media relations." It that is true, why don't they call it FAA Media Relations? Just another example of FAA duplicity. Contacting it is a real experience. The Eastern Region is responsible for the operation of airports in several states and is headed by Arlene Feldman (picture on left) the person I've identified as being most responsible for the unjust routing policies at JFK Airport and no doubt elsewhere.  The FAA Eastern Region's Nasty "Public" Affairs Office: This week I tried to get some information from the "public" affairs person at Feldman's Eastern Region office, Arlene Salac. I tried to use the Public Affair's office listed number, 718-553-3015 and the phone went dead before I talked to anyone. Using my Internet expertise, I found another number, 718-553-3011, and finally got Salac. She was not only not helpful, but she was really nasty (no doubt because I found her). Salac informed me she only dealt only with the press and if I wanted to know anything about routing I would have to talk to the Port Authority (the airport operator)!! I informed Salac that routing was the responsibility (as she well knows) of the FAA. I'm sorry to say I lost it when I encountered her nasty, evasive and unhelpful attitude. I finally hung up on this creature. I tried to contact the other Public Affairs person, Jim Peters,  and he hung up on me without letting me finish my question!!! These are a "public" servants? Apparently they want as little to do as possible with the public seeking information about the Eastern Region's discriminatory routing policies. This whole corrupt FAA Eastern Region, starting with Eastern Region Administrator, Arlene Feldman, should be cleaned out!!!  The FAA's Partner In Crime: The NY/NJ Port Authority: I was hoping that the recent conviction of Charles Kushner (pictured on left), former board member of the NY/NJ Port Authority (the JFK Airport operator) on eighteen criminal counts would have exposed more of the whole corrupt FAA/Port Authority relationship. The FBI got tipped off about this guy's activities when he was nominated by Gov. McGreevey (who has his own corruption problems) to become CHAIRMAN of the Port Authority. Unfortunately, the feds let him plead guilty without naming names. I guess they didn't want the corruption investigation to start exposing Kushner's Republican ties. After all, Kushner also needed  New York republican Governor Pataki's approval for the chairman job. Kushner is due to be sentenced to serve his time in Club Fed on November 29th.

Reno, Nevada: DOT Secretary Mineta Says He Is "Reducing The Numbers" Of People Affected By Aircraft Noise: About 230 Reno and Sparks homeowners near Reno/Tahoe International Airport will get more to protect them from aircraft noise through $7.9 million in grants from the U.S. Transportation Department. “We’ve worked hard to make jet engines quieter and to reduce the number of people affected by airport noise,” Transportation Secretary Norman Minetta said. The noise abatement grants this year include $4 million to insulate about 230 homes, $2 million to acquire land from willing homeowners in the path of aircraft, and $1.9 million to create a monitoring system to reduce noise. Editor's Note: I wonder who is getting this airport's noise concentrated on them to "reduce the numbers" for some wealthy, politically connected area? http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2004/09/09/80093.php?sp1=rgj&sp2=News&sp3=Local+News&sp5=RGJ.com&sp6=news&sp7=local_news 

 How The FAA Uses The Boiled Frog Parable As A Guide To Increase Noise On "Selected" Communities: If you place a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will immediately try to scramble out. But if you place a frog in room temperature water, and don't scare him, he'll stay put and not move. Now, if the pot sits on a heat source, and if you gradually turn up the temperature, something very interesting happens. As the temperature rises from 70 to 80 degrees F., the frog will do nothing. In fact, he will show every sign of enjoying himself. As the temperature gradually increases, the frog will become groggier and groggier, until he is unable to climb out of the pot. Though there is nothing restraining him, the frog will sit there and boil. Why? Because the frog's internal apparatus for sensing threats to survival is geared to sudden changes in his environment, not to slow, gradual changes. Editor's Note: The FAA has learned never to make any changes in routing quickly as this generates a quick uproar from their intended victims.

FAA's Blakey Pushes O'Hare Expansion Plan: The head of the Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday urged approval of the O'Hare Airport expansion, saying it's the only long-term way to battle chronic flight delays. Marion Blakey's comments came at a congressional hearing in Washington, where she said, "There's little question the optimal solution to reduce O'Hare delays rests in additional capacity." The hearing, called by U.S. Rep. William Lipinski (D-Ill.), was intended to persuade federal aviation officials to speed up the process for approving the City of Chicago's O'Hare Modernization Program. O'Hare expansion opponents argue expansion is not worth the multibillion-dollar cost and negative environmental and safety effects on residents near the airport. http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-ohare10.html 

England: Night Flights Stirring Up The Brits: SUFFOLK'S skies have gone plane crazy - with hundreds of flights now criss-crossing the air above residents every day. But there has been absolutely no public consultation on the issue as the number of aircraft has grown year by year, and the situation is set to get worse with the government intent on increasing air traffic three-fold in the next 20 years. Campaigners say the increase has been done by stealth and the public have not been kept properly informed. Richard Dyer, Friends of the Earth's aviation campaigner said: “The increase in aircraft night noise that residents are experiencing is just the tip of the iceberg. “The Government's plans for massive airport expansion will increase noise exposure and make life a misery for thousands more people. “Increased pollution from more planes will also make it impossible for Britain to meet its targets to tackle dangerous climate change.”  Click here for story. 

Airlines Crash Diving!!!  WASHINGTON -- Several long-suffering airlines appear to have reached a breaking point, with fuel prices unrelentingly high, cash reserves dwindling and customers addicted to cheap fares. US Airways may file for bankruptcy court protection a second time and could be forced to liquidate, Delta is on the precipice of bankruptcy and United is battling an employee revolt as it aims to scrap its pension plans. The frantic restructuring under way at these carriers and others means more anguish for workers and shareholders, although fliers in most markets should continue to see an abundance of low fares. While not every carrier is guaranteed to survive, analysts say the imminent upheaval could augur a brighter long-term future for the industry. http://www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories2004/business/20040910214953.shtml 

Did Airbus "Manipulate" Test Numbers On Rudders? A highly-respected German news magazine reported this week that evidence exists that may prove that Airbus Industries, which is headquartered in Hamburg, “manipulated” the engineering test numbers relating to the rudders of its A300-600 aircraft, the same type of jet airliner that flew as American Airlines Flight 587, which crashed into Belle Harbor on November 12, 2001. http://www.rockawave.com/news/2004/0909/Front_Page/036.html  Editor's Note: you have to wait a week to read this story unless your a Wave subscriber.

Interesting Aircraft Noise Related Sites: 

http://biometnews.com/environment/noise_abatement.html 

The DOT (proposed) Noise Abatement Policy 2000: Check it out. Although the site is sometimes down.

http://aea.faa.gov/aea60/noise/noisepolicy2000.pdf 

History of Noise Airport Noise Abatement: Scott Skramstad Aviation Noise Program Specialist Metropolitan Airports Commission June 2002 http://www.macavsat.org/pdf_files/misc_reports/airport_noise.pdf 

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Important Aviation Information

16.1 REQUIREMENTS.

16.1a. Environmental Justice. Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address

16.1b. Children’s Environmental Health and Safety Risks. Pursuant to Executive Order

16.1c. Socioeconomic Impacts. If acquisition of real property or displacement of persons is

16.1d. Permits/Certificates. Not Applicable.

16.2 FAA RESPONSIBILITIES.

16.2a. Environmental Justice. The Presidential Memorandum that accompanied Executive

(1) EIS's should discuss the significant impact that a project would cause, then identify

(A) include demographic information about the affected populations;

(B) include information about the population(s) that have an established use for the

(C) provide results of analysis to determine if a low income or minority population

(D) identify disproportionately affected low income and minority populations;

(E) discuss alternatives that would reduce the effect on those populations; and

(F) describe possible mitigation to reduce the effect on the disproportionately affected

(2) In cases where FAA finds a significant impact, but determines that mitigation would

16.2b. Children’s Environmental Health and Safety Risks. FAA is encouraged to identify

16.2c. Socioeconomic Impacts. The responsible FAA official consults with local

16.3 SIGNIFICANT IMPACT THRESHOLDS.

16.3a. Environmental Justice. Disproportionately high and adverse human health or

16.3b. Children’s Environmental Health and Safety Risks. Disproportionate health and

16.3c. Socioeconomic Impacts. Factors to be considered in determining impact in this

(1) Extensive relocation of residents is required, but sufficient replacement housing is

(2) Extensive relocation of community businesses, that would create severe economic

(3) Disruptions of local traffic patterns that substantially reduce the levels of service of

(4) A substantial loss in community tax base.

16.4 ANALYSIS OF SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS.

16.4a. This analysis is triggered when the potential for significant impact exists, because of

16.4b. If an insufficient supply of generally available relocation housing is indicated, a

16.4c. When the EA indicates substantial induced or secondary effects directly attributable to