Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter #473........................................................................March 23,  2008 Past newsletters can be accessed at: http://pages.prodigy.net/rockaway/ACNewsmenu.htm  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 know that noise from air traffic can be a source of irritation, but our research shows that it can also be damaging for people's health, which is particularly significant in light of plans to expand international airports," Dr. Lars Jarup, from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Imperial College London, from a report now being used by U.S. government agencies!!!

"60 Minutes" Does Report On Sleep Disturbance!!!

As Bill Sees It (Editorial): Documentary Links Sleep Loss To Major Health And Safety Problems!!!  In a major television two-part documentary CBS did a story (click on picture on the right for part two) on the major health impacts that can be caused by sleep loss. While the documentary carefully avoided transportation noise (no surprise) as the main culprit in this sleep loss, the fact that the scientists doing the study used noise to disturb the sleep of the test subjects, showed (to me at least) the major role that it plays in sleep disturbance. If the snoring of another person in the room is enough to escalate blood pressure, how much more damage do 747's flying over all night do? These scientists have the equipment to exactly determine these impacts and this should be part of every environmental assessment and/or impact study done on every airport expansion plan. It was not done on the massive Eastern Region Airspace Redesign Plan which is why this plan should be thrown out and a new one done. Why it hasn't been done is a story in itself. I would like to see CBS or any other U.S. news media do a documentary on how in the early 1980's the transportation industry  (airlines and train) lobby pressured congress to remove funding for the EPA's Office of Noise Abatement and Control (ONAC). This effectively stopped all federal research into the health impacts of noise pollution. Our Corporate-Controlled Federal Government Changing Their Tune On Health Impacts Of Noise Pollution? You can tell something is changing when you see health studies regarding the health effects of noise pollution (done by other governments of course) mentioned on government web sites. While the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is still avoiding the noise pollution issue like the plague, other government health agencies are starting to deal with it. Apparently these other government studies are being accepted by U.S. government health agencies!!! I did an online search of U.S. government sites and did see see new information the health effects of noise pollution and even a mention of blood pressure increase from aircraft noise!!! Although most of the government sites still focused on noise in the workplace and noise-caused hearing loss, it is obvious to me that a small revolt is going on within our corrupt, corporate-controlled government. I even saw on the phony Federal Interagency Committee On Aviation Noise (FICON) web site a "pilot" (yuk yuk) report on the "RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AIRCRAFT  NOISE REDUCTION AND CHANGES IN STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES!!!" Another site called "Medline Plus," which calls itself "a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, actually had the recent story about the European Union study on the correlation of aviation noise!!! link on its web site. This may seem a small thing that is hidden away in a health "library," but I see it a sign that there is a revolt going on with doctors and scientists working for the government. As we get closer to the end of the reign of the Moron in the Oval Office I am hopeful that the revolt against the aviation industry and their paid politician stooges will increase. National Center On Sleep Disorder Carefully Avoids Dealing With CAUSES Of Sleep Disturbance!!! While going in to great detail to look scientific, the NIH's National Center of Sleep Disorders Research carefully avoided dealing with the causes of sleep disturbance. This is as close as they got in their 2003 report: Environmental noise/light: Ambient noise and vibration have occasionally been studied as factors improving or impairing sleep quality, but little is known regarding the extent to which various types of noise and vibration affect sleep. A few experiments have found that light at night can enhance alertness, and that properly timed light exposure can hasten phase shifts of circadian biology (e.g., shift workers). There have been no studies, however,  to determine whether turning on room lights at night adversely affects sleep quality or quantity. Editor's Note: Apparently they closed up shop after that. No doubt it was thought they were getting too close to criticizing the aviation and rail industries.

 

 

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                                                    Important Aviation News Stories This Week

Quiet Rockland Calls for Response from Mica on March 3, 2008 Letter To Senators Lautenberg and Menendez http://media-newswire.com/release_1062626.html
Quiet Rockland and others concerned with protecting air safety and our biosphere are compelled to reply. You are incorrect about virtually all your conclusions. Virtually all your rationales you use to reach them, are in error. Why would a Congressman like yourself purposefully disseminate misinformation? The answer is clear. You continue to reside in the pocket of the airline industry, John Mica.

(Media-Newswire.com) - Quiet Rockland and others concerned with protecting air safety and our biosphere are compelled to reply. You are incorrect about virtually all your conclusions. Virtually all your rationales you use to reach them, are in error. Why would a Congressman like yourself purposefully disseminate misinformation? The answer is clear. You continue to reside in the pocket of the airline industry, John Mica.

Your letter’s introduction seems to suggest that if “Bobby” Sturgell is not confirmed as FAA Administrator, that will lead to a meltdown in aviation safety. Yet we all know that the REAL meltdown has already occurred over the past five years, and you helped. The meltdown was Marion Blakey’s and “Bobby” Sturgell’s mismanagement of the FAA. Right in your area, Orlando International Airport is experiencing a dangerous shortage of air traffic controllers ( ATCs ). The shortage is caused by FAA’s seemingly-perpetual hostile treatment of its ATCs. But all you can say is “the shortage didn’t pose an immediate threat”, even though Orlando International has 45% fewer controllers than it had 5 years ago. You deceive the public.

Your responses to the Senator’s concerns are flawed and incomplete.  Let me respond to some of the further points in your letter:

NY/NJ/PHL Airspace Redesign
Your letter suggests that this Redesign, for which you have in the recent past taken to the road and shamelessly pandered as far north as Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, will solve delay problems. You indicate it is in the national interest that Redesign work proceeds. But what we well know, is that the FAA’s supporting “promises” are specious. This proposed Airspace Redesign was a US$50,000,000 boondoggle whose only purpose was to make a few people, mostly contractors, very rich. “Bobby” Sturgell has pushed the Redesign along, attempting to rush its implementation ahead of the findings of a GAO audit and investigation which will indubitably bring the Redesign crashing down faster than a Southwest Airlines publicity balloon. According to FAA’s own Chief Operating Officer Henry “Hank” Krakowski, the FAA’s Redesign is but a “Band-Aid” solution at best. And the real sin here, is that after wasting all this United States currency, the Redesign can, according to ATC union NATCA, actually make the delays worse. The Redesign would put more planes in the air than the airports can handle. Sturgell’s FAA in recent years deliberately screened ATCs off of the planning of the Redesign, instead preferring to pay profiteers for US$50mm worth of useless PowerPoint presentations. You see, Mr. Mica, the capacity limitation is on the ground, which is where the Airspace Redesign falls flat on its face. Your letter says that “no redesign will satisfy everyone”. However, the NY/NJ/PHL Redesign will satisfy no one, except maybe the airline-company profit-takers that will be able to pump even more airplanes into the sky per unit time, further increasing delays – and except those like you, that feed downstream from their trough. What caused the nation’s flight delays was greed expressed in the form of over-scheduling of flights and over-saturation of our skies. It is the bad behavior of the airlines that is really the human cause of these flight delays – that, and the shortage of controllers at the airlines’ and FAA’s hand. Keep the airlines from over-booking and over-saturating the prime timeslots, and then maybe your will see a measurable decrease in delays ( not the exaggerated, if even actual, 3 minutes that the FAA has “promised” with this Redesign ). And now NATCA has raised serious safety concerns regarding the Airspace Redesign. As one whose house will be flown-over by the Redesign if it occurs, I am not going to sit and listen while you misrepresent the facts about the Redesign to the American people.