Noise complaints pour into airport
Airport authority researching FAA noise compatibility program
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
Airport Manager Rick Baird.
Theres been an explosion of noise complaints registered with the
agency that runs Friedman Memorial Airport.
According to the Friedman Memorial Airport Authority, valley residents
and airport staff have registered more complaints about aircraft noise in recent weeks
than in any previous period.
From July 24 to Aug. 24, there were 61 reports concerning 53 events,
airport manager Rick Baird, said at a meeting of the Airport Authority on Tuesday of last
week. Ten of those events were between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., Baird said, adding that 13 to
20 of them were caused by whats called a stage 2 aircraft, which are the loudest
aircraft allowed to use the airport.
In the past, the airport has received 20 to 40 complaints per month
during the summer, according to the airport authority.
"Its been a difficult month because of this," Baird
said. The airport now writes personalized letters to offending air crews and officers, he
explained, which increases the time airport staff spend on each complaint.
Baird said the increased number of complaints is caused to a small
degree by repeat offenders and to a larger degree by an increased number of new pilots
flying into the area who dont know about the airports noise abatement program.
Reducing the number of noisy flyers in the valley is a matter of
informing those new pilots of the program, Baird said. He said there are five major points
pilots should realize:
· The airport has recommended departure
and arrival routes that avoid heavily populated areas in the valley.
· The entire valley is noise sensitive;
therefore, pilots should fly as high as possible and stay to the east or west.
· Pilots should avoid operating aircraft
between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.
· Aircraft greater than 12,500 pounds
should avoid departing to, or arriving from, the north.
· Aircraft auxiliary power units should be
used for 30 minutes or less on the airfield.
To make sure pilots know about those points, Baird recommended the
airport install a phone in the flight planning room with a recorded message. He also
suggested the procedures be published in magazines and journals pilots read, and that the
airport establish a pilot-of-the-month program to reward quiet flyers.
Perhaps most importantly, however, the airport authority is researching
the benefits of the Federal Aviation Administrations noise compatibility program,
which, Baird said, would carry more weight among pilots than Friedmans guidelines
alone.
Baird said the problem is that the FAA doesnt think the Wood
River Valley has a significant enough noise problem to receive federal money. Without
federal money, the airport would have to pay $200,000 to $500,000 for the FAAs
program, Baird said, and he doesnt think that will happen in the near future.