Draft Environmental Assessment for Proposed Changes to Arrival and Departure Routes at Sea-Tac FAA December 1989

This environmental assessment becomes a Federal document when evaluated and signed by the responsible FAA official Responsible FAA Official Date For further Information Contact: Mr. Richard Prang Federal Aviation Administration 17900 Pacific Highway South Mail : C--68966 Seattle, WA 98168 (206) 431-2530 Summary Ie Purpose and Need This is an assessment of the environmental effects of proposed alterations to arrival traffic patterns at the Seattle--Tacoma International Airport in order to reduce congestion and improve efficiency in airspace surrounding that facility. When adverse weather, such as low ceilings and visibilities require instrument approaches to the airport, the arrival capacity of the airport is symmetrical. That is, ap-"' proximately 36 aircraft per hour can arrive whether runways or 34 are in use. Arrival delays are similar whether landings are conducted to the north or to the south. In contrast, during periods of peak demand and optimum weather conditions, south arrival- capacity is much lower (42/hour) , than north arrival capacity (56/hour) . Delays , when landing south, are significantly greater than when landing north. No reason for this disparity can be found in the layout of the airport. Therefore, the inefficiencies are caused by the use of the airspace, and more particularly, the requirement that turbojet aircraft landing to the south be routed through Elliott Bay, to the northwest of the airport. In periods of high demand, if weather or airport conditions improve, the present high altitude route structure and holding airspace used by the Seattle Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC)…

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Call to order – Roll Call – Quorum Established – Land Acknowledgement We would like to acknowledge that our Agency operates in four present-day counties, which are the traditional lands of the Coast Salish people, past and present. This acknowledgement does not take the place of authentic relationships with indigenous communities in our jurisdiction and [...]