Beautiful Sunsets vs. Particulate Matter

Limit your exposure to particulate matter. Limit your cumulative risk. The smoke from wildfires has once again blanketed the areas around Sea-Tac Airport, creating PM2.5 air quality readings often seen more in Third World countries. Unfortunately, most of us are highly biased to only perceive dangers we can see. For example, many of you will

What is a TRACON?

The area from 6-50 miles will affect you with or without a second airport. It’s an FAA acronym. Terminal Radar Approach Control. And if you live in any of the areas considered for a Second Airport, including Enumclaw or Pierce and Thurston Counties, keep reading. TRACONs are FAA facilities that house air traffic controllers who

Anatomy of an air quality monitoring network

This is a fixed site air quality monitoring (AQM) station. If your first reaction was, “So what?”, skip to the bottom, we’ll wait. You can view this as a stand-alone device, or you can view it as one node in a network of AQMs, which work together to allow for researchers to capture a much

The Great Wall Of Sea-Tac

In 1996, the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) gave final approval to the Port of Seattle’s proposal to build a Third Runway. The airport was originally sited on a small plateau about 430 feet above sea level, which ended immediately at the west side of what is now Taxiway Tango. The basic struggle in airport

Calculating DNL65

We’ve often made the claim that DNL65 is not really a unit of measure. And when we say that it comes off as both condescending and patronizing. Okeedokee… If you want to understand DNL65,  you should probably start by going to the regulations governing Airport Noise Compatibility and Planning aka Part 150. Got it? Great.

Financials

Below are the Certified Audited Financial Reports (CAFR) for the Port of Seattle over the past fifteen years. Before you embark on your light reading for the day, some generalities, including Why would I want to read a CAFR?. Port Finance 101 Structurally, the Port of Seattle is extremely complex. That’s not a question of

The Fourth Runway

We’ve begun using the term “Fourth Runway” to describe two large projects (SR-509 and the Sustainable Airport Master Plan) as one system, which they are. The two projects have always been part of a regional plan begun over fifty years ago to meet the strategic goals of the Port Of Seattle and regional planners. The construction of SR-509 will affect the communities are great deal. But starting in 2027 the projects will also increase flight operations at least 33% and cargo operations by 300%.

Significant events in the growth of Sea-Tac Airport since 1996

Introduction The growth of Sea-Tac Airport has definitely not been linear. There have been many fits and starts that don’t make for easy sound bites. For example, Sea-Tac Airport was able to run over 400,000 operations in 2000 on only two runways. By the time the Third Runway opened for business on November, 20 2008,

SAMP For Dummies

The Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) is the blueprint for increasing flight capacity by one third in the next ten years. It will have the same community impact as the Third Runway. In fact, it is happening now. How this is possible, and what it means for us.

Why electric airplanes are no panacea

The (very) good news is that there is more than one zero-emission aviation technology coming. But at the risk of being Mr. Negative, at least for airport communities, electric airplanes are no panacea. And we say that not to inspire despair but to tell residents the realities, which are: Each of these alternatives comes with