Northern Hills Homeowner's Association

Maybe Airports should stop expanding...

Dec 08, 2000

As an air traffic controller, commercial pilot and avid raveler, I take exception to the recent editorial stance, taken by many of our nation's
media providers, blaming a lack of runways as the cause of our terrible flight delay problems. One leading paper even stated the ''skies are virtually limitless...'' implying that all that's lacking is enough pavement to get em up into it.

In spite of the aviation industry propaganda to the contrary, safety (and physics) requires each aircraft its own separate piece of sky in which to operate.

Just scheduling 10 flights to depart at 8AM won't produce enough sky to do so. The bigger and faster the planes get, the bigger the airspace required, and having two or more in the same piece of sky at the same time is a big problem.

Building more runways in aturated urban airspace is not the key. Enlarging SFO, OAK and SJC, for example, will not manufacture more sky over San Francisco Bay for the resulting increased flights to pass over, under, and past each other.

Just trying to cram more planes into an area will not solve flight delays, it will make them worse - especially as increased use of bigger planes and the proposed ultra-large new aircraft take to the sky.

Delays stem from our government sponsored nefficient use of our resources by a disjointed transportation system, driven by industry's (including airport's) profit motives that best serve only themselves, not transporting us. Evidence the hub system, bizarre fare structures and over-booking.
(How many other businesses are allowed by law to sell the same item to more than one buyer?)

This country is allowing the aviation industry a monopoly on inter-city mass transit as we did with the automobile for intra-city transport. Our
national transportation udget is now devoting about 60% to aviation related growth.

We once thought that paving over our land, making room or more cars on more freeways, would end traffic delays on our roads. Those who would profit promoted this idea at the expense of other methods of travel that would reduce demand for space on the roads (and their products). Well, the concrete has dried and here we sit in grid locked smog clouds, wishing we had a transportation system we could use to get to work.
Much of the media coverage would suggest the same tactic could work for delays in our skies. I suggest we take a lesson from history and rethink our position.

Rod Stewart
Foster City, CA
650-349-1605