Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter #454........................................................................November 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

Quote of the Week:  "The FAA is totally oblivious to quality-of-life issues, and we as a community are going to have to figure out what we want,"  U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Bridgeport, Connecticut, commenting on the FAA's Airspace Redesign scheme at recent community rally. Shays has gotten the General Accounting Office (GAO) to review the plan 

Airlines Flying With Near Empty Fuel Tanks?

As Bill Sees It (Editorial): Planes Flying With Low Fuel To Save Airlines Money!!! I saw a frightening ABC News story this week (you can see it here. You can't skip the short commercial) which exposed the fact that more and more airlines are flying with an unsafe minimum amount of fuel on board in order to save the airlines money!!! This is because of the reduced weights of the planes. I'm surprised this story hasn't been picked up by rest of the media. Perhaps they are afraid of losing aviation industry advertising. I couldn't even find a written story on this issue. All I could find is the ABC video. Why is such an important safety issue being ignored by the rest of the media? Updated, "Corrected" Record Of Decision (ROD) In Airspace Redesign Plan!!! I didn't get a chance to get a good look at it yet, but it was good to see that the Nov. 2 update included letters protesting the original airspace redesign record of decision. The report said "After signing the ROD, the FAA identified several items in the document that were omitted or incorrect due to editing mistakes." The FAA put the 51.5 MB "errata sheet" which displays the FAA's "mistakes" on their web site. Hopefully after a "real" GAO investigation and various state and local lawsuits look at it there will be more errors found. As the FAA has lied and connived from the very beginning, I would think there would be MANY errors found.

 General Accountability Office (GAO) To Look Into Airspace Redesign Scheme!!! The state of Connecticut, which was not even mentioned as one of the states in the "New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia Airspace Redesign Plan," has become the most aggressive in fighting it. Being kept out of the title of the report obviously was no mistake, but part of the FAA's usual way of carefully hiding impacts while making a show of complying with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. I'm glad to see that while other state's politicians, like New York's Clinton and Schumer and  New Jersey's Lautenburg and Menendez et al, are ignoring the impacts of the Airspace Redesign Plan on their states a few politicians, like U.S. Rep Christopher Shays (R-Connecticut), are fighting for the people in their states. I only hope the GAO recognizes that the FAA scheme represents an increase in aviation air and noise pollution in the northeast region. I also hope that they recommend that there be limits put on aviation expansion and pollution and not just a continued increased concentration of impacts on poor, minority and politically weak communities already unjustly impacted. However, as we unfortunately still have President Moronic Polluter in charge of our government, I doubt there will be a fair or accurate analysis.

GAO To "Investigate" FAA Airspace Redesign Scheme!!! The Government Accountability Office today agreed to investigate a proposed Federal Aviation Administration redesign of the airspace over the tri-state area. The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress. U.S. Rep Christopher Shays, R-4th Dist., lobbied the House of Representatives to authorize the investigation after the FAA refused to account for quality of life issues the redesign could affect. Mr. Shays joined forces with New Jersey Democrats Rodney Frelinghuysen and Scott Garrett and Elliot Engel to require the GAO to do a study on market-based measures that could reduce flight delays. The lawmakers specifically require the GAO to conduct a cost and benefit analysis between the market-based measures and redesigning the airspace. “It's good news to Fairfield County and the state of Connecticut,” said Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi. “We're pleased with Congressman Shays and his ongoing efforts.” Ridgefield is part of the Alliance for Sensible Airspace Planning — ASAP — along with Darien, Wilton, New Canaan, Wilton and Norwalk. The alliance sued the FAA to stop the redesign, as did Rockland County, N.Y., and several New Jersey communities. Gov. M. Jodi Rell called the GAO review of the plan “encouraging.” “We have made it clear that we are in this fight to win,” Gov. Rell said in a statement this afternoon. “Under the FAA's plan, more planes — as many as 150 more per day — would be flying lower and bringing noise pollution and other ill-effects to Fairfield County. We can and we will save our air space.” Editor's Note: I hope it's a real investigation, not just the usual politically-influenced whitewash that I expect it will be.  http://www.acorn-online.com/news/publish/ridgefield/25046.shtml 

British Cities To Be Mapped For Noise Pollution!!! British cities are among almost 150 large urban areas in Europe to be mapped for noise pollution. The cities across the EU are to be monitored for noise under the environmental noise directive and noise action plans have to be submitted to the European Commission by July 2008. Among those to have been mapped is Birmingham, which has found noise levels are "undesirably high" in many populated areas. John Hinton, the man in charge of Birmingham city council's noise mapping project, told the Today programme that this was the first time it had been possible to produce accurate noise exposure data in relation to where people live. "Noise mapping is a process whereby you build a noise model of a city, the city of Birmingham for example, in a computer and then you use computer software to generate noise levels from the various sources; in particular in Birmingham it's been road traffic noise, railway noise and aircraft noise," he said. "And then you can link those noise levels to where people live and produce noise exposure data." The EU has reaffirmed a controversial plan to force airlines using European airspace to cut greenhouse gas emissions despite opposition from both the aviation industry and the US. The European Union on Friday said it would stick to a plan to include airlines in its overall strategy to cut carbon dioxide emissions. The plan would require airlines using European airspace to trade carbon permits, forcing them to buy more if they want to add more flights. EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said that in the fight against climate change "all sectors must contribute in a fair way, including aviation, whose emissions are increasing very rapidly."  http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/environment/uk-cities-mapped-noise-$1156709.htm Editor's Note: While the American government spends its time thinking of ways to concentrate and hide noise pollution on poor and minority communities, in Europe they are actually making an effort to accurately map it.

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