FAA Panel Makes Noise Over Jetliner Rule in O.C. : Airports: Advisory group sides with pilots in seeking ban on power cutback procedure at John Wayne. A key issue is who is liable in noise damage suits if a change is ordered.
After months of controversy, an aviation advisory group voted 9 to 1 on Wednesday to seek a ban on the practice of airliners cutting back power at 500 feet after taking off from John Wayne Airport, a practice instituted to reduce noise over nearby residential areas.
If adopted by the Federal Aviation Administration, the recommended change could mean more jet noise for homeowners near the airport. The FAA is not expected to rule for several months.
The mere threat of the rule change led the Orange County Board of Supervisors earlier this month to halt a program in which homes are purchased and insulated for sound in Santa Ana Heights, near the end of the airport runways. The supervisors halted the program to see if more homes must be included and at what cost to taxpayers.
In voting to ban the power cutback requirement, the FAA-appointed working group cited fears that pilots will become confused and overburdened as customized noise-abatement departures proliferate throughout the United States.
The FAA originally sanctioned John Wayne Airport’s 500-foot-altitude power cutback several years ago. The procedure was designed by the airlines and is administered by the FAA, not the airport.
But commercial airline pilots recently mounted an all-out attack on the procedure, arguing that it leaves too little reaction time or space should something go wrong during takeoff.
Coupled with a steep takeoff angle of 23 degrees or more, pilots have referred to the airport noise abatement takeoff procedure as a “nightmare” and “an accident waiting to happen.”
Their comments were recently included in a segment on the ABC-TV news show “20/20,” in which they listed the Orange County airport among five in the nation they fear flying out of most.
Meeting in Washington, the group also attempted to appease Orange County officials by voting to seek the creation of a new panel that would investigate the environmental impact of banning the 500-foot power cutback requirement.
But John Wayne Airport officials said they are not impressed.
“We think that environmental analysis of the impacts is very important to the process and that process should be completed prior to the issuance of a new advisory circular,” said airport spokeswoman Courtney Wiercioch.
An FAA advisory circular would notify pilots, airlines and airports of preferred procedures but does not carry the weight of law. However, anti-noise groups around the United States believe that the FAA intends to adopt language on power cutbacks from the advisory circular in air carrier operations manuals.
This would have the same effect as law, such groups argue, while bypassing the FAA’s formal, lengthy and cumbersome rule-making process that requires public hearings.
The group making Wednesday’s power cutback recommendation is the FAA’s air carrier operations subcommittee. It has representatives from organizations such as the Air Line Pilots Assn., the Air Transport Assn., various aircraft manufacturers, the Airport Owners Council International, and the Flight Attendants Assn. The only member to oppose the recommendation adopted Wednesday was from the airport owners group.
Meeting secretly beginning last year, the subcommittee’s deliberations excluded John Wayne Airport officials until two months ago when Airport Manager Jan Mittermeier showed up and demanded to be heard.
Just last week, Mittermeier flew to Washington again to plead the county’s case.
A key issue, both sides agree, is who is liable for noise damage lawsuits that may result if the new takeoff procedure is adopted. Airports plan to argue that the FAA will have to shoulder the burden.
Although the proposed change doesn’t specifically target John Wayne Airport, members of the FAA subcommittee have acknowledged that the airport is the only one that has a power cutback below 800 feet.
