The graphic (website) version of this newsletter can be accessed at:
http://pages.prodigy.net/rockaway/newsletter415.htm
Quote of the Week: "We were shocked to learn how much noise increase that
there would be. I didn't know it would cause high blood pressure or heart
palpitations and possibly kill people, or make our children stupid."
Pennsylvania's Delaware County Councilman Jack Whelan quoted in a story
this
week about community opposition to the FAA's corrupt Airspace Redesign
Plan
for the Eastern Region
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Aviation Conspiracy Newsletter
#415.........................................................................February
11, 2007 Past newsletters can be accessed at:
http://pages.prodigy.net/rockaway/ACNewsmenu.htm
The PASSUR air****t
flight
tracking system at many major U.S. air****ts
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@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Times Does Story On Airspace Redesign Scheme!!!
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As Bill Sees It: (Editorial): Airspace Redesign - FAA's New Victims Make
Their Own Noise!!! There seems to be a storm brewing over the FAA's
Airspace
Redesign Plan as communities already hit with aircraft noise find out it's
going to be increased. Even the N.Y. Times, usually one of the aviation
industry's biggest pollution sup****ters, did a story (2/11/07 - The Roar
Above: Remapping The Skies) on how people in the N.Y. City metropolitan
area
are getting upset with the FAA's planned noise increases. Obviously, the
loss of peace and quiet is starting to effect even some N.Y. Times
executives. They should give Sen. "Chuck" Schumer a call; he has been very
effective at getting protected status for the politically connected. Of
course, Chuck Schemer has been one of, if not THE biggest, sup****ter of
increased aviation over the N.Y. metropolitan area. When this creep was a
congressman in my heavily aviation noise impacted district, he ****trayed
himself as a fighter against aviation expansion. Now, as a senator he
boasts
about expanding aviation in upstate New York's Stewart Air****t.
Even Communities Hours From Air****ts Are Complaining!!! I particularly
enjoyed the part of the Times story that talked about complaints from
Woodstock, New York, which is a two hour drive from Manhattan. It seems
that the nighttime overflight noise from Newark Air****t jets is disturbing
the yuppies and artists that live there. Maybe the artists noticed that
there is something wrong with a sky full of long white streaks instead of
puffy clouds.
Web Site Shows Pictures Of "Chemtrails" Near Stewart Air****t, New York!!!
While I don't buy into all the conspiracy theories about airplane
"chemtrails," the fact is that they do contain many toxic gases. While
other
segments of the modern world industrial nightmare we live in are reducing
greenhouse gases, the aviation industry is increasing their
contribution!!!
They are not only increasing the global warming problem, that is
destroying
the ice caps and causing the sea level to rise, but they are also creating
visual pollution. You don't even have to live near an air****t to see jet
engine contrails instead of clouds. Maybe some people aren't bothered by
this, but I consider it just another indication that we have allowed this
industry to go to far. So maybe the contrail conspiracy theorists aren't
that far off with their assertions. Strange "Anti-Noise" Group Carefully
Avoids Mentioning Plane Noise: As I browse the Internet I came across a
very
weird anti-noise group; founded in the plane noise hell Queens, New York
City no less. This group has obviously went way out of its way to avoid
the
issue of aviation noise!!! Now I know that aviation noise is not the only
source of noise pollution, but for a anti-noise group from Queens to
totally
avoid it is something I had to look into. I noticed that even in the list
of
other noise groups they show, the obviously dreaded words...plane noise
were
not even mentioned. Could this be an Aviation Cabal plot to co-opt the
noise
issue? It wouldn't surprise me, especially after I saw that N.Y. Mayor
Bloomberg was mentioned, that the whole purpose of this group is to divert
attention from the airplane noise issue and focus it on things like leaf
blower noise!!! I remember reading that Russia's Joe Stalin created his
own
counterrevolutionary group so he could better keep track of those
counterrevolutionaries who might oppose him. Perhaps Stalin's organization
influenced the aviation industry, and the their politician abettors like
Mayor Bloomberg. Maybe they created a anti-noise group for the express
purpose of diverting attention away from aviation noise. What better way
to
undermine aviation noise pollution efforts then to create a noise group
that
avoids even recogizing aircraft noise? I wouldn't be surprised if this
group
gets government grants to pay off the political hacks that probably run
it.
I liked the NoiseOff youtube video though. Of course, like every one of
their web pages I saw, it didn't have or even mention airplane noise. I
wonder where this group is located as they don't give their address or
even
tell who are their officers. That's why I called my web site the aviation
conspiracy. There IS a conspiracy.
Pennsylvania Community Meets With FAA Criminal Con Men: RIDLEY TOWN****P --
U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-7, of Newtown, moderated a public meeting Friday
night at the town****p's municipal building on the FAA's proposed Airspace
Redesign plans for Philadelphia International Air****t that drew a
standing-room-only crowd of about 200 residents concerned about noise and
air pollution, and safety hazards. Sestak (picture at left) said it was
the
first time since the redesign was proposed - which would direct flights
over
major ****tions of the county - that the FAA airspace redesign manager was
permitted to directly answer questions from concerned citizens in any
locale. "I think the best we can do is to try to avoid litigation.. and
consider directing flights down I-95 instead over the heart of the county,
Sestak told the packed audience in the municipal building. He said county
council has made its position very clear all along. "This mitigation that
they're talking about - and you use that word very loosely - what they're
talking about right now, the planes are over the Delaware River until they
hit an altitude of 3,000 feet, then they fan over parts of Delaware
County.
"Under the current plan they will fan right away, they'll make a right
turn
immediately." Whelan indicated that FAA manager Steve Kelley said the
mitigation includes that some paths may be deleted and planes may not fly
at
certain times. "But the bottom line is they're still going to fly over
Delaware County - that is unacceptable to Delaware County Council," Whelan
said. Editor's Note: "Avoid litigation!!! Rep. Sestek should be PU****NG
LITIGATION!!! That's the only thing that the FAA is afraid of. It's good
that congressmen only have a two year term of office. I hope newly elected
Sestek doesn't get too confortable.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17835276&BRD=1675&PAG=461&dept_id=18171&rfi=6
New Jersey Politicians To Vote On Dumping Airplane Noise On New York
Communities!!! TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey moved closer on Thursday to
allowing the ****t Authority of New York and New Jersey to buy Stewart
International Air****t in Newburgh to help ease congestion in the region's
skies and air****ts. A Senate trans****tation panel approved changing New
Jersey law to let the ****t Authority to enter into a $78.5 million,
93-year
lease of the air****t 60 miles north of New York. It was the first
legislative approval for the plan, which still requires consent from the
full Assembly, Senate and Gov. Jon S. Corzine. Bill sponsor Sen. Paul
Sarlo,
D-Bergen, mentioned the Atlantic City International Air****t and Trenton
Mercer Air****t as potential purchases by the ****t Authority in New Jersey,
but Shawn K. Laurenti, the ****t Authority's government and community
relations director, said nothing is imminent. Sarlo said he at least hopes
using Stewart will ease congestion at Bergen County's Teterboro Air****t,
which has become one of the nation's busiest small airfields. Teterboro
Air****t has been a longtime sore spot for neighboring residents, who have
complained of aircraft noise, exhaust odors and incidents involving planes
running off runways. Editor's Note: It is good to see that New Jersey's
newspapers ADMIT that they are going to dump aircraft noise, exhaust odors
and plane crashes on New Yorkers. Picture on the left is a plane that
overshot Teterboro Air****t and crashed into a building.
Georgia: Community Demands Savannah Air****t To Get "Mandatory"
Routes!!!
Hilton Head Island Air****t could soon get mandatory flight paths, which
would stop planes from flying over homes and could eliminate the noise and
safety complaints that have hounded the air****t in recent years. At
meeting
with county and town representatives today, state and federal aviation
officials said they will begin drafting mandatory flight paths that would
require planes to fly over the water or other inhabited areas. The air****t
currently has only voluntary flight paths that carry no penalties for
pilots
who don't follow them. Some residents have complained that pilots ignore
those routes and take shortcuts over land, often buzzing loudly over
homes.
http://www.islandpacket.com/front/story/6358154p-5674053c.html
Illinois: Dueling Plans For Proposed Peotone Air****t: The Illinois
Department of Trans****tation on Friday submitted two layouts for the
proposed air****t near Peotone to the Federal Aviation Administration,
initiating what is likely to be a lengthy review that will prove crucial
to
whether the project moves forward. The layouts for an inaugural airstrip,
one designed by IDOT and the other by a commission created by U.S. Rep.
Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) that wants to oversee construction, will be
reviewed by the FAA to determine which would work best, said IDOT
spokesman
Mike Claffey. "It's in the hands of the FAA, and we're hoping to hear
which
one is finally determined to be the most suitable," Claffey said. IDOT did
not specify which it prefers, something the FAA hopes to iron out with the
state next week to ensure a manageable review, said FAA Chicago regional
spokesman Tony Molinaro. Typically, the FAA receives one preferred layout
for an air****t, he noted. "The FAA is ready to work with the state on its
planning process to resolve this issue," Molinaro said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/northshore/chi-0702100138feb10,1,5171604.story?coll=chi-newslocalnorthshore-hed
@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Aviation News Stories This Week
HERE come the planes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/11Rcover.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&oref=slogin
Look Up Noise Levels by Neighborhood (faa.gov)
Multimedia
Graphic
Altering the Airspace
Related
In Connecticut, Quieter Planes but Still Many of Them (February 11, 2007)
On Long Island, Noise Concerns Grow Near Smaller Air****ts (February 11,
2007)
In New Jersey, a Politician Fields Noise Complaints (February 11, 2007)
In Westchester County, a Noise Watchdog Weighs In (February 11, 2007)
In the Region
Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut and New Jersey Go to Complete
Coverage » Enlarge This Image George Ruhe for The New York Times THE VIEW
BELOW An air traffic controller, Scott Brancifort, working in the control
tower at Bradley International Air****t in Windsor Locks.
Nearly everywhere you look in the Northeast, there are signs of increasing
air traffic. Even in remote rural areas, 100 miles from a major New York
air****t, the thunder of jets routinely fills the air.
In Woodstock, N.Y., more than two hours' drive from one of the three major
air****ts in the New York City area, a jet p***** overhead every two to
five
minutes, residents say, since 1997, when the area became part of a landing
approach to Newark Liberty International Air****t. To the residents, many
of
whom moved to the Catskills to escape pollution and the urban hullabaloo,
the constant noise is especially irksome.
"It's like having a highway over my head," said Euphrosyne Bloom, a poet
and
filmmaker who lives in West Saugerties, N.Y., near Woodstock. "They are
loud
enough to wake you up in the middle of the night."
At 10,000 to 20,000 feet, airliners seem small, but even the newer, more
efficient jets can be loud. Like sparrows towing a freight train, they
rumble across the sky, leaving feathery white contrails, ribbons of
exhaust
that slowly disperse and form their own pseudo-cirrus clouds. In the
minute
or so it takes for a jet to pass overhead, the sound gets louder, until
finally it fades away, a thunder without rain.
Now, for many residents across the region, from Bergen County in New
Jersey
to Litchfield County in Connecticut, noise levels from aircraft could
change
significantly under a major reorganization of the highways in the sky that
the Federal Aviation Administration is undertaking for the first time
since
the 1960s. It is called the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia Metropolitan
Area Airspace Redesign Project.
After nine years of study, planning and public hearings, the F.A.A. is
expected to make a decision this spring on how planes will be routed from
the 5 major air****ts and 16 satellite air****ts within a 31,000-square-mile
area that stretches from Delaware to Connecticut. The F.A.A. says it is
part
of an effort to address airplane delays in the nation's busiest airspace
and
to minimize conflicts among planes in flight so controllers will not have
to
issue so many instructions. The proposed changes - combined with the
steady
increase in air traffic at satellite air****ts like Stewart International
in
New Windsor, N.Y., near Newburgh, Trenton-Mercer County in West Trenton,
N.J., and Westchester County Air****t in White Plains - have led to the
creation of community organizations concerned about noise.
But many of these groups and elected officials say the F.A.A. is not
adequately addressing concerns about noise levels on the ground.
Representative Steve Rothman, a New Jersey Democrat, says the F.A.A.'s
redesign plan does not include any meaningful provisions to reduce the
impact of noise on people living below flight paths. "I am aware that our
traffic patterns should be redesigned to reduce flight delays and allow
more
flights in and out of some of the busier air****ts," he said. "I don't
believe F.A.A. officials have tried hard enough to do that."
There are now four alternatives, and depending on the choice by the
F.A.A.,
some people will hear more noise. Others will hear slightly less. Over
all,
those already noisy areas will stay the same. For example, New Jersey
residents in the western edge of Warren County and in part of Somerset
County could find a moderate reduction in noise levels, according to an
F.A.A. projection of decibel levels. But residents in Bergen, Rockland and
Orange Counties could experience a significant increase in air traffic
noise.
Noise levels could also rise in and around Stamford and Danbury in
Connecticut as well as nearly a dozen towns in Westchester, including
Briarcliff Manor and Peekskill, because of changes at La Guardia Air****t.
Already, air traffic from the Westchester air****t has prompted town
officials in Greenwich to demand a mandatory ban on departures and
landings
from midnight to 6:30 a.m. after a voluntary restriction on overnight
flights failed.
The four plans under consideration include modifying existing air space,
routing air traffic over the ocean, making additional airspace available
for
air traffic controllers, or taking no action at all. Given the increased
volume of air traffic nationwide - 739 million passengers last year, with
the number expected to climb to 1 billion passengers in 2015 - the overall
situation in the air is only going to get worse; not just in suburbs close
to New York City but for miles, far beyond the city's borders.
In Connecticut, in northern Litchfield County, jets taking off from
Bradley
International Air****t in Windsor Locks, north of Hartford, cut across the
countryside with increasing regularity. "It can get pretty loud," said
Roberta Memoli, a bank employee who has lived on Fuller Mountain, just
outside Kent, for 17 years. "There are times when it's like a traffic
jam."
Some 75 to 100 jets going to and from Bradley Air****t fly over the area
daily, according to F.A.A. officials, although local residents claim there
are more. This number does not take into account additional overflights
originating in Boston or Europe, which turn onto the same route, Victor
405,
a kind of highway in the sky that connects the Bradley Air****t area with
the
next ground-based navigational aid in Pawling, N.Y.
HIGHWAYS in the sky are somewhat analogous to highways on the ground, with
large main routes that branch off into minor roadways. This is what the
F.A.A. is rewriting. In the Northeast, a sectional aeronautical chart, or
road map of the sky, looks almost as webbed and complex as road maps of
the
ground.
Each spur of the highway below 18,000 feet is known as a "victor airway."
Above 18,000 feet, they are called "jet routes." The Catskill Mountains
approach pattern that prompted citizen consternation is known as Victor
213.
The takeoff pattern, Victor 405, which cuts through the Litchfield Hills,
was changed in 1997 as part of a reshuffling of the Boston airspace, to
accommodate many more planes.
"Aircraft flights are forecast to grow," said Steven Kelley, the project
manager of the F.A.A.'s airspace redesign project. "So there will be
additional noise impacts."
Unlike roadways on the ground, the virtual highways in the sky are three
dimensional. This vastly complicates the job of the controllers and air
traffic planners. For wherever you have heavy traffic, in and out, both
horizontal and vertical separation of the traffic flows must be provided
for. To airspace designers, controllers and the F.A.A., the paramount
issue
is separation - that is, keeping airplanes separate from one another in
the
air. This is their operational imperative, their higher calling.
After separation, the goal of air traffic professionals is efficiency, or
the need to minimize delays, which any frequent flier can attest are
endemic
to the system.
It is therefore not surprising that the F.A.A. does not consider ground
noise the first priority in its planning. Mr. Kelley said that the
government's current efforts are focused on two goals: safety and
efficiency. If some noise mitigation were to result from the redesign of
the
airspace, that would be all to the good - but it would be, at best, a side
issue.
Mark Allan Guiod, the air traffic manager at Bradley Air****t, said that
annoyance levels on the ground are generally not part of his team's
mission.
"When we are dealing with traffic flows, we are not looking at what's
underneath them," he said in his office at the Bradley control tower. "If
you don't like the noise now, think of the noise when two planes hit each
other."
Some opponents of aircraft noise have suggested rotating the traffic on
victor airways, so that long-suffering areas can enjoy respites. They also
propose rerouting planes along "trans****tation corridors," places where
the
pattern of development has led to pre-existing noise levels that would
mask
aircraft sounds and not detract from the quality of life. They offer as an
example the New York Thruway, with its booming truck traffic.
But such suggestions present their own problems, air traffic professionals
contend, and do not come to terms with the three-dimensional structure of
the system - and the cascading effects of delays at any one point along
the
line.
In New Jersey, community opposition to Newark Liberty International
Air****t
operations has long been organized. The New Jersey Coalition Against
Aircraft Noise has proposed that departing Newark westbound airplanes
first
wheel out over Raritan Bay, then turn around after gaining altitude to
proceed across land. Early in the process, however, the F.A.A. has
discounted this "ocean routing" option in its planning, saying it would
not
eliminate delays. Newark air****t consistently leads the nation in delays.
From the standpoint of the airline industry and the F.A.A., it is much
easier to make changes in the cockpit than in air routes. One answer to
growing airplane noise may be technological: getting planes higher faster.
Also, newer aircraft are less noisy.
In the Woodstock area, residents formed a group called Ulsterites Fight
Overflight Noise and campaigned for more than a decade to get the F.A.A.
to
alter Victor 213. At first, Joyce Timpanelli, 70,a retired English
professor
who lives in Woodstock, said she felt she was getting the runaround from
the
F.A.A. But eventually the group achieved a 30 percent to 40 percent
reduction in airline overflights.
"We held meetings," she said. "My husband and I kept a log, with a
stopwatch, tracking flights overhead. I gave something like 10 years of my
life to this. It is still terrible."
For the airspace redesign project, the F.A.A. will hold additional public
hearings in the spring that focus on noise concerns, according to Jim
Peters, a spokesman for the agency. In August, he said, the agency will
issue its decision.
Email From Arline Brozaft, Aviation Activist
: I am a member of Congressman Sestak's (picture left) advisory committee
and served
on the panel in Philadelphia this past Friday. There were about 200
residents
in attendance who came to speak out against proposed FAA Airspace Redesign
-
they were protesting the resulting increase in noise over their homes if
Redesign went into effect and were also concerned about safety and air
pollution.
Mr. Steve Kelley of the FAA made a presentation and then answered the
questions
raised by the audience. These questions, relevant and on target, were
asked
in a polite manner and Mr. Kelley answered all of them politely but not
necessarily to the satisfaction of the audience. Congressman Sestak
stressed
that
he would like to work out something with the FAA to address the concerns
of
his
constituents and promised the audience that he and his advisory committee
would continue to talk to Mr. Kelley and other interested parties.
Congressman
Sestak is also aware that the Proposed Airspace Redesign, if adopted, will
adversely affect residents in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and
Delaware. He
and his advisory committee also commented on the need for this country to
develop an overall trans****tation policy, not policies that separately
address
air, rail and highway issues. Arline L. Bronzaft
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