Logan Airport Departure Flights Missing Their Corridor

The FAA has released a study that confirms what many Boston anti-airport activists have long suspected --  many airplanes are not flying the noise sensitive routes they promised they would.

In a just released study, the FAA found that only 58% percent of jets taking off from Logan Airport's Runway 27 flew the flight corridor designed in a 1996 FAA ruling. The minimum requirement is 68.2% of all flights.

The Boston Globe says in the 1970s, the configuration of Runway 27 was altered and sent departing aircraft over Boston's downtown neighborhoods. Residents successfully sued and the compromise reached was the creation of a 7.5 mile long flight corridor that would minimize the noise signature of the jets.

When winds are out of the northwest, aircraft departing runway 27 head right over South Boston's Seaport District and other heavily populated urban areas.

Worst offenders, according to the report are heavy jumbo jets, who only manage to make the corridor about 40% of the time.

The determining factor seems to have nothing to do with weather conditions such as visibility or wind speed, or navigational equipment on board, or the particular airline company, or even whether  the flights were flown as military, charter, air taxi, or airline categories -- but simply which type of aircraft was being used.

The Boeing 757 is singled out as being rated far below average... no matter who flies it. This suggests that something about its climb performance may make it hard to enter the flight corridor.

The Globe says the report concludes that the FAA needs to work with airlines to determine why some of their flights are not measuring up and find ways to fix the problem.

FMI: www.massport.com