Quote of the Week: “I’m ready to put my house up for sale,” after nightly disturbances since January. “It wakes the baby ... and I’m afraid” from story this week about New Jersey resident who is worrying about Airspace Redesign Plan increased noise

Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter #417.........................................................................February 25, 2007 Past newsletters can be accessed at: http://pages.prodigy.net/rockaway/ACNewsmenu.htm The PASSUR airport flight tracking system at many major U.S. airports http://www.passur.com/sites.htm (you must have Java installed to view it). If you want to get the newsletter sent to you every week, sign up to AviationWatch. Bill Mulcahy rockaway@prodigy.net

New Jersey Worries Over Airspace Plan Increased Noise!!!

As Bill Sees It: (Editorial): New Jersey Communities To Get Noise Increased "Four Times!!!" A news story this week predicted that some New Jersey communities, like Sussex, will get a fourfold increase in aviation noise from the changes in the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Airspace Redesign Project. Although I am a supporter of the FAA spreading out flight patterns so that all communities get their fair share of pollution, I'm sure that the new routes will be just as unfair, politicized and racist as the old ones. That's the way the FAA operates. Airlines Try To Sabotage Congressional "Passenger Bill Of Rights!!!" As could have been predicted, as soon as a Airline Passenger Bill of Rights was proposed in the House and Senate, JetBlue rolled out its own passenger bill of rights. Of course this is all just a scheme to do an end run around bills in the House and Senate. Watch the other airlines follow JetBlue's lead and come out with their own passenger bill of rights. They may get away with it. The congresscreeps know that the public has a short memory and already the issue has almost disappeared from media attention. No doubt after "our" representatives squeeze every bit of mileage they can for themselves they will allow it to die in committee. Once again proving, especially when it comes to aviation, that there is no difference between a republican and democrat controlled congress. I hope the outraged passenger, Kate Hanni, keeps up the pressure to get a bill through congress. If she can get this kind of bill through the aviation industry-controlled congress, there may be hope for get a bill of rights for the aviation industry's pollution victims on the ground.

NY/NJ/Pennsylvania Airspace Redesign To "Dramatically" Increase Noise Over Parts Of New Jersey And New York!!! A little-known set of proposals being considered by the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) that would re-route air traffic in the metropolitan area could lead to significantly more noise above Sussex County. The FAA proposals, which have been in the works for the past ten years, are known as the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Airspace Redesign Project. One of the proposals that the FAA is considering would result in re-directing more arrivals bound for Newark Liberty International Airport over the northern and eastern edges of Sussex County, according to FAA documents (see map). That plan would also result in increased air traffic and higher noise levels for residents of western and eastern Orange County, N.Y., northern Bergen County and Morris County. The period for public comment on the changes has closed, according to FAA spokesman Jim Peters. But public hearings on the noise mitigation measures will be held in yet-to-be-determined locations in either late April or early May. The so-called “integrated airspace’” proposal would “dramatically increase air traffic over the (Sussex County) area,” said Robert Belzer, president of the New Jersey Coalition Against Aircraft Noise (NJCAAN), a grassroots organization he heads in Millburn, N.J. http://www.strausnews.com/articles/2007/02/23/pike_county_courier/news/5.txt

Aviation Noise Fighter Finally Finds Peace: Sherwin Landfield, 86, a retired Foreign Service officer who traveled the world for work and pleasure and who was a vocal civic activist at home, died Feb. 3 of complications of a stroke at Halquist Memorial Inpatient Center of Capital Hospice in Arlington County. Mr. Landfield, who lived in Arlington for 36 years, was active in the Donaldson Run Civic Association and in the Citizens for the Abatement of Aircraft Noise. As a frequent spokesman for the group in the late 1980s and 1990s, he pushed officials responsible for Reagan National Airport to minimize nighttime jet noise, increase runway safety and address environmental concerns. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/20/AR2007022001552.html

England: Can Judicial Review Stop Night Flights? A judicial review is to be launched by the council and other authorities to try and overturn the current night flights regime at Heathrow Airport. A High Court Judge gave permission this week for the legal challenge to go ahead and it is set to be heard in the High Court in May or June. If successful, the government could be forced to scrap the current night flights regime at the airport. At present about 16 flights, mostly jumbo jets, land at Heathrow during the "night quota period" from 11.30pm to 6am. But a concentration of planes land between 6am and 7am, when the cap on night flights does not apply, although this hour is still "night" according to EU law. The judicial review is being spearheaded by councils belonging to the new 2M Group, an alliance of 12 authorities representing two million residents affected by Heathrow air noise. http://www.richmondandtwickenhamtimes.co.uk/display.var.1196452.0.can_judicial_review_stop_night_flights.php

FAA Pushes Its "Fairer" 14.1 BILLION Dollar Reauthorization Through Congress: Now, at least, everyone knows what they're arguing about. Nearly a year later than promised and after more than two years of jockeying for position among aviation groups, the FAA unveiled a user-fee-based funding plan for air traffic control that will pit two of the most powerful congressional lobbying organizations--airlines and general/business aviation--against each other. The plan is part of a multi-year FAA reauthorization bill sent Feb. 14 to Congress, where Republicans are skeptical but positive, Democrats are skeptical but negative, and seven months remain for them to do business. The current authorization expires Sept. 30, and unless Congress passes a bill and President Bush signs it into law by then, current revenue sources for the trust fund will disappear without being replaced. The trust fund pays for most of the FAA budget, proposed for Fiscal 2008 at $14.1 billion. Issued Feb. 14 by the FAA, the plan got early exposure on Capitol Hill--with the House aviation subcommittee that same day, followed by the Senate's aviation panel on the 15th. The reception on the House side ran the gamut. Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), former subcommittee chairman and now ranking Republican on the parent Transportation Committee, said the FAA proposal would be fairer than the current system. But two panel members who are general aviation pilots, Robin Hayes (R-N.C.) and Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa), called the funding plan unfair and unwise, and Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) pronounced it "dead on arrival." http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=awst&id=news/aw021907p2.xml&headline=FAA%20Reauthorization%20Plan%20Stirs%20Industry,%20Lawmakers

Kentucky: Comair Sues FAA Over Jet Crash!!! LOUISVILLE - Comair sued the Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday, saying the agency was negligent in having only one air traffic controller on duty last year when a plane took off from the wrong runway in Lexington and crashed. The accident killed 49 of 50 people on board. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Lexington, seeks unspecified damages. The Comair commuter jet mistakenly turned onto a too-short runway in the dark, struggled to get airborne and went down in a field Aug. 27 at Blue Grass Airport. The co-pilot was the only survivor. A week earlier, the taxi route leading to the correct, longer runway had been changed during a construction project, but the maps and charts used in the cockpits of Comair and other airlines were not updated. The FAA did notify airlines of the changes through a separate announcement. Editor's Note: No doubt the FAA "notice" was included in a mass of other stuff that pilots didn't have time to read. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/23/america/NA-GEN-US-Kentucky-Crash.php

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Important Aviation News Stories This Week

New Jersey: Sussex skies could get a lot noisier

By Tom Hoffman http://www.strausnews.com/articles/2007/02/22/advertiser_news/news/2.txt

A little-known set of proposals being considered by the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) that would re-route air traffic in the metropolitan area could lead to significantly more noise above Sussex County.

The FAA proposals, which have been in the works for the past ten years, are known as the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Airspace Redesign Project.

One of the proposals that the FAA is considering would result in re-directing more arrivals bound for Newark Liberty International Airport over the northern and eastern edges of Sussex County, according to FAA documents (see map). That plan would also result in increased air traffic and higher noise levels for residents of western and eastern Orange County, N.Y., northern Bergen County and Morris County.

The period for public comment on the changes has closed, according to FAA spokesman Jim Peters. But public hearings on the noise mitigation measures will be held in yet-to-be-determined locations in either late April or early May.

The so-called “integrated airspace’” proposal would “dramatically increase air traffic over the (Sussex County) area,” said Robert Belzer, president of the New Jersey Coalition Against Aircraft Noise (NJCAAN), a grassroots organization he heads in Millburn, N.J.

While Belzer admits that planes descending to 7,000 to 10,000 feet above Sussex County “won’t be screaming over your head,” he points to FAA data in which the integrated airspace plan could lead to as much as a 20 decibel increase in air traffic noise for the area - or up to four times the airplane noise that Sussex County residents are accustomed to hearing.

The so-called “vibrational noise energy” emitted by planes over Sussex would be even more dramatic, Belzer said. For instance, a 10-decibel increase in noise would result in a 900 percent increase in vibrational noise energy. So if some areas of Sussex County experience a 20-decibel increase in airplane noise, that equates to more than an 11,000 percent increase in vibrational noise.

FAA spokesman Jim Peters said the agency doesn’t “characterize noise as vibrational, just levels of noise.”

As far as that’s concerned, he said, “Some parts of the county will see an increase and some will see a decrease.”

According to a FAA study of the integrated airspace plan, communities in Sussex County that would probably experience the sharpest increases in noise levels would be Glenwood, Vernon, McAfee, Hamburg, Franklin, Ogdensburg and Sparta.

Belzer believes that the FAA’s integrated airspace proposal - the one that would adversely affect Sussex County residents the most - “is the FAA’s preferred alternative.” Following the public hearings in April, the FAA will issue a report in June and then publish a ‘record of decision’ which details their plans in August.

Belzer is mounting a legal battle against the FAA and he encourages county residents to take their concerns to their elected officials.

Will Holley, a press secretary for Congressman Scott Garrett, said the congressman has sent several letters to the FAA expressing concerns over the potential impact that an airspace redesign might have on his constituents.

Garrett “wants to make sure the people who live beneath the flight paths are given the same weight” as each of the proposals, including residents of Bergen County whom he also represents, said Holley.

Calls to representatives for Senator Robert Menendez and Gov. Jon Corzine were not returned before The Advertiser-News went to press.