Aviation and Airport Development Law : Aviation Lawyer & Attorney : Dr. Barbara E. Lichman : Airport Development, Environmental Law

Gary Airport Passes FAA Inspection. --- Keith Benman, NorthwestIndiana Times, January 15, 2010
Gary/Chicago International Airport in Illinois received its second positive report from regulators, in addition to receiving a “clean bill of health” for airport finances three weeks ago. The Federal Aviation Administration inspection found “zero operation or airfield maintenance           discrepancies” and Airport Director Chris Curry was pleased with the airport’s positive start to 2010.
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Alternative Aviation Fuels Lauded. ‑-- Federal Aviation Administration, January 14, 2010
The Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuel Initiative (CAAFI), a Federal Aviation Administration-sponsored effort to develop environmentally sound and sustainable-alternative jet fuels, received Air Transport World’s Joseph S. Murphy Industry Service Award, one of the most coveted and valued honors by a leading aviation-industry publication. CAAFI combines innovative public-private partnership with an initiative to foster efforts to ensure critical issues in fuel safety, research and development, environmental impacts, and business and economic viability are addressed.
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Wind Co. Abandons Suzie’s Peak. --- Save Our Seashore, January 17, 2010
Vermont Community Wind Farm has decided to abandon Suzie’s Peak in Ira, Vermont, citing the location to be “too controversial and too problematic.” VCWF had planned to build an 80-megawatt wind farm in and around Ira, but met with public outcry and a potential veto from the Federal Aviation Administration, as the wind turbines may have posed a navigation hazard to nearby Rutland Airport. The company is still looking at 34 potential sites in Ira and nearby towns.
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The Death of 100LL Avgas. --- All Things Aviation, January 20, 2010
At a recent Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Aviation Summit a number of aviation industry leaders commented that lead will be removed from aviation fuels in the near future, especially with the government’s growing concern for the environment. It is likely that legislation will soon be passed prohibiting lead in 100LL (Low Lead) avgas and requiring an unleaded version instead.
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Mount Pleasant’s Airport Could Add 40 Acres for Runway. --- Hilary Farrell, CentralMichigan Life, January 20, 2010
Airport officials are working on a plan to add 40 acres of land to Mount Pleasant Municipal Airport in Michigan so that the airport’s crosswind runway can be increased from 2,500 feet to 4,000 feet. Assessments for the site were approved last year and should be completed in late spring or early summer, after which the city will look further into purchasing the land. The assessments cost is $80,000 and the 40 acres will cost $100,000, with the assessments covered by federal and state grants and 97.5 percent of the parcel of land likely to be paid by federal grants as well.
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Potential Defects in Cockpit-Door Locks Worry Officials. --- Andy Pasztor, The Wall Street Journal, January 21, 2010
Cockpit-door locks installed on at least 1,600 widely used jetliners to keep intruders from accessing flight decks might be defective, worrying airlines and aviation authorities. The electrical controls or the bolts used to secure the doors can jam or fail to operate properly, and thousands of commercial jets worldwide will likely require some type of cockpit-door modification.
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Bellingham Airport to Shut Down for Much of September. --- John Stark, The Bellingham Herald, January 21, 2010
Bellingham International Airport in Washington could shut down for nearly three weeks in September 2010 for a $23 million project to resurface the runway and adjoining taxiway. The 6,750-foot runway is in poor shape and the resurfacing project will include improved drainage to extend the life of the new runway, while the 7,250-foot taxiway will be widened from 60 feet to 75 feet. All but $1.2 million of the cost of the project will be borne by the Federal Aviation Administration.
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FAA Sends Temporary Air Traffic Control Tower to Haiti.--- Federal Aviation Administration, January 21, 2010
The Federal Aviation Administration dispatched a portable, temporary control tower to Haiti to help assist with aircraft operations at Port-au-Prince International Airport. The tower is 44 feet long, 13 feet high and eight feet wide, and weighs about 25,000 pounds, with two diesel-powered generators and supporting fuel tanks, and tools other support equipment for installation and maintenance. This tower and others like it are often used by the FAA to support airports where existing towers are out of service after a disaster.
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FAA Proposes Limits on Companies Hiring FAA Inspectors. --- Aeroclix, January 26, 2010
The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing to put limits on airlines and other operators hiring FAA safety inspectors and their managers for two years after those employees leave the agency. The rule would prevent such organizations and anyone who owns or manages a fractional ownership program aircraft from employing or contracting with former FAA inspectors and managers to represent them in agency matters, if the former employee had any direct oversight of the certificate holder in the preceding two years. The “cooling-off” period is designed to prevent any creation of the perception of inappropriate activities.
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GAO Report: Regional Airport Planning Could Help Address Congestion If Plans Were Integrated with FAA and Airport Decision Making. --- United States Government Accountability Office, December, 2009
A recent Government Accountability Office report recommends that the Federal Aviation Administration create a review process for regional airport system plans and give priority to funding airport projects that are consistent with those plans. A number of airports are or will be significantly capacity constrained and thereby congested within the next 16 years, and the development and implementation of regional airport plans would likely identify additional solutions to help relieve airport congestion.
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European Flight Agency Issues Safety Directive Regarding Sikorsky Chopper. FAA Also Issues Airworthiness Directive. --- Michael Macdonald, Associated Press, and Federal Register, January 27, 2010
The European Safety Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration have both issued directives that require the replacement of a key part in the Sikorsky S-92A helicopter, the type of helicopter involved in a crash off the coast of Newfoundland that killed 17 of the 18 people aboard. Both agencies are calling on operators of the Sikorsky Model S-92A helicopters to replace a filter bowl in the chopper’s main rotor gearbox, as loss of oil from the main gearbox filter, if not detected and corrected, could lead to main gearbox failure and likely result in the need to make an immediate landing.
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L.A.-Area Airports See Drop in Passenger Traffic in 2009. --- Dan Weikel, Los Angeles Times, January 27, 2010
Passengers handled by Los Angeles International Airport fell 5.5% from 59.8 million to 56.5 million in 2009, while traffic at nearby Ontario Airport dropped 9.6% to 4.9 million. Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, which operates LAX and Ontario, was optimistic, saying that passenger volumes for December 2009 were 3.6% higher than December 2008, and that the airports had been expected to “end the year worse off” than they were.
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FAA Seeks Checks of Pilot Oxygen Systems on Boeing Jets. --- Andy Pasztor, The Wall Street Journal, January 28, 2010
New rules proposed by the Federal Aviation Administration call for checks of some cockpit oxygen hoses that can catch fire if there is a short circuit in a nearby electrical panel. The rules would cover three separate Boeing models and come more than a decade after manufacturers first warned airlines that certain parts posed potential fire hazards. It is unusual for the FAA to wait so long to mandate safety actions in the wake of a manufacturer’s recommendation, but the agency does not apparently consider the hoses to be high-priority safety hazards because it has proposed giving carriers three years to complete the inspection and replacement efforts.
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Planes Get Too Close on Approach to LAX. --- Associated Press, January 26, 2010
An error by an air traffic controller allowed a commuter plane to get too close to a Boeing 767 on approach to Los Angeles International Airport last week. Pilots are required to maintain five miles of separation to avoid wake turbulence that can send smaller planes out of control, but an American Eagle Embraer E315 came within three miles of the tail of the Chilean-based LAN Airlines plane while flying at about 7,000 feet.
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FAA Cites Progress in Drive to Improve Commuter Airline Safety. --- Andy Pasztor, The Wall Street Journal, January 27, 2010
The Federal Aviation Administration said new government and safety initiatives have succeeded in lifting the overall safety of U.S. commuter airlines, with the improvements stemming in part from closer government oversight of pilot training and from moves by carriers to better identify and track weak pilots. In a report released Tuesday, January 25, 2010, most airlines were given generally high grades for their response to the FAA’s call to step up commuter safety last June, and there was much coverage of the agency’s efforts to improve safety.
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FAA Investigates Misuse of Lasers on Airplanes. --- Jonelle Merrill, ABC4.com, January 26, 2010
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating incidents of lasers being pointed into cockpits--pilots from different airlines including Delta and Southwest reported four laser sightings within the space of an hour on Sunday, January 23, 2010. FAA spokesperson Mike Fergus for the Northwest Region pointed out that most laser sightings do not amount to much more than an annoyance for pilots, but that there have been incidents where a pilot has had to go to the hospital for some treatment. Lasers are especially dangerous because they can be found at most office supply stores and can fall into anyone’s hands.
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Group Says Wind Watch Project Impacts Need Review. --- Anne Adams, The Recorder, January 28, 2010
Highland County, Virginia citizens are concerned that Laurel Fork, the protected stream in western Highland, might be seriously affected by the planned industrial wind facility on nearby Allegheny Mountain. The group has asked the state Department of Conservation and Recreation to take another look at the potential impacts of the facility and to include public participation in a more thorough review, and if ignored, will look for help with other agencies and find other options available to ensure the stream is protected by the Clean Water Act.
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Airport Airing Concerns Ahead of Windmill Vote. --- Charles Owen Bluefield, McClatchy-Tribune Regional News, January 27, 2010
The chairman of the Mercer County Airport Authority in West Virginia said he will personally hand-deliver a letter of opposition to the Tazewell County Administrator, with a decision on a controversial wind turbine farm for East River Mountain only days away. The letter addresses the airport’s concern about safety with the windmills being on the mountain and doubling the height of the ridge, making the approach to Mercer County Airport more hazardous than it already is. Dominion and BP Wind Energy North America, the two companies that have proposed the construction of the wind farm, said they have already spoken to the Federal Aviation Administration and performed an initial analysis that showed no impact on the flight path at the airport.
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3rd Quarter 2009 Air Fares: Average 3rd-Quarter Domestic Air Fares Fell 14.4% From 3rd Quarter 2008; Top 100 Airports: Highest Fare in Huntsville, Lowest Fare at Atlantic City. --- Bureau of Transportation Statistics, January 28, 2010
Average domestic air fares in 2009 fell to their lowest July-to-September level since 2005, dropping 14.4 percent from the third quarter of 2008, the largest year-to-year decline on record. Third quarter average fares were up 1.7 percent from the second quarter of 2009, however. Of the top 100 airports based on 2008 operating passengers, the highest third quarter average fares were in Huntsville, Alabama, while the lowest fares were at Atlantic City, New Jersey. Only Savannah airport, among the top 100 airports ranked by originating passengers reported, a year-to-year average fare increase for the third quarter, at 2.5 percent.
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