Northern Hills Homeowner's Association

Two Articles on Take-Off Troubles

Nov 25, 2000

Saturday, November 25, 2000
Los Angeles Times
Pilots Union Challenges FAA Statement on El Toro Safety

ORANGE COUNTY--The nation's largest union of airline pilots is
challenging a Federal Aviation Administration position that flights can operate safely from a planned county airport at the vacant El Toro Marine base.
Officials with the Virginia-based Air Line Pilots Assn. International are demanding that a ranking FAA official justify his conclusions that the county plans for an airport at El Toro, particularly takeoff patterns, are safe.
Hermann Bliss, the FAA's manager of airports for the Western Pacific region, said in an Oct. 30 letter to Supervisor Tom Wilson that the county
airport could be operated safely, despite concerns raised by pilots' groups and air traffic controllers. Bliss dismissed an analysis completed in May by an FAA consultant which concluded that planes leaving El Toro couldn't take off safely to the north because the skies are too crowded.
"For them to say this is not a big deal is crazy," Jon Russell, the pilots union's regional safety chairman, said Friday. "Northbound departures will create havoc."
FAA officials have declined to comment specifically on the agency's analysis of the county's airport plans, saying its final recommendations won't be released until March.
County officials, meanwhile, are headed to Washington, D.C., next week to find out why the Department of the Navy has fallen 18 months behind
schedule on environmental documents for El Toro. The documents, which won't be completed until April, are critical because they must be finished before the base can be handed over to the county.

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Winds risk a return to noisy skies
Date: 25/11/2000
Sydney Morning Herald

By Robert Wainwright, Transport Writer

Sydney's aircraft-noise sharing plan is under threat because the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has decided to tighten limits on the use of runways during crosswinds.

Lowering the wind velocity limit from 25 knots to 20, announced last night, affects all Australian airports; however, community lobby groups say it will cripple Sydney's Long Term Operating Plan through less use of the east-west runway.

The decision was made after the International Federation of Airline Pilots decided in June to put a red star classification on Sydney Airport because the east-west runway was being used in crosswinds of up to 25 knots. A red star warns cockpit crews of potentially dangerous airports.

The federation, which wanted a 15-knot wind limit, also threatened to downgrade the airport to a black star classification - rating it as even
more dangerous - if the speed was not reduced.

CASA officials and the Minister for Transport, Mr Anderson, insist the change will not greatly affect noise sharing across the city, but groups
representing residents to the north and north-west disagree.

One prominent activist, Mr David Lidbetter, accused the Government last night of using the pilots' complaint to weaken the noise-sharing plan and force most operations back to the parallel runways.

"It is a further nail in the coffin of the Long Term Operating Plan and simply a way that the life of Sydney Airport can be extended because of the indecision about Badgerys Creek," Mr Lidbetter said.

"When you consider the strong northerly and southerly wind patterns in Sydney it will simply give pilots a reason to call for the use of the long runway, and thereby limit the use of the east-west runway."

But CASA's director of aviation safety, Mr Mick Toller, said the slower speed would introduce a safety margin that made better allowance for wind
gusts.

"By reducing the crosswind limit to 20 knots in Australia, and limiting downwinds, we are building a better safety buffer for landings and take-offs where a choice of runway exists," Mr Toller said.

"Naturally, where a choice of runways is not available, the final decision on accepting a greater wind speed remains with the pilot in command.

"This package of changes will improve safety margins while having only a marginal impact on airport operations."

Mr Anderson said the changes would increase safety margins and "reflect recent international experience". "They will apply to operations on all
three runways at Sydney Airport but will not have a substantial effect on the Long Term Operating Plan," he said.

"It is expected that the restrictions will slightly reduce the use of mode 5 [departures to the south with arrivals from the east] and mode 9 [departures to the north and east with arrivals from the south].

"I am advised that there is likely to be a slight increase in the use of the east-west runway."

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