Quiet Skies Mid-Peninsula Public Forum on Aircraft Noise, June 4 2016

Quiet Skies Los Altos Hills hosted a public forum on Saturday, June 4, 10am to 12:30pm. The event was moderated by LAH vice-mayor, Gary Waldeck. See the agenda here. See slide decks used in the presentations below.

INFORMATIONAL PRESENTATIONS

• Physical Characteristics of Aircraft Overflight Noise, Tom Rindfleisch, Stanford University

• Baseline Analysis of Airplane Traffic, Sky Posse Los Altos, presented by Don Gardner

• Genesis and the Story of the SERFR Arrival, Sky Posse Los Altos, presented by Ron Rhode

ADVOCACY PRESENTATIONS

• Quiet Skies Los Altos, presented by Roger Heyder

• San Lorenzo Valley slides and narrative, presented by George Wylie

• Sky Posse Palo Alto, presented by Marie-Jo Fremont

• Quiet Skies Los Altos Hills, presented by Bill Evans

RESOURCES ON PAST FAA NEGOTIATIONS

• • Exhibit 1: May 2000. Agreement between Rep. Anna Eshoo and the FAA on maintaining higher altitudes at the Woodside VOR and at the MENLO waypoint is routinely violated.

• 1. Letter from Rep. Eshoo to members of citizen noise advocacy group, UPROAR, announcing agreement with FAA as a great accomplishment.

     1. 2010 City of Portola Valley Memo documenting lack of compliance (see pg 50-55)

• • Exhibit 2: May 2006. FAA issues order to reduce noise over Woodside...and then routinely violates own order. FAA Tracon Order 7110.65K, Paragraph 5-7.a.(2).(f) states "All oceanic jet arrivals inbound from the west shall cross OSI at or above 8,000 feet MSL." See FAA NorCal TRACON Order 7110.65K (see 5-7.a.(2).(f) which documents the agreement)

  • Exhibit 3: September 2014. The City of Phoenix owns and operates the Phoenix airport. Before NextGen was deployed in Phoenix, the FAA approached the City...only to later disregard all their proposals. Phoenix only received relief after Senator John McCain stepped in--causing the deployment to be postponed.

    1. FAA refuses to revert NextGen flight path changes January 22, 2015

    2. FAA states that Phoenix did not offer any proposed solutions April 14, 2015

    3. City of Phoenix Responds to FAA Letter, Disputing the FAA's account April 24, 2015

    4. City of Phoenix Alleges the FAA has been "stringing the City along" June 1, 2015

    5. City of Phoenix says independent noise analysis of the FAA's proposed tweaks will make noise worse for some residents, demands FAA work on long-term solutions July 10, 2015

    6. Monthly SkyHarbor Airport Status Update June 1, 2016 says vectoring is increasing noise

  • Exhibit 4: October 2014. NextGen Advisory Committee promotes strategy to pit neighbor against neighbor in "Blueprint for Success to Implementing Performance Based Navigation [NextGen]". Excerpts follow:

    1. "Concentrations of operations associated with PBN may not increase noise exposures at the levels outlined under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), but can still be perceived as having an adverse effect on residential communities.

    2. "In addition to engaging communities who will be impacted, residents or communities who will benefit should also be engaged. These may be areas that will benefit from less noise exposure, lower emissions, reduced concentration of overflight activity, etc.

    3. “‘Public opinion’ should be driven not only by those who oppose the project, but should also include those who are neutral and support it.”

  • Exhibit 5: March 2015. FAA predetermines outcome of FONSI (finding of no significant impact) before implementing NextGen in NorCal metroplex (as alleged in suit by residents of Portola Valley and Woodside against FAA). Suit remains pending.

  • Exhibit 6: October 2015. FAA disregards proposals arbitrarily.

    1. Lee Christel, a resident of Palo Alto and member of Sky Posse Palo Alto (SPPA) in presentation to FAA, proposes several improvements to NorCal air traffic.

    2. FAA disregards all SPPA's proposals in their analysis of "community proposals" delivered on May 16, 2016. This is despite their repeated claims to welcome all proposals.

    3. See the Quiet Skies LAH analysis of the FAA proposals.