Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter #455........................................................................November 18 , 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: "We want a worldwide system as soon as possible. If other countries have better proposals, we are ready to change our system. But there must be an end to the status quo that nothing is done in the aviation sector" Peter Liese, German member of the European Union Parliament
EU To Curb Aviation Air Pollution!!!
As
Bill Sees It (Editorial): European
Union Parliament Votes To Cut Aviation Emissions Because Of Global Warming!!! The Aviation industry
is finally going to have to be responsible for some of their contribution to
destroying the planet. While aviation
"experts" tell us that airplanes only are responsible for 3% (or is it
more?) of greenhouse gases, environmental scientists say that because these CO2
and nitrous oxides gases are much more dangerous because they are produced high in
the atmosphere and stay up in the atmosphere for
a long time. I read 
somewhere that some of these gases they stay up there a
hundred years!!! That doesn't bother President Moronic Polluter and many in
congress. The plan will have no effect in the United States which will continue
to expand aviation while ignoring the climate impacts!!! Not only that, the
EU expects a big battle with the aviation industry controlled U.S. government on
their implement their plan. Bush (Unsafely?) Opens Military Airspace To Reduce Aviation
"Congestion!!!" I thought perhaps our pro-pollution government
might actually but
a cap on the number of planes using America's airports to deal with the
Thanksgiving holiday rush. But no, Bush have a better
idea. They decided that if they used previously off limits military airspace that
would help the airlines congestion and delay problems. While this may free up some
airspace, it may increase airport delays as there are still the same
number of runways at
the airports. More planes in the skies means more pressure on airports. Also, I wonder if it is dangerous to have pilots suddenly
flying routes that they haven't used before. And, of course, bad weather may
throw a monkey wrench into their whole plan. To me this seems like President
Moron and
the FAA are pushing the limits of safety and playing with the lives of the
flying public; not to mention the people on the ground. Maybe they'll continue
to be lucky...this time. NASA
Ordered To Hide 8.5 Million Dollar Pilot Survey On Near Collisions?
Last month there were stories about how NASA refused to release
a survey of pilots that showed that there were more near collisions than are
reported, indicating that there may be a cover-up of these incidents. Now
NASA says "it could take up to a year to go through the information and
protect pilots' confidentiality". Once again confidentiality is being
used by a government agency to hide safety information from the public!!! How
long are Americans going to put up with kind of arrogance by "our"
government and its corrupt, corporate-owned, democrat and republican
politicians?
Use
Of Military Airspace May Not Improve Airport Delays!!! 
President
Bush (pictured at left with DOT
secretary Peters and "acting" FAA administrator Sturgell) said
Thursday that commercial airlines would be allowed to route flights through
areas off the Atlantic coast normally used for military exercises from Nov. 21
through Nov. 25. The president said the announcement was part of a plan to
"bring order to America's skies." Oster said: "It might help
provide more options to route aircraft around bad weather, but otherwise it
won't make much difference. The East Coast congestion problem involving New York
is more a problem of inadequate runway space at the New York airports and
airspace congestion in the area surrounding the airport (the terminal area) than
it is congestion in the en route airspace between New York and Florida." http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/6844.html
NASA
Near Collision Survey Withheld From Public!!! MOFFETT FIELD -- An
unprecedented national survey of pilots by the U.S. government has found that
safety problems like near collisions and runway interference occur far more
frequently than previously recognized. But the government is withholding the
information, fearful it would upset air travelers and hurt airline profits. NASA
gathered the information under an $8.5 million federal safety project, through
telephone interviews with roughly 24,000 commercial and general aviation pilots
over nearly four years. Since shutting down the project more than one year ago,
the space agency has refused to divulge its survey data publicly. After The
Associated Press disclosed details Monday about the survey and efforts to keep
its results secret, NASA's chief said he will reconsider how much of the survey
findings can be made public. "NASA should focus on how we can provide
information to the public, not on how we can withhold it," NASA
Administrator Michael Griffin said in a statement. He said the agency's
research and data "should be widely available and subject to review and
scrutiny." http://www.redding.com/news/2007/oct/23/risky-business/
Editor's Note: Obviously NASA is following orders. The question is whose?
Connecticut
Governor Encouraged By GAO Investigation
Into FAA Airspace Redesign Scheme:
Gov. M. Jodi Rell says she was encouraged this week
by the decision that the U.S. Government Accountability Office would be looking
at the Federal Aviation Administration’s redesign of airspace in this region.
The study by the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress that audits and
evaluates government programs and activities, will look at, among other things,
whether the FAA followed “applicable procedures and requirements for the
airspace redesign, including the associated environmental impact statement.”
“The GAO review is encouraging,” said Ms. Rell. “We have made it clear
that we are in this fight to win. 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.” The state will be joining Wilton and 11 neighboring towns, filing its
own lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration airspace redesign plan,
Gov. Rell and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced at a press
conference in New Canaan Thursday morning, Nov. 1. The FAA last month approved a
plan that redirects planes on descent to LaGuardia Airport over southern
Fairfield County and areas of New York at peak travel times. New Canaan,
Greenwich, 
Darien, Stamford, Norwalk, Wilton, Weston, Westport, Ridgefield, and
Pound Ridge, N.Y., formed the Alliance for Sensible Airspace Planning, and have
together hired legal counsel. http://www.acorn-online.com/news/publish/wilton/25347.shtml 11
Lawsuits Filed Against Airspace
Redesign Scheme!!! If your back yard sounds like an airport runway,
Philadelphia's aviation department would like to hear from you Thursday. The
city is conducting the fourth of five public hearings on noise from Philadelphia
International Airport between 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. at Paulsboro High School on
North Delaware Street. Complaints from residents in Delaware County, Pa., have
produced a residential sound-insulation program for eligible homes in Tinicum
Township. The airport plans to install additional noise monitors in Delaware
County at the request of angry residents. Airport noise has been a hot topic
this year as Philadelphia International prepares to expand its runways and
struggles with its dismal on-time record. In September, the Federal Aviation
Administration released its final redesign of airspace over New Jersey, New
York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Connecticut, its first major change since the
1960s. Fearing increased noise from more aircraft flying at lower altitudes,
opponents have filed 11 lawsuits representing segments of the 29 million
residents within earshot of the major airports covered by the plan. http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071114/BUSINESS/711140360/1003
European
Politicians Want A "Worldwide System" Of Aviation Pollution Control!!!
Air industry experts have noted that air carriers are becoming “pariahs
in Europe” (Aviation Daily) for their perceived contribution to
climate change. “The aviation industry is just not representing itself
properly or effectively,” said one communications
strategist (AP).
Although aviation represents a relatively small portion of
total greenhouse gas emissions—about 3 percent of total man-made emissions—some
experts believe emissions at higher altitudes have a disproportionate greenhouse
effect. The European Parliament voted this week on legislation to add
airlines (IHT) to the European Union’s 
greenhouse gas trading
scheme. The legislation proposes to cap flights at EU airports by 2011—rather
than the 2012 originally proposed—while allowing air carriers to buy and sell
emissions credits on the Europe’s carbon market, which is described in this Backgrounder.
“We want a worldwide system as soon as possible,” said EU lawmaker Peter
Liese who supported the bill. http://www.cfr.org/publication/14813/capping_aviation_emissions.html?breadcrumb=%2F EU
Parliament Votes To Put Quotas On Aviation!!! WASHINGTON,
Nov. 13 — The European
Parliament voted Tuesday to impose quotas on the emission of carbon dioxide
by airlines, setting up a fight
with the United States, which argues against unilateral actions on aviation,
a relatively small but rapidly growing source of global
warming gases. The Parliament gave preliminary approval to a global warming
control plan that would require, beginning in 2011, that airlines flying to and
from Europe offset some of their emissions by buying carbon dioxide allowances
on the open market. A result would be increased pressure on airlines to do more
to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases from burning jet fuel. Europe has
imposed similar emissions limits on other industries for several years in search
of steep reductions in its greenhouse gas production. The cost of this proposal
to the airlines is hard to estimate, because the price of carbon allowances has
varied widely, as has the value of the currency in which they are denominated,
the euro. The goal would be to reduce future emissions to 90 percent of the
average given off in recent years, or to offset any excess above that limit. The
backers of the plan said they hoped other countries would emulate the European
approach. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/business/worldbusiness/14emissions.html?ref=business
England:
Local Government Study Says New Heathrow Airport Runway Will Create More
Noise!!! The 2M Group has accused the government of "trying to
bury" a study indicating Heathrow noise may annoy two million more people
than previously estimated. The Department for Transport said: "The study
found no specific point at which noise becomes a serious annoyance." Public
consultation on plans to build a third runway at the west London airport is due
to begin this month. The 2M Group represents 12 local authorities who
expect to be affected by expansion of Heathrow Airport, including the London
boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham and the boroughs of Slough, Windsor
and Maidenhead, Spelthorne and South Bucks District Council. It estimated that
the number of flights at the airport could rise from 480,000 to 800,000 per year
as a result of expansion. "Whether you're in Shepherds Bush or Stoke
Poges, Wandsworth or Windsor, your life is about to get a lot noisier," said
2M Group spokesman and Wandsworth Council leader Edward Lister. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7098955.stm
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Important Aviation News Stories This Week