Quote of the Week

Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter #458........................................................................December 9, 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: "They have not dealt with us honestly and forthrightly." comment on the FAA from a news story this week by Pennsylavania Congressman Joe Sestak whose county is part of a federal suit to stop the FAA's rush to implement their Airspace Redesign scheme.

As Bill Sees It (Editorial): FAA Airspace Redesign Scheme To Start December 17th!!! While communities are trying this week to get a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to delay the airspace redesign until about a dozen lawsuits challenging its legality can be heard, the FAA is rushing to start their airspace change in the northeast as quickly as possible. The FAA knows communities will have a harder time reversing the airspace routing back once it starts rerouting planes over their communities. It won't be until the summer

of 2008 until the General Accountability Office will issue their report on the FAA scheme, by that time the airspace change will be firmly in place. No doubt that is why the FAA has been rushing to start implementing it on December 17th. Of course, the FAA's victims won't see the planes come over on that date; the FAA is too smart for that. They will change the routes ever so slowly, allegedly so their victims will get "accustomed" to 24/7 overflights. After all the FAA has had years of experience shoving increased flights down the throats (and ears) of their victims. The FAA is telling some communities that they won't be getting overflights for as much as five years. If anyone believes that I have have quiet supersonic Concorde I'd like to sell you. Governors, Environmental Groups Line Up To Demand

Bush Act On Aviation Greenhouse Gas Pollution!!! While the news this week from the island of Bali about governors and environmental groups petitioning Bush to reduce aviation greenhouse gases is good to hear, it probably won't budge this business-first president. Countries around the world are starting to analyze and reduce their aviation pollution, currently there are no controls over American aviation's greenhouse gas pollution. Although aviation produces a relatively small amount of greenhouse gases (3%) it is the fastest growing source of them. According to one news story "Because aircraft release emissions at high altitudes, the impact of aviation on global warming is greater than other major greenhouse gas emission sources." When nitrous oxide, for example, is emitted at high altitudes it generates much greater concentrations of ozone than when it is emitted at ground level." Bush doesn't care about this. Which is why he will go down as one of the worse presidents in American history; even if America manages to win Bush's unilateral wars in the Mid East. Of course, the aviation lobby, the Air Transportation of America (ATA) is fighting the reduction of aviation emissions.

California Governor And Environmental Groups Demand EPA Act On Aviation Pollution!!! Charging the Bush administration with a "gross dereliction of duty," California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown said he would petition the Environmental Protection Agency today to crack down on rising aircraft emissions that contribute to global warming. "This is a battering ram," said Brown, who is joined in his petition by four states, New York City, the District of Columbia and Southern California air pollution officials. "Climate change is the most important environmental issue facing the U.S. and the world. We have to keep pounding on the White House door until they finally wake up." The petition comes as diplomats gather in Bali to revive international negotiations on climate change, and it opens a new front in the battle to ratchet down the emission of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol did not directly cover aviation, and the U.S., which is responsible for almost half of global aircraft exhaust, has fought efforts to cap emissions under the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations body. http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-greenhouse5dec05,0,6943743.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business U.S. Must Take The Lead In Regulating Aircraft Emissions: "Global warming pollution is taking a massive toll on marine life," said Dr. Michael Hirshfield, Oceana's chief scientist and senior vice president for North America. "To preserve these critical ecosystems, the U.S. must take the lead in regulating aircraft emissions, since aircraft are a major source of carbon dioxide," he said. In its petition, California asserts that the EPA has the authority and the duty to adopt greenhouse gas emissions standards for aircraft after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last April that greenhouse gases are pollutants and therefore within EPA’s regulatory authority under the Clean Air Act. Section 231 of the Clean Air Act reads, "The Administrator shall, from time to time, issue proposed emission standards applicable to the emissions of any air pollutant from any class or classes of aircraft engines which in his judgment causes, or contributes to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare." http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2007/2007-12-06-094.asp

New Jersey: Another Near Collision At Newark Airport!!! December 8, 2007 -- Another near-disaster stunned an area airport when an arriving Boeing 737 narrowly avoided smashing into a commuter jet preparing to take off at

Newark Airport, officials said yesterday. The Boeing jet - a Continental Airlines flight from Toronto - was coming in from the north to runway 22L, which runs alongside the New Jersey Turnpike, Thursday at about 9 p.m., officials said. At the same time, a Continental Express Embraer jet headed for Omaha, Neb., was taxiing toward the runway's northern end. An air controller ordered the Omaha-bound jet to stop at the entrance to runway 22L so the jet arriving from Toronto could safely land. For some reason, the Omaha-bound jet continued toward the end of the runway. The Boeing 737 flew just overhead and landed safely - missing the Embraer jet by about 300 feet, a Federal Aviation Administration source said. The Embraer jet continued on to Omaha, records on the Web site fboweb.com show. http://www.nypost.com/seven/12082007/news/regionalnews/jets_in_brush_with_disaster_at_newark_82356.htm

Rep. Sestak: Flight paths being rushed

Says FAA pulls fast one on Delco residents

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak says the Federal Aviation Administration is trying to pull a fast one on Delaware County residents by rushing the implementation of new flight paths over their homes.

The FAA says it's just sticking to its original timeline for redesigning the airspace over the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia metropolitan area to reduce flight delays.

It hasn't agreed on anything else, so why start now?

Opposition to the FAA's plan to modernize the air-traffic system in the Northeast corridor has united area politicians from both parties who say it will reduce the quality of life for thousands of residents.

It's been a knock-down-drag-out fight that will intensify next week when Delaware County files a motion asking a federal judge to block the FAA from proceeding.

County officials want the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to delay the airspace redesign until about a dozen lawsuits challenging its legality can be heard. If the motion is denied, planes could begin roaring over the county as early as Dec. 17.

"We're always pretty suspicious of the FAA, to be frank," said Sestak, D-Pa., who represents most of Delaware County. "They have not dealt with us honestly and forthrightly."

Sestak said the agency had assured him in September that the plan would not be enacted for at least eight months to a year. That would have given the General Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, enough time to complete a cost-benefit analysis.

"This is the FAA rushing to implement a plan that will cut 26 seconds from the average flight delay at the airport," said Andrew Reilly, chairman of the Delaware County Council.

FAA spokesman Jim Peters said that the airspace redesign will be phased in over five years but that planes flying out of Philadelphia airport could begin using three new departure headings as early as this month.

"The three headings give us the flexibility to get aircraft out effectively and efficiently," Peters said, adding that the overall plan will reduce flight delays by 12 million minutes annually by 2011 at major airports in the Northeast.

Peters said the agency is keeping with the schedule it set forth in September for implementing the redesign. Citing the ongoing litigation, he declined to comment on lawmakers' concerns that the FAA violated federal environmental regulations in approving the plan. *