For the past several years, Airport Director Lance Lyttle has been promoting a Fly Quiet Awards program at the StART meetings. This is a voluntary program to track airlines by noise. Who are the main violators. Who is improving. Who is not.
Flying Quiet First Quarter 2022 Scoring List
From the beginning we scoffed for a few reasons.
- It was voluntary. The FAA does not allow airport operators to assess fines. It’s about as motivating as giving someone an Employee Of The Month Award.
- And there was no shaming component. The Port only mentioned airlines that showed improvement. They did not mention the thing the public cares about: those 2:30AM flights to Asia. Or the runups.
- It was also irritating that the Port promoted “Fly Quiet” as a new program, which it most certainly was not.. It was actually part of a program that was meant to be activated following the Sea-Tac Communities Plan in 1976. Well that never happened. And then the RCAA pushed hard for the program as part of the 2002 Part 150 Study preceding the construction of the Third Runway. This is disrespectful to those activists who worked so hard on these issues through the decades.
Fly Quiet Committee Report Port of Seattle (2003)
4. What we found particularly galling was the fact that no one on the StART was either aware of that prior program or if they were, seemed to care.
The progress indicated by the Fly Quiet Awards is real. Some of the night flights have been improved. Some run-ups have been fixed. And the Port now gives proper credit to the prior Fly Quiet program–well, at least the 2002 model.
However, the increase in operations will soon outpace any minor improvements.
By almost never acknowledging when current activity is actually making up for lost time, it creates the illusion that the Port is doing far more for the communities than it is. A new Fly Quiet program sounds far more positive than simply making good on commitments from decades ago. It’s a way to spin people who deserve a simple apology as a bunch of ingrates “who are just never satisfied!”
One has to swim faster than the current or one will surely be swept out to sea. And even if one makes progress, it is exhausting to have to work that hard for such small gains.
When it comes to Fly Quiet, Port Packages, Air Quality Monitors, Land Use… and dozens of other community needs where current progress stands in such sharp contrast with failed commitments?
#TooSlow
#TooLittleTooLate
#PayWhatYouOwe