Changes In Approach To KSFO Affects Residents In Three Counties

Residents of San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties in California had an opportunity recently to express their views to the FAA and local elected officials about noise from airplanes on approach to San Francisco International Airport (KSFO).

The Almanac newspaper reports that about 100 people went to a public meeting at Sequoia High School on June 15. It was the second of three scheduled meetings of the the Select Committee on South Bay Arrivals. The committee was commissioned by local Congressional representatives to discuss the FAA's proposed remedies to the complaints that began after the agency shifted the southern approach corridor to the airport.

While the FAA said that it was shifting to RNAV and RNP approaches at the airport to reduce emissions and noise, some residents said that they are currently only a small number of the approaches to the airport, and there are still airplanes flying relatively low over their homes carrying power. Dr. Tina Nguyen, a Portola Valley resident who spoke at the forum for Californians for Quiet Skies, said the FAA should investigate holding patterns offshore as a way to decrease the number of vectored approaches.

There are noise studies going on in about 20 cities through December of this year, according to the FAA. Agency spokesman Ian Gregor referred The Almanac to a statement by Administrator Michael Huerta in 2015 in which he said the agency takes public concerns seriously. "We understand the interest in expediting this research, and we will complete this work as quickly as possible," Huerta said in that statement.

FMI:  www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=10856