Quote of the Week:  "I don’t feel the group should be used for special interest groups who have very narrow interest and where Stewart Airport’s success is not primary in their minds.” comment from business first, Stewart Airport Advisory Committee (SAC) chairman, James Wright, on new, proposed  (when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey takes over on Nov. 1st) "citizens" advisory committee

Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter #446.............................................................................September 16,  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

 Communities Uniting In Airspace Redesign Plan Legal Suit!!!

As Bill Sees It (Editorial): United Action Against Politically Influenced Airspace Redesign Plan!!! I'm glad to see that towns and cities in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey are seeing the logic in uniting to fight for their quality of life against the FAA's unjust, racist and politically influenced Airspace Redesign Plan. United action is the best way that any single town or city has to stop this latest FAA atrocity. A narrowly focused lawsuit by a single community will be doomed to failure!!! As the FAA's favorite strategy has always been to play communities against each other, the one thing that scares these creeps is when communities band together to oppose them. The FAA has lied, connived and distorted this plan from the very beginning. I'm sure it would be easy to prove that to any fair minded (not owned by the airline industry) judge or jury. Maybe these groups should contact Sen. Schumer. He seems to have a lot of influence with the FAA.  Did Sen. "Chuck" Schumer Pressure Outgoing FAA Boss Blakey To Keep Old JFK Airport Racist Routes? I wondered why Senator Schumer took the unusual step of  calling for FAA Boss Marion Blakey's resignation (allegedly because of "flight delays") only a month before she was due to end her reign as FAA administrator. When I saw that the FAA final "record of decision" on the Airspace Redesign Plan totally left the unjust, racist JFK Airport routing in place for future expansion, it suddenly became clear to me. I believe Schumer's criticism of Blakey was a veiled threat that he would get his aviation industry pals to cancel her being hired as head of Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), an aviation industry lobbying group if she dared to route plans over any of Schumer's protected communities, like Lawrence, Long Island!!! Schumer is too smart to make a make an overt threat and demand that the Airspace Redesign Plan continue the protection of his favored communities; so he made it clear (by his criticism of Blakey) that she would lose her cushy lobbyist job if she dared to send the future increased JFK Airport flights over his protected communities. Blakey made sure she had the job with the lobbyist group by taking the unusual step of announcing it before she left her FAA job!!! If the Senate Ethics Committee has any integrity they would look into this matter. Unfortunately, The dirty politics of FAA routing decisions and corrupt politics no doubt extends even to the alleged protectors of  the senate's integrity. But that has little chance as members of Schumer's own party now control it. But it probably wouldn't have made any difference anyway. A New, Phony Citizens "Advisory" Committee To Be Formed For New York's Stewart Airport? I've attended the old Stewart Airport advisory committee (SAC) meetings and I saw how the politicians loaded them with businessmen and political hacks with an "expansion at any cost" attitude. I've no doubt that the new committee will be the same, perhaps even more so. Already (see news story)  the chairman of the current, business orientated Stewart Airport Commission has said "I don’t feel the group should be used for special interest groups who have very narrow interest and where Stewart Airport’s success is not primary in their minds.” Of course he doesn't think businessmen are a special interest group and "airport success" means round the clock flights disturbing peoples sleep and harming their health. Maybe he will be chosen to be the head of the new advisory committee.

Airlines "Laud" Airspace Redesign Plan, Communities Sue!!! SEPTEMBER 10, 2007 -- The Federal Aviation Administration last week approved a plan to reconfigure flight patterns across the northeastern United States, to the applause of domestic carriers but the jeers of local residents who soon will find themselves living under a flight pattern. FAA said the revision of 31,000 square miles of airspace from Delaware to Connecticut will reduce air delays by 20 percent by 2011. "This new concept in airspace design will help us handle the rapidly growing number of flights in the Northeast in a much more efficient way," said FAA administrator Marion Blakey. "This airspace was first designed in the 1960s and has become much more complex. We now need to look at creative new ways to avoid delays." Continental, JetBlue and US Airways, all with major hubs in the Northeast, each issued a statement lauding the move. "The implementation of this plan is the single best solution to the congestion and delays," said US Airways senior vice president of public affairs C.A. Howlett. However, the Newark Star-Ledger reported that the city of Elizabeth, N.J., near Newark Liberty International Airport, immediately filed suit in federal court to block the plan's implementation. Editor's Note: Airlines "Laud" this increased pollution plan? What greater proof that U.S. corporations (along with their politician/FAA stooges) are out of control and are working against the public rather than for us. http://www.btnmag.com/businesstravelnews/headlines/frontpage_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003636942 

New Windsor, New York: "New" Airport Advisory Committee To Be Formed For Stewart Airport!!!  — The Port Authority will create a community advisory panel to serve as a sounding board as it crafts a master plan for its development of Stewart International Airport. The panel could have as many as 30 members drawn from Orange, Ulster and Dutchess counties in such diverse fields as business, labor, environment, health care and the community at large. Although the details about the panel's exact composition and purpose are still being developed, Shorris said it is likely to outlive the drafting of a master plan for the airport — a process that will take at least a year. The panel, however, will not have any legal authority over the agency's operations and will not conflict with the existing Stewart Airport Commission. The panel would be comprised of business leaders, labor leaders, environmentalists, health care officials, community leaders, all as part of an effort to prioritize the concerns of the Mid-Hudson Valley “to make sure what you need is reflected as we go forward and build this airport.” That was immediately hailed as a great move by Maureen Radl, chairwoman of Ulsterites Overflight Noise, the umbrella group for several community organizations concerned about Stewart’s future. Radl’s concern was that the committee will have equal representation from the business community and residents of the Hudson Valley. http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070913/BIZ/709130316  http://www.catskillsnews.com/News/PA_SWF_adv-cl-13Sep07.htm 

Over 60 People Die In Thailand Plane Crash!!! Thai passenger jet with 128 people on board crashed on Sunday while coming in for landing in bad weather on the resort island of Phuket, police and officials said. Police said some people were rescued from the wreckage of the MD-80, which was operated by Thai budget carrier One-Two-Go and was flying in from the capital Bangkok. Reports of deaths from officials could not be confirmed. One said the plane broke into two pieces when it slammed into the ground, while another said the aircraft slid off the runway in the rain, slammed into the nearby jungle and caught fire. A local official told TiTV television news she feared more than 30 people had been killed in the crash. "The number of deaths is still unclear but it is likely more than 30 people," said Anchalee Vanich Thepbutr, a senior provincial official in Phuket. "The aircraft slid off the runway and hit the nearby jungle." http://www.citizen.co.za/index/Article.aspx?pDesc=1,1,22&Type=top&File=070916113126.le17q3gs.xml 

 

 

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                                                    Important Aviation News Stories This Week

Port Authority to work closely with SAC  http://www.catskillsnews.com/News/SWF_PA_SAC-14Sep07.htm

Stewart Airport – The announcement earlier this week by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that it will establish a citizens’ advisory committee at Stewart Airport does not preclude continued operation of the Stewart Airport Commission.

The SAC was created by state legislation to provide advice and consent to the state Transportation Department, the airport’s landlord. The Port is buying the remaining 93 years of a 99-year lease from current operator National Express.

Port Executive Director Anthony Shorris said his agency plans to network with the airport commission. “We work closely with the state Department of Transportation and Governor Spitzer has taken enormous interest in Stewart Airport from the first day he was governor, and actually while he was a candidate, so there will be pretty close coordination between us,” he said. DOT Commissioner Astrid Glynn and Shorris have had discussions about the commission, he said.

Stewart Airport Commission Chairman James Wright is encouraged about the working relationship.“I am convinced that it’s their intent to work closely with the Stewart Airport Commission,” he said. “While our role is statutory in regard to advising the DOT in the operation and management of the airport, the 99-year lease agreement that the Port Authority will assume also requires that the tenant, in this case the Port Authority, is required and expected to interact to interact with Stewart Airport Commission on a continuing basis.”

As for the new citizens’ advisory committee, Wright hopes that its membership will include a diversified membership that wants to see Stewart succeed as an economic catalyst for the Hudson Valley. “I don’t feel the group should be used for special interest groups who have very narrow interest and where Stewart Airport’s success is not primary in their minds.”