Frequently
Asked Questions
|
Numerous
questions have been asked of us. We are not authorities but have
tried to
respond as accurately as possible. As you read our answers and
disagree or can provide additional info,
please email us and we will modify.
Q:
What is Plane Sense's goal?
A:
Distribution
of aircraft activity as depicted by FAA RAPTOR data of July 13.
We
believe this distribution reflects an aviation community who respects
all
citizens and is not an abuse of the privilege of flight.
Q:
Has Plane Sense attained its goal?
A:
To
date (July
2006), our efforts have been met with mixed results; some in the
aviation community have assisted our efforts and others have
not. Certain sections of town ("Golf Ball" and "Power
Triangle") continue to receive a
disproportionate amount of flight training when compared to other
communities. We had hoped for more positive results within
the four years that we been in existence and cannot understand why some
in the aviation community continue to ignore our efforts.
We are uncertain
why no one in the aviation community has offered to continue Fairfax O'Riley's work. We sent letters
in 2004 to numerous employees of the FAA, Massachusetts
Aeronautics Commission, AOPA and New England Free Skies soliciting for
individuals willing to identify and implement solutions but no one has
come forward to implement his recommendations.
We need to understand Nancy Risso's (FAA)
statement at Senator Kennedy's office: The rich people of
Harvard will never have flight activity. The implications
of this statement need to be analyzed but first we must be certain that
Nancy Risso did not misspeak.
Q:
What effect has this chronic noise exposure had on residents?
A:
Some people are naturally noise sensitive and this
noise would obviously cause them stress whereas others have no
sensitivities. However, many of our members, even one who lived
in
Lexington adjacent to Hanscom Field, were not noise sensitive prior to
moving to Groton. The constant exposure to aircraft noise (up to
90% of one's day) has created an ultrasensitivity in people who
normally would not have been sensitive to the noise of aircraft.
One member recently had a heart
attack and the only risk factor identified was stress, the stress from
aircraft noise. Although research is in its infancy of analyzing
the effect of environmental noise, we are very concerned about future
bodily harm caused by this chronic noise exposure.
CBS News Noise, Heart Attacks Linked
A:
The
flight schools / individual pilots have voluntarily chosen this
airspace to
practice. In an email from Nancy Risso of the FAA: “the FAA
does not designate or approve practice areas for flight schools.
The
flight schools do that on their own”.
We
speculate that during takeoff from either Hanscom Field in
Q:
What solutions exist?
A: In 2004, an individual pilot, Fairfax O'Riley, took the initiate to offer suggestions to solve this problem. These include:
- FAA contact
towers. Norwood and
Beverly Airport actively solicit flight training due to the economic
benefit of monies given to the communities
based upon the
number of flight take-off and landings.
- FAA Safety Seminars
- Increase flight instructor's understanding
of their noise impact
- Regional agreement for rotation of practice
areas
Unfortunately, a change in Fairfax's career did not allow him to implement these suggestions.
Concurrently, we
had met with New England Free Skies (Peter Schmidt, Neville Hogan,
Louise Anderson), a pilot's organization whose mission is to
instill
responsibile airspace use by the aviation community. We
sent these suggestions to this organization in 2004 with the hope that
they would
continue Fairfax's work. Additionally, Peter Schmidt had
the following suggestions that he was going to pursue:
- waiver for an acrobatic box at Hanscom Field (2005)
- flight training in Nashua airspace (2006)
- flight training near highways/industrial areas
(2006)
- flight training at FAA contract airports
(Norwood/Beverly) (2006)
A:
None.
Airport noise is justified and tolerated by the economic benefits
brought to
the adjacent communities. Communities adjacent to Hanscom Field
such as
Q:
Why don’t pilots bring the noise to their homes?
A:
Some
pilots live within Class B airspace therefore federal regulations
prohibit this
activity. Class B airspace extends from
A:
Contact amy.corbett@faa.gov
(781) 238-7020. In prior years, Terry Flieger was the contact but
she recently departed the FAA.
Q:
What security do we have that these
pilots are not
training to be terrorists?
A:
It
is highly unlikely that these pilots are future terrorists.
However, this
raises the issue of the heightened awareness that people now perceive
aircraft
as potential weapons.
Q:
Why doesn't the FAA or Massachusetts
Aeronautics Commission do something?
A:
FAA - In 2001, the FAA
(Ed Reinecker and Bill Wicks) hosted meetings with acrobatic pilots and
residents to resolve this
noise issue and our perception is that a positive dialogue ensued in
which all parties were interested in identifying reasonable solutions
to this issue. Additionally, the FAA distributed a noise
sensitive airspace map to pilots and flight schools. We were in the
process of scheduling a meeting to
expand the audience to include the flight schools in 2002 but a change
of
personnel occurred and they would not host the meeting. However,
the FAA did send a "Fly Friendly" flyer to every pilot in southern New
England requesting that they consider the impact of their noise to
those below.
Unfortunately, this flyer had no effect. This airspace continued
to receive a disproportionate amount of noise and after repeated
complaints, Terry Flieger came to visit Groton on July 13, 2003.
Interestingly, it was a rare silent day. Terry Flieger offered to
provide the RAPTOR data for this date as well as the prior weekend and
after repeated calls, we met with the FAA in December to review the
RAPTOR data. The FAA was able to playback flight activity for the
"Power Triangle" airspace in real- time for July 6th (weekend prior
Terry's visit) and the data illustrated the typical non-stop level of
activity. In contrast, the data for July 13th illustrated an even
distribution pattern of activity north of Route 2.. (Note:
the data of July 6th is the typical level of activity; July 13th was a
rare occurrence). Additionally, the FAA gave us the hardcopies of
the RAPTOR data. Clearly, the FAA's data confirmed our legitimate
complaint of receiving a disproportionate amount of noise pollution
from general aviation activity.
As this noise continues, we have
continued to send
numerous letters of complaint to Terry Flieger, Nancy Risso, Amy
Corbett and Marion Blakey that included tail numbers but are unaware of
any direct action they
have pursued with the flight schools to instill ethical conduct.
Due to staff reassignments, in 2006, Terry Flieger, who was our contact
for the last few years, no longer works for the FAA. We tried to
arrange an appointment with Amy Corbett in 2006 to identify Terry
Flieger's replacement as well as discuss options but were bounced
around to numerous FAA employees. We finally talked to Ed
Kelleher and he could not understand how the FAA could help since they
were to promote aviation and that all he could do was put our concerns
in the "folder".
FAA Contract Airports exist (e.g.
Norwood and Beverly) to economically benefit these towns. The
more traffic, the more money is given to the towns of Norwood or
Beverly. Currently, both airports are actively soliciting flight
school training. This is a win-win
situation but for whatever reason, the flight schools have not
voluntarily chosen this fly friendly option.
MAC
- The
Massachusetts
Aeronautics Commission has no authority in this matter. However,
a letter
from Director Robert Mallard to Representative Hargraves stated that
it is
desirable to develop a system whereby the noise is distributed to all
communities. We have attempted to solicit their involvement to
instill a fly friendly policy but have never received any
response.
Q:
Who is AOPA and what is their role?
A:
AOPA
- Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. This organization's
purpose is
to promote aviation to the general public. The problem is that
they need
to promote this privilege in an ethical, responsible
fashion. If
distributed, this
noise nuisance issue would not exist.
Q:
I would like to help but am afraid of retribution. What can I
do?
A:
You
have a legitimate concern and unfortunately we are experiencing an
increasing amount of retribution in the evening hours. These acts
have been reported to the FAA (Amy Corbett and Marion Blakey), e.g.
July 6, 2006 activity.
Q:
What is “fly friendly”?
A:
Fly
friendly is a voluntary philosophy asking pilots not to disturb people
on the
ground.
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