SANTA CRUZ, Calif. —In the skies over the Central Coast, there are concerns about commercial and cargo jet noise in the region. For months people in Santa Cruz County have been trying to get the Federal Aviation Administration to address the problem.
Now, it looks like they've captured the FAA's attention.
A group called Save Our Skies, has met twice with FAA officials who came back with a 12-page report after those meetings.
Save Our Skies doesn't believe it goes far enough in addressing jet noise concerns
"The worst thing is a plane going over your head at 10,000 feet every one to two minutes apart," a member of Save Our Skies said.
Hundreds of flights pass over Grant Weseman's home every day through routes designed by a state-of-the-art air traffic control system implemented nationwide by the FAA.
It's called, "Nextgen," the Next Generation Air Transportation System. It's purpose is to cut down on air traffic congestion.
"When they come in, I note the altitude, the type of plane, and I click the computer and then it goes to SFO noise office and I've done hundreds and hundreds of complaints," Weseman said.
In a letter prepared for U.S. Representatives Anna Eshoo, Jackie Speier, and Sam Farr, the FAA announced a new three-phased initiative that will explore a variety of possible modifications to flight speeds, altitudes, and waypoint locations.
"What we're trying to do is very complicated to get all of these things have the FAA address," Sam Farr said.
"Unfortunately, it is extremely vague and doesn't really lay out a plan of action that we think it's workable at this point," Save Our Skies Co-Chair, Patrick Meyer said.
Save Our Skies would like the FAA to specify a date when these actions will be implemented.
They also want flight patterns moved away from densely populated areas and for jets to begin their descent from higher altitudes.
"As we look at it now, it basically doesn't meet any of the needs that we have right now to relieve us of the jet noise," Meyer said.
Between March and August of this year, the SFO noise abatement website logged 147,442 complaints from residents living near the flight paths.
In Santa Cruz County, residents filed 29,370 noise complaints, with almost 415 complaints a day in August.
"Why did they try and change the flight path that had worked so well for forty years? And why they fixed it with something that was broken from the beginning," Grant Weseman asked.
"It developed a detailed plan of action to explore proposed modifications. We are committed to working with the communities and members of Congress to analyze a wide range of suggestions aimed at addressing these local noise issues," the FAA said.
Source: http://www.ksbw.com
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