Recommends Higher Approach Altitudes And Procedural Changes

After four months of work, the Select Committee on South Bay Arrivals has recommended some changes to the new approach corridors over Palo Alto, Mountain View, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, and other communities south of San Francisco International Airport (KSFO).

The Palo Alto Weekly newspaper reports that the committee produced a 44-page report that includes ideas ranging from a change in nighttime flight hours to changing routes aircraft use on approach to the airport.

The flight paths became an issue when after the FAA implemented NextGen approach procedures into KSFO in 2015 which took aircraft over communities that had not previously seen a lot of air traffic. The most controversial route shifted a flight path three miles to the east, and was intended for Optimal Profile Descent under NextGen. But there was a conflict with other restricted airspace around KSFO, and pilots were required to carry power and then use "speed braking" to reduce airspeed on approach, which created more noise. The route, known as SERFR, generated more than a million complaints, according to the committee's report.

The committee recommended returning that route to the previous Big Sur flight path. However, that recommendation was opposed by members of the committee who live in the towns underneath that flight path. It also recommended that the FAA establish a minimum altitude over the MENLO waypoint of 5,000 feet.

The committee went on to recommend that the FAA should continue to meet with the community leaders after new procedures are implemented to track how effective the changes have been, and should consider developing a new flight path that would take flights over less populated areas.

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