SAN DIEGO — An overhaul of flight paths around cities across the country includes new proposed routes for planes flying in and out of San Diego International Airport.
While the changes will be apparent to pilots, people who live in the communities under flight paths aren’t likely to notice much different.
In studies and presentations the FAA said the impact for communities underneath flight paths will be nearly nonexistent, and one community planner said he don’t foresee any nuisances caused by the proposed changes.
The move is a part of a nationwide Federal Aviation Administration effort to allow planes to take more direct routes during their arrivals and departures. The changes make use of new aviation navigation systems that allow planes to take tighter turns and make fewer course adjustments as they approach and leave airports. Planes will use less airspace, fly fewer miles and burn less fuel.
“The overall intent is to use limited airspace as efficiently as possible for congested metroplex areas,” FAA documents said.
The FAA has not finalized a decision on the flight plans, but any changes could be implemented between May and November, 2016, a spokesman said.
Flights leaving and arriving in San Diego will largely follow existing flight paths, but once they’re over the Pacific Ocean or sparsely populated areas they’ll take new routes.
For example, a new route for planes flying into San Diego from the north will put air traffic closer to the coast than a current route.
In another change, flights headed west out of the airport ultimately bound for destinations east will no longer have to tag a waypoint southeast of Point Loma as they turn toward land and the Silver Strand south of Coronado. Instead, they’ll turn tighter, flying over or closer to the tip of Point Loma and crossing the Silver Strand at pretty much the same location.
The FAA said that this new flight path mirrors the existing one, but that planes will fly on a “more concentrated” track.
San Diego International Airport has about 550 departures and arrivals daily. Approximately 97 percent of flights depart to the west and arrive from the east.
Studies show that the new routes won’t cause much of a noise impact, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said. There won’t be an average daily noise increase over 3 decibels in areas that have an average sound level of 60 to 65 decibels, which is about the noise level of a quiet office. In areas that range from 45 to 65 decibels, about the range of a library to a quiet office, there won’t be an average daily increase beyond 5 decibels, Gregor said.
Peter Ruscitti, a member of the Ocean Beach Planning Board, said he’s evaluated the proposed flight plans and it appears that the impact on his community and Point Loma would be negligible since most of the changes are in North County and the eastern desert.
“This makes intuitive sense — OB is located so close to the airport’s runway that flight routes overhead cannot fundamentally change,” Ruscitti said.
It appears that changes will increase efficiency of flights around the airport and potentially allow for more flights in and out of Lindbergh Field if the market supports it, he said.
“In my opinion this is a positive change that is long overdue,” said Ruscitti, adding he was speaking for himself, not the planning board, which has not discussed the FAA plan.
The San Diego Airport Authority is monitoring the FAA’s decision-making process and is trying to determine what sort of impacts the changes may have to communities near the airport. At this time, however, the project is still being developed and it’s not possible to determine what sort of impacts, if any, the changes might have, an airport spokesman said.
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