As
Bill Sees It (Editorial): Is
Senator Spector Playing Games With Aviation Pollution? Is Arlen Spector (R-Penn.)
finally listening to the cries of their constituents and
demanding that there be some controls on the increasing numbers of plane
"operations" that occur at major airports in the United States.
I thought so at first when I first read the 
Spector is saying
its OK for the FAA to use the new Airspace Redesign routes "when the
airport is most congested." Spector, like his democrat buddy Chuck Schumer, can't
seem to break away from promoting the health damaging, air polluting aviation industry.
Two Hudson River Communities And Their Opinion On Aircraft Noise!!! It is
almost amusing to see the different attitudes on aviation
expansion of politicians
representing communities
located on New York's Hudson River. While one area's politicians are desperately fighting
the FAA's Airspace Redesign scheme, which will bring
Newark
Airport flight paths and noise over their heads, another community's politicians
are PUSHING for the creation of a forth major N.Y. City airport (Stewart
Airport) in their backyard!!! Airport expansion Senator
"Chuck"
Schumer is one of the main characters not only behind the Airspace Redesign
scheme but also the expansion of Stewart Airport. This week he 
Spector's
FAA Bill Amendments Putting Lipstick On A Pig? May 5, 2008 -- U.S.
Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) filed two amendments to the Federal Aviation
Administration Reauthorization Act which is currently being considered by the
Senate. The amendments seek to reduce overflights over Delaware County and
delays caused by flight over-scheduling at Philadelphia International Airport.
Senator Specter investigated both of these issues at a field hearing he convened
in Philadelphia on Friday, April 25th. During the field hearing, Senator Specter
questioned FAA’s Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell on airspace redesign and
flight scheduling practices at Philadelphia International Airport. Sturgell
acknowledged that planes are sometimes directed to fly a route over residential
suburbs in Delaware County as a primary option – not as a congestion-relief
option as the FAA earlier indicated would be the case. “The FAA has been
unwilling to honor its commitment by limiting use of the headings to only those
times when 10 or more aircraft are waiting because they claim that doing so
would require them to conduct a reevaluation and analysis,” said Senator
Specter. “This amendment will ensure that communities are not frivolously
disrupted by overflights but still give air traffic controllers the option of
using dispersal headings as a relief option when the airport is most
congested.” 
New
York County Legislators Push To Stop Increased Aviation Health Impacts!!! County Legislators Alden Wolfe, Connie Coker, Chair Harriet
Cornell and others timely rendered an April 30 Environmental Committee
resolution seeking removal of funding provisions for the New York/New
Jersey/Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Airspace Redesign from the Federal
Aviation Administration reauthorization bill pending before the U.S. Senate. The
Legislature's May 2 press release, issued by Legislature Press Coordinator Betsy
Saetre, enables Quiet Rockland to alert other communities nationwide to how our
county is fighting FAA injustice, while the related Senate proceedings - on
C-SPAN2 - hopefully empower those communities to take similar action. The
Robert "Bobby" Sturgell FAA has allowed at least hundreds of thousands
of passengers to fly on cracked airplanes; tolerates low-fuel landings at Newark
Liberty and elsewhere; has brought us an unacceptable number of near-misses and
runway incursions; and seemingly would rather threaten whistleblower inspectors
than solve airplane safety problems, in turn triggering FBI and congressional
investigations. Some of those affected aircraft, or ones like them, could
end up among the 400 or more planes per day that the redesign threatens to
regularly run at low altitudes through the Route 304-to-306 corridor. Our
county's now-almost-yearlong fight against the redesign is not simply a pursuit
to prevent noise and air pollution in our backyards. This is about a rogue
failed federal agency and restoring safety to our skies. The writer is a
co-founder of Quiet Rockland, Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation
Administration, confirmed an incident on May 1 involving a United
Airlines flight that turned the wrong way on departure. But he said FAA
logs had no record of two separate incidents on May 8 involving planes
operated by Virgin Atlantic and Continental.
Adams and Newark union president Ed Kragh contend, however, that a controller
noted the incidents, which occurred within about an hour of each other, and
notified a supervisor in writing. None of the incidents placed planes in
imminent danger, Adams said.
On a recording from the Newark air traffic control tower last month obtained
by The Associated Press, pilots of several planes that are minutes from
takeoff are heard expressing unfamiliarity with the new pattern.
"That's a negative," a JetBlue
pilot says when a controller asks if he's familiar with it. "Here's how
it's going to work," the controller begins.
About two minutes later, another pilot asked the same question responds,
"I don't know that we are."
Air traffic controllers at Newark have been pushing the FAA to
"publish" the new pattern so that its chart is included in a book
kept in every plane's cockpit. Peters said Friday the FAA won't publish it
until more work is done on the overall airspace redesign.
Airlines were alerted to the new procedure by the FAA before it was instituted
in December, and it is referred to in bulletins contained in the Airport
Terminal Information Service, which pilots can access when they enter the
cockpit and which also provides weather updates.
According to Kragh, that reference is not specific enough. He said when the
new procedure was implemented, Newark controllers initially gave pilots
specific information about the takeoff procedure when they first made contact
with the tower, about 30 minutes before takeoff.
That prompted so many questions from pilots that it interfered with
controllers' ability to carry out their duties, Kragh said, and controllers
were ordered by supervisors not to specify the new procedure until planes were
on the runway. The FAA did not comment on that claim.
The new takeoff pattern from Newark is part of the first phase of a general
redesign of the airspace around New
York. The plan also included a cap on the number of flights at JFK
Airport.
Congestion at the region's three major airports _ Newark, JFK and La Guardia _
have been blamed in recent federal reports for causing significant delays
nationwide.
At Newark, planes departing to the southwest have historically turned to the
left immediately on takeoff. Under the new procedure, they can be directed to
turn to the right.
The new pattern is used during peak times to allow planes to depart with less
distance between them since their paths will diverge once they are airborne,
according to Kragh.
When a pilot turns the wrong way on takeoff, that can put the planes closer
together than is allowed under FAA regulations, Kragh said.
According to Peters, the fault lies with the pilots.
"The responsibility for acknowledging air traffic control instructions
rests with the flight crew," he said. "If they don't comply with
those instructions, it's pilot deviation."
Adams said the wrong turns place more stress on pilots during the crucial
first minutes of a flight.
"Is it an imminent collision threat? No," he said. "Generally a
controller can catch it. But it causes confusion and additional workload,
which does raise the risk of potential problems."
