Quote of the Week: "This particular activity is outside the range of what you would consider normal activity at an airport. It is very noisy. It make people fearful. People have a right to enjoy their property and enjoy their homes. They pay a lot of taxes to enjoy their homes." comment this week by N.Y. State legislator commenting on "trick" fliers at New York's Sullivan County "International" Airport
Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter #419.........................................................................March 11, 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
How Far Away Can Airport Impacts Be Seen?
As
Bill
Sees It: (Editorial):
Aviation's Visual Pollution Is NEVER Addressed!!! In all the
Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Studies I've seen the one
issue that is never even mentioned is the visual impacts of aviation. This one impact extends an
airport's pollution over a hundred miles... yet it gets completely
ignored!!! I'm don't understand why the
so-called "environmental" organizations haven't dealt with this issue even
though satellite pictures of earth clearly show these contrail streaks. Aviation
pollution is a key factor in the global warming problem. Speaking of global warming,
American
environmental groups are
not even addressing the impact 
of aviation on their own major issue. Even though
aviation is the only transportation source that is INCREASING it's global
warming contribution, while all others are decreasing. I believe many of these
environmental groups have been compromised by airport
operators.
Environmental Groups For Sale? I remember when I was a N.Y. City
Sierra Club chapter member, I was asked if I wanted a job to help move a bird
nesting site off a wildlife preserve that was (and still is) located at the end of
one of JFK Airport's runways. I didn't take the job
but the head of Sierra
Club
chapter did. I also found out that the local Audubon Society group was given
grant money to "manage" wetland areas around JFK Airport that the Port
Authority owned. Of course both the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club were all in favor of the Port
Authority plan to destroy an entire bird colony near JFK Airport
Pro Airport Pollution N.Y. Congressman Pushes
For Less Noise In Yellowstone Park!!! Politicians, especially democrats,
love to portray themselves as pro-environment. However, for most of them, it is
just a ruse they use to fool their constituents. A good example of this kind of
duplicity was seen in a story
this week when Rep. Maurice Hinchey sent a letter, along with
three other congressmen, to the National Park Service demanding that snowmobiles
not be increased in Yellowstone National Park. While fighting against
Yellowstone Park noise, Hinchey, is
pushing for more noise on his own congressional district!!! A news story recently
revealed that Hinchey met with the Port Authority of NY and NJ to discuss the
building of a 4th major N.Y. City "reliever" airport in his district.
Hinchey said he "was on the same page" as the Port Authority. Of
course this creep waited until he was safely voted in for another two years
before he made his announcement about being on the same page as the Port
Authority on the development of Stewart Airport as the 4th major 
N.Y. City
"reliever" airport. Another
"Environmentalist" New York Congressman
Supports Building 4th Major N.Y. City Reliever Airport!!! I also see that newly elected Rep.
John Hall, (pictured on the left) in whose district the Stewart Airport atrocity will be
built, is also on record supporting the purchase of the airport
lease by the Port Authority. I see that on Hall’s web site it says: “He (Hall) has worked for decades as a political and
environmental activist. He resigned in 2005 as a Board member of the non-profit
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. in order to run for Congress.”
I wonder if environmentalist leaders like singer Pete Seeger (pictured at
the right with Hall), who founded Clearwater
and strongly
supported Hall’s running for congress and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,
president of the Waterkeeper Alliance,
are disappointed with him. Real
environmentalists like John Burroughs and John Muir must be turning over in their graves. New
Jersey's Teterboro Airport Gets A Nighttime Curfew!!! If Congressmen Hall and Hinchey think having a major airport in the Hudson Valley is so
wonderful they should talk New Jersey congressman Steve Rothman who
last year successfully fought the Port Authority's plan to
expand Teterboro Airport into a 4th major N.Y. City reliever airport. Rothman
not only stopped the plan to bring larger (100,000 lb. plus) planes into
Teterboro, but also he got a (unfortunately only voluntary) nighttime curfew. In
my book, Rothman is the genuine environmentalist, even though I'm pretty sure the reason he has
fought so hard against Teterboro Airport expansion is because his constituents demanded it.
EU-US "Open Skies"
Deal Uncertain: AFTER sitting in the hangar for four years, might an
“open skies” deal to liberalize air travel between America and the European
Union (EU) soon be cleared for take-off? In a
surprise announcement on March 2nd the two sides unveiled a provisional
agreement that would allow any EU or American airline
to operate flights between anywhere in Europe and anywhere in America. But
although American airlines are already allowed to operate routes within Europe,
European airlines would not be granted a reciprocal privilege within America.
Europe's transport ministers will vote on the deal on March 22nd. Its approval
is far from certain. http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8823621 BRUSSELS
(Reuters) - Britain is prepared to ease restrictions on trans-atlantic flights
but only as part of the "right multilateral deal", a British
government spokesman said on Friday. Britain has voiced strong reservations
about a proposed European-U.S. aviation deal but the spokesman said Prime
Minister Tony Blair's government had not yet come to a final decision on what
stance to take on it. The "open skies" deal would allow airlines to
fly more routes linking Europe and the United States and give U.S. airlines more
coveted take-off and landing slots at London's Heathrow airport. http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=1272§ionid=3510203
Editor's Note: More planes for Heathrow. I'm sure the people around London
will go ballistic over that!!!
Bethel,
New York "Trick" Flyers Hitting Some Local Turbulence:— 
At the Sullivan County International Airport, trick fliers zoom,
dip and loop every summer. Now Bethel residents want them to fly into the sunset
and never return. "They whine, they growl, they make a lot of noise,"
said William Burns, who can hear the hum of engines for hours from his porch.
But others said that the Mid-Hudson International Aerobatics Club is exactly
what the airport needs. Sullivan International is, after all, an airport, and a
little-used one at that. On a normal day, a few people straggle into the
terminal building for beef stew and apple cobbler at Ray McCarthy's coffee shop.
He's a lot busier when the trick pilots are in town. "Nine years and no
trouble, and now a few people don't like the noise," he said. "Can't
there be a compromise?" http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070306/NEWS/703060315
UN's
Aviation Friendy ICAO Releases Global Emissions Trading Scheme Guidelines...For
2011 : Wednesday February 21,
2007 ICAO's Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection last week
released 
proposed
guidance to the organization's 189 member states for incorporating aviation
emissions into national emission trading schemes. The ICAO Council will review
the proposal "in the coming weeks," but IATA was quick to voice its
approval, saying the "outcome clearly demonstrates that global solutions
are possible" and that "the only way forward is with a harmonized
approach." When Europe unveiled its plans in December to include airlines,
including non-EU carriers from 2012, in the continent's ETS, IATA quickly urged
the Commission to wait for ICAO's guidelines and expressed concern about the
unilateral nature of the proposal (ATWOnline,
Dec. 21, 2006)."We're pleased that ICAO has echoed IATA's call urging
states not to jump the gun on emissions trading but to wait for the ICAO
Assembly's recommendations in September 2007. Unilateral action by states is not
the answer," IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said. ICAO proposed that
member states include the following in their ETS: That aircraft operators be the
accountable international aviation entity, that obligations be based upon total
aggregated emissions from all covered flights conducted by each operator
included in the ETS, that states consider aggregate carbon dioxide emissions
and/or aircraft weight as the basis for the application of any inclusion
threshold, that initial ETS include only CO2, that states ensure that aviation
emissions are counted separately and not against specific reduction targets
identified by the Kyoto Protocol and that states address the integration of
foreign operators "under a mutually agreed basis." Editor's
Note: I'm sure when 2011 rolls around they will extend the deadline a few more
years. http://atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=7984
N.Y. Congressman Says
Snowmobile Noise Bad, Airport Noise Good!!! BOZEMAN,
Mont. (AP) -- Congress members from five distant states are demanding that
snowmobiling not be allowed to increase in Yellowstone National Park. In a
letter this week to National Park Service Director Mary Bomar, the lawmakers
wrote an increase would put more pressure on wildlife the vulnerable winter
season, deplete the park's air quality and make too much noise.
Signing the letter were Reps. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz.; Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y.;
Rush Holt, D-N.J.; Timothy Johnson, R-Ill.; and Christopher Shays, R-Conn. The
letter does not call for a certain number of allowed sleds, but cites repeated
Park Service studies that cite snowcoaches as an "environmentally
preferred" option to snowmobiles. "Snowcoach
access ... would afford greater protection to Yellowstone's air, natural
soundscapes and wildlife than a policy that allows continued snowmobile
use," the letter states. Editor's Note: The two supporters (Hinchey
and Hall) of building a 4th major N.Y. City airport impacting their districts
are pictured on the left.
http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2007/03/10/news/regional/6c298c3fce56a3cc87257299006c00b8.txt
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Important Aviation News Stories This Week
Congressmen Call For Less "Yellowstone Park" Noise:BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Congress members from five distant states are demanding
that snowmobiling not be allowed to increase in Yellowstone National Park.
In a letter this week to National Park Service Director Mary Bomar, the
lawmakers wrote an increase would put more pressure on wildlife the vulnerable
winter season, deplete the park's air quality and make too much noise.
Signing the were Reps.letter Grijalva, D-Ariz.; Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y.;
Rush Holt, D-N.J.; Timothy Johnson, R-Ill.; and Christopher Shays, R-Conn.
The letter does not call for a certain number of allowed sleds, but cites
repeated Park Service studies that cite snowcoaches as an "environmentally
preferred" option to snowmobiles.
"Snowcoach access ... would afford greater protection to Yellowstone's air,
natural soundscapes and wildlife than a policy that allows continued snowmobile
use," the letter states.
The Park Service is proposing to allow as many as 720 snowmobiles a day into the
park in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. A draft environmental impact statement
outlining Yellowstone's permanent winter use plan likely will be released later
this month, park spokesman Al Nash said.
Nash said Wednesday the Park Service would not comment on the congressmen's
letter until it responds in writing.
Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., wants to keep snowmobiling as an option in the
park, which he toured by snowmobile on Sunday.
Rehberg helped kill an amendment proposed in 2003 by Holt and Shays that would
have banned snowmobiling in the park. The amendment failed on a tie vote, but
only after Rehberg convinced an Ohio congressman to switch his vote.
Bethel — At the Sullivan County International Airport, trick fliers zoom, dip and loop every summer. Now Bethel residents want them to fly into the sunset and never return.
"They whine, they growl, they make a lot of noise," said William Burns, who can hear the hum of engines for hours from his porch.
But others said that the Mid-Hudson International Aerobatics Club is exactly what the airport needs. Sullivan International is, after all, an airport, and a little-used one at that. On a normal day, a few people straggle into the terminal building for beef stew and apple cobbler at Ray McCarthy's coffee shop. He's a lot busier when the trick pilots are in town.
"Nine years and no trouble, and now a few people don't like the noise," he said. "Can't there be a compromise?"
Others said the airport, which costs the county $303,000 annually to run, needs all the customers it can get. The trick pilots buy fuel. It does create a buzz.
"It is a free show," said Wayne Yaneik, who refuels the tanks for the fixed-based operator at the airport, and loves to wander down and watch the aerial ballet.
The club's 50 or so members mostly reside in New Jersey and downstate. Until 2004, they also sponsored a three-day competition, which brings out all the members. They don't plan to do a competition here this year. Last year, the club practiced once at the airport. About six people showed up. The club gets a waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly in a box of airspace away from the runways.
Folks like Burns said the hum of propellers and the whistle of a plane screaming into a dive is one thing, they also worry that a novice flier will crash at the airport or into their homes. Deadly crashes have happened, and happened to this club. In the late 1990s, the club president crashed and died while practicing tricks at another airport.
"I don't think anybody is complaining about normal aviation," said Chris Cunningham, chairman of the Legislature. "This particular activity is outside the range of what you would consider normal activity at an airport. It is very noisy. It make people fearful. People have a right to enjoy their property and enjoy their homes. They pay a lot of taxes to enjoy their homes." He represents Bethel and plans to write a letter to the FAA.
"It is a beautiful facility," said club president Chris Getz, a real estate investor from Bethlehem, Pa. "Apparently, we have touched a tender nerve."
The welcome has run out.
