TagSupersonic(3)

WHEREAS, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is implementing both a National 6 Airspace Redesign—a multi-year initiative to review, redesign, and restructure the nation's 7 airspace to meet the rapidly changing and increasing demands on the National Airspace System 8 — and an Air Traffic Control System upgrade named “NextGen;” and 9 WHEREAS, Congress directed the FAA administrator to exercise leadership in the creation of 11 federal and international policies, regulations, and standards relating to the certification and safe 12 and efficient operation of civil supersonic aircraft in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, 13 leading to new rulemakings on FAA noise certification; and 14 WHEREAS, the NextGen System allows for aircraft to fly more closely together, both vertically 16 and horizontally, during landing and takeoff, which has concentrated flight paths at low altitudes 17 over residential areas of the U.S. with increased frequency; and 18 WHEREAS, in some states, the FAA did not conduct Environmental Impact Studies that use a 20 noise standard that accurately reflects the impact of NextGen routing over residential 21 communities; and 22 WHEREAS, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Noise Control Act and the 24 Clean Air Act Title IV - Noise Pollution indicate that aircraft and turbojet engines are a source of 25 noise and air pollution that require mitigation; and 26 WHEREAS, problems related to noise include stress-related illnesses, high blood pressure, 28 speech interference, hearing loss, sleep disruption, and lost productivity; and 29 WHEREAS, frequent low flying aircraft increases risk on the…

Letter from Port of Seattle Executive Director Richard D. Ford to Virginia E. Dana expressing concerns about the Concorde aircraft (supersonic) and federal regulations permitting noisier aircraft operations. Ford discusses how this undermines the Sea-Tac Communities Plan’s cornerstone principle that aircraft should become quieter, not noisier.