Well done and Kudos to SurfAir and the FAA - the ONLY people who could actually solve this problem.

Wouldn't it be great if the FAA was as responsive to the rest of us, and would send the SFO planes back over the Bay as well, where they used to be. Money talks.

There is a specific proposal to do exactly that:

Posted by Peter Carpenter
a resident of Atherton
on Aug 27, 2015 at 3:35 pm
Peter Carpenter is a registered user.
IF you want a simple solution then Palo Alto should just request that the FAA do the follow three things:

1 - All SFO inbound traffic from the North and the East must use the RNAV (GPS) X RWY 28R approach and must enter that approach at the ANETE Initial Approach Fix (IAF) for which the minimum crossing altitude is 7000 ft,



Alternatively these aircraft could us the ILS or LOC RWY 28R approach and must enter at ARCHI IAF for which the minimum crossing altitude is 7000 ft,

Web Link

2 - All SFO inbound traffic from the South and the West must use the RNAV (GPS) X RWY 28L approach and must enter that approach at the Faith IAF which has a minimum crossing altitude of 7000 ft.,



Entry to this approach via MENLO intersection would not be permitted.

Alternatively these aircraft could us the ILS or LOC RWY 28L approach and must enter at the FAITH IAF for which the minimum crossing altitude is 7000 ft,


Entry to this approach via MENLO intersection would not be permitted.


3 - SFO and SJC must be landing in the same direction unless the wind differential between them is greater than 10 knots.

These recommendations use existing and established procedures and do not impinge on the SJC airspace.

If these recommendations were to be adopted then Palo Alto's problem would go away. Some communities further to the South would see significant increases in overflights but these would be at much higher altitudes.

[Post removed. Please make your point without negative characterizations of other posters.]

Congress backed FAA NextGen is about increasing capacity no matter the cost to human health and the environment which is why Congress made sure to pass legislation in 2012 that allowed the FAA administrator to file a categorical exclusion of impact to the human environment for new procedures, otherwise known as a finding of no significant impact or FONSI.

More and more flights year on year is THE goal leading to ever greater industry profits. Radar v. GPS navigation, while proponents and media love to focus on it, is not the point. This isn’t about the technology, but how it’s being used. GPS allows greater precision, but in order to fly aircraft closer together they needed to deal with the turbulence issue, or the wake that an aircraft creates. Enter the NextGen procedure of supposedly no significant impact to the human environment called Wake Recategorization or Wake Recat. Bring aircraft lower, hence the low altitudes as never before, into denser air which allows the aircraft to slow down and therefore safely fly closer together. Commercial aircraft on low altitude paths that now operate near and far from airports have resulted in general aviation aircraft flying lower than ever before as well.

The aviation industry has taken over the skies, whether you live near or far from an airport no longer matters. These low altitude paths are now blanketing the U.S. and the globe under different program names.

Quality of life has been robbed. Millions are now under the barrage of aircraft noise day and night. Our skies sound like a war zone. To date, elected officials have in the main done nothing of substance. We’ll know when they’ve done something because Americans will have sleep, restful waking hours, and enjoyment in the outdoors restored.

The noise enthusiasts don’t seem to realize their health is negatively impacted regardless of whether or not they are bothered by it. Don’t pay heed to those who attack you for wanting a quality of life we enjoyed pre-NextGen simply because they don’t value theirs.

Elected officials are doing the bidding of industry again and again and selling out their constituents. Surf Air is just one of many aviation outfits that leapt on the wave of Congress and FAA backed aviation expansion. They’re onto drones next.

tired:

if you want quiet, move to the countryside. You're not going to find it here, even if all aircraft were to magically disappear from the sky. There are MILLIONS of people in this area all making noise. Noise is part of living in an urban area.

Menlo Voter:

[part deleted.] Quiet is not absolute silence, which doesn't exist in the countryside either. [part deleted.] This is about significant impact changes to the skies owing to the Congress back FAA/aviation industry NextGen program and aviation's expansion goals, of which Surf Air is a part.

[part deleted.]

tired:

not a "troll", just tired of people that live near three international airports and numerous other smaller airports whining because there is aircraft noise. Really? Aircraft noise near three international airports and numerous smaller airports? Who knew? It wasn't that way when you moved here? So what? Things change, especially with population growth and the consequent increase in demand for seats on airplanes and the additional demand for CHEAP seats. That's only accomplished by increasing supply. Which is what the FAA is working towards. If you don't like it, beat up the millions of people living in the Bay Area that DEMAND cheaper flights. I'm sure they'll fly less so you can have more quiet. <snort>

So now that Surf Air has proactively and patiently worked with the FAA -- the real decision-makers in this matter -- to alleviate much of the noise patterns, I'm wondering when all the haters will actually have the class and grace to acknowledge their efforts.

Probably never, which just proves my point that this was never really about the noise, right?

I note that there has not been a single SurfAir flight over Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton and North Fair Oaks since 9 AM Saturday morning.

Well done SurfAir.

Hopefully people appreciate this accomplishment.

From 10 am Saturday, through the last arrival last night, SurfAir had 99 arrivals with 92 on the Visual via Bayside and only 7 on the AMEBY approach.

Flights this morning were on the AMEBY approach due to the cloud cover.

I presume those who were previously so outspoken about SurfAir will now offer their thanks.

"I presume those who were previously so outspoken about SurfAir will now offer their thanks."

You presume wrong. Complainers Rarely if EVER acknowledge someone that addresses their complaint. In this case, given that most of the complainers are a bunch of entitled whiners, I'm sure they think, Surfair did what they "should have done in the first place so as not to disturb us entitled folks." After all the small amount of noise was "torture." Can you say histrionic? We will never hear anything from these people.