Sep 5, 2007 11:58 pm US/Eastern
FAA's Airspace Redesign Angers Local Communities
Agency: Plan Will Improve Delays, Save On Jet Fuel
by Brendan Keefe
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
A major decision from the Federal Aviation Administration could dramatically raise the decibel level in your neighborhood. It's already getting an angry response.
This is the first complete overhaul of flight patterns over the tri-state area since the 1960s -- and it means more area residents will see and hear jet aircraft flying over their homes.
But the FAA insists the plan will mean fewer delays, and planes taking off and landing over suburban communities will flying be at higher altitudes.
For the last four decades airspace has been dedicated for each airport -- Newark, LaGuardia and Kennedy -- with narrowly defined corridors for aircraft flying into and out of those airports. Neighborhoods under those traditional corridors are well aware of the noise problem.
The new FAA's plan calls for shared airspace for all airports in the New York metro area, New Jersey and Philadelphia -- with planes "fanning out" over the region instead of being confined to those old corridors.
Part of the plan involves the "four-corner concept" shown in an FAA rendering. Arriving aircraft will approach the airports at the corners of the box, corkscrewing down from higher altitudes, while departing planes will leave through the four "sides" of the box, regardless of airport.
The FAA's manager of airspace redesign, Steve Kelley, said Wednesday "one of the things we've attempted to do is find new and effective ways to do this business and use the automation that's on the horizon more effectively."
The agency estimates its plan will cut delays by a cumulative 12 million minutes a year, saving millions of gallons of jet fuel.
But parts of Rockland County and Union County communities like Cranford and Elizabeth will have a lot more air traffic overhead, and that's why the city of Elizabeth is suing the FAA.
Mayor Chris Bollwage said the FAA's own study shows the "redesigned air traffic pattern will have an immediate adverse impact borne solely by the population of the city of Elizabeth."
The FAA says its plan is final, but will take another four years to implement.
But by 2011 many more area residents will be able to spot their homes out airline windows as they return home, a small consolation for the added noise.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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