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The [Tuesday] Papers"O'Hare International Airport's voluntary 'fly quiet' program is routinely ignored in the early morning, the city said Monday, conceding what sleep-deprived residents near the airport have been complaining about for years," the Tribune reports. You know what else was routinely ignored, then? The complaints of residents for years! * "Between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. every day, only one runway is supposed to be used for arriving flights at O'Hare, and pilots are asked by FAA air traffic controllers to follow designated fly-quiet tracks over less-populated areas. "But the airlines have increased the number of overnight red-eye flights from the West Coast and Hawaii that start arriving at O'Hare as early as 5:30 a.m., an aviation consultant for the city told the Fly Quiet Committee of the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission. Planes flying shorter routes from the east also have increased, he said." 1. Why is the program voluntary? It might as well not exist, then. 2. Pilots and the airlines they work for don't just decide on their own to violate even voluntary rules of one of the world's busiest airports. At best, they have tacit permission from City Hall. The city's current aviation commissioner is Ginger Evans, but for most of the time in question, it was Rosemarie Andolino. Also, a riddle: How many aviation council members does it take to not provide oversight on one of the world's biggest airports? 18. * "As a result, one runway, which can safely accommodate about 40 landings per hour, is not enough, said Douglas Goldberg of Landrum & Brown, the city's longtime airport-planning consultant." Thanks, Doug, but let me tell you something about Landrum & Brown. From part three of the Tribune's 2000 Pulitzer Prize-winning "Gateway to Gridlock:" Landrum & Brown, the city's longtime aviation planning consultant, provides a case study in how politics and contracts mingle at O'Hare. Oh, but that's not all: In 1990, Daley dropped a bombshell, announcing plans for a $5 billion new airport at Lake Calumet on the city's Southeast Side. And consultants' fees! After all, they have tuition to pay and casinos to visit too. * But here's the real kicker: Forecasts by City Hall's own aviation consultants have repeatedly indicated since 1980 that O'Hare is running out of room. But this became a problem when Peotone emerged as the leading option. More than a month after the series ran, the Tribune published a letter from Landrum & Brown president Jeffrey Thomas charging that the paper had gotten its facts wrong, though no correction was forthcoming, leaving readers in the dark. My policy would be that Landrum & Brown had their chance to answer reporters' questions and refused, so too bad; I would not reward such a refusal by publishing their unvetted press release. * Landrum & Brown's core values: "We remain true to our values of quality, honesty, and hard work. We have the highest ethical standards in the industry. We 'do the right thing.' L&B is a company based on trust." * Yes, Landrum & Brown seems to be one of the "good guys" in today's story. That just says to me that there is another motive at work emanating from City Hall. * Back to today's Trib: "How long more than one runway has been used in the early morning could not immediately be determined, according to officials from the Chicago Department of Aviation and the Federal Aviation Administration." How hard could it be to determine this? Not only would there be plenty of data in the computer banks, but you could just go interview air traffic controllers, who are the type of people who remember every damn flight they've called forever. * (One of my all-time favorite stories was "Into Thick Air," when I hung out with air traffic controllers on the job.) * From one of my all-time favorite magazine stories, by Darcy Frey, in the New York Times (and the inspiration for Pushing Tin): At Dunkin' Donuts, Zack's booming voice and machine-gun laugh turn the heads of several patrons, as does his order for 12 coffees, each with different milk and sugar requirements. "If I don't come back with 12 coffees, the guys look down on me," Zack explains. These guys know. * Back to today's Trib: "Noise complaints have soared to record numbers since a new O'Hare runway opened in 2013. Another new runway - the fifth in a six-parallel-runway plan - opened last week." New runways don't mitigate noise or delays if the number of flights using them increases accordingly; it just makes things worse. * "Catherine Dunlap, who chairs the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission's technical committee, expressed frustration over how long it's taking the city to develop a comprehensive plan addressing O'Hare noise. "I just want to make sure the public knows we are talking about the same things that we talked about before" in July, Dunlap told the other members of the Fly Quiet Committee. * "Federal officials released incorrect and incomplete information about how new O'Hare International Airport flight paths would affect residents during a legally required period of public comment, the Chicago Sun-Times has found," the paper reports. Lesson: If the FAA, City Hall or some consultant tells you that's not a plane you see in the sky, check it out. - Cubs Curse Decoded!
- TweetWood
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- The Beachwood Tip Line: Push tin. Posted on October 20, 2015 |
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