Winging It

Speaking about the airport... After flying from ELP/PHX/LAS.. in one day arriving on the red-eye in PHL... I've never seen such unpleasant people.. When asked where I was going to and saying Philly., almost everyone laughed because Philly airport has such a bad reputation...UGLY.. How about a "smile" campaign for ALL of the airport employees..Try it, you will be surprised... Really

Tom, you were at the meeting for what, all of 5 minutes apparently? The supposed "reduction in noise" is a myth, created by the confusion that resulted when the FAA said their new plan would create less noise than the previous. In their maps of flight paths over Delaware County, they show previously 6 new paths to go over, and a new plan with 3, resulting in "less noise" than the previous one. A resident of Ridley was incredulous at the claim that there would be less noise over his town than previously since there would be MORE air traffic going over. The numbers don't make sense.

In your puff piece you leave out that this plan is going to mean about a minute less delay per plane, on average. Wow, boy, that will make a difference. Meanwhile, Europe is beginning a program to start using satellite navigation, so that future is becoming now, while the US again lags behind. And there has been no talk about a "bullet" style train to traverse the Northeast corridor: an option that would probably reduce 10-20% of the flights coming into the Northeast, when you consider that 30% of the flights coming into Philadelphia are from less than 500 miles away. The reason is that there is no political will to do so. So may as well follow the path of least resistance.

If you had spent more time at that meeting you would know that the concerns of residents isn't just noise. It's our health (there have been studies showing people who live near airports have a higher incidence of hypertension; higher airborne particles causing asthma and other breathing problems), it's safety (there have been 2 recent incidents of blue ice falling from the sky; planes will now be flying lower over our houses at steep turns, a higher risk to crash), it's property values and quality of life.

To my knowledge there has been no study to show what kind of economic improvement this will have, if any, for Philadelphia. (Maybe that's why there has been nothing heard from those MAY benefit?-incidentally it is interesting that almost all of the FAA's language is so couched, everything is "may" and "might"). Meanwhile this amounts to a tax on Delaware County residents, to benefit a few Philadelphians and others for whom Philadelphia is not a destination but a hub to connect to other flights. Taxation without representation I might add, since there is no one from Delaware County represented on the FAA group that formed this plan.

I submit that if Philadelphia really wants a plan like this, then they should find a way to have the outbound flights fly north directly over Philadelphia. They want the economic benefits, let them absorb the costs as well.

As to your scare tactics to close your piece, that if Philadelphia doesn't find ways to add more flights then airlines will not fly here, give me a break. That didn't stop Southwest from flying here even though we already had a high amount of delays even then. And while finding ways to improve delays and allow more flights is desirable, it shouldn't be the people of Delaware County who have to pay for that in decreased quality of life. In my view, these people are more important than hearing from the people who supposedly will benefit in a minimal way-a smaller number than those who will suffer a great deal undoubtedly.

Dear Mr. Belden:

I attended the FAA’s Public Meeting held in Essington PA on May 1, 2007. At this meeting, Steve Kelley of the FAA informed us that the Airspace Redesign Project did not explore or study the health impact of the proposed flight plan redesign on the residents of Delaware County. He said they were not required to do so. Yet, as you reported, the FAA has spent almost 10 years and over $50 million dollars on this study. Clearly then, lack of time and money was not the reason why the FAA did not investigate the health consequences of their proposal to the men, women and children of Delaware County.

In this age of environmental awareness and responsibility, I find this utterly reprehensible. I am not a researcher or scientist, but one has only to "Google" the keywords "health effects of airports" to learn that exposing people to the kind of airplane pollution and noise proposed by the FAA substantially increases their risks of cancer, heart disease, asthma, lung disease, pregnancy complications, infant mortality and even death (to name only a few)!

Information regarding these significant health risks is well known and fairly easy to obtain (even an unsophisticated stay-at-home mom like me could do it). I can only conclude that the FAA chose not to explore or address these issues because it values saving a few minutes of flight delays over the health and very lives of hundreds of thousands of American citizens.

The FAA's Mission Statement claims it seeks to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world and that "Integrity is our character. We do the right thing, even if no one is looking". Is it right to not even bother investigating the health impact of constant, low-flying planes on the people underneath the airplanes?

I understand your position that the city of Philadelphia has much to gain from this proposal. More planes mean increased tourism, industry and of course money for Philadelphia. For my friends, family and neighbors in Delaware County, more planes mean increased pollution, noise, sickness and even death. Philly has everything to gain with this proposal and Delaware County has everything to lose.

I use the airport frequently, but have not followed this debate in-depth, but there is one thing the FAA needs to clarify: When they have created more takeoff and landing slots through this plan, will they also restrict the number of flights so that there aren't more flights scheduled than can reasonably take off or land? If they are going to continue allowing the airlines to overschedule at peak times, then this plan will never deliver benefits to anyone, only discomfort.

Belden dismisses the new air traffic plan as some sort of 'greater good'. I feel for the people who bought homes under the existing patterns, and will now have to deal with commercial planes buzzing over their homes.

This guy has NO EMPATHY...and it is not suprising.

Belden also claimed this will help "tourism". I'm sure he's also for casino tourism...with no regards for Philadelphians who have to deal with their negative effects. Greater good argument, I'm sure.

Then there's probably criticism of the people in Delaware County opposed to the new flight paths...people will say they are NIMBY people.

Well, no kidding?! I'll bet that Mr. Belden would feel the same if the pattern went over his backyard.

This is not a Philly vs Delaware County issue. Stop the Philly bashing.

If "... The point of creating more pathways in the sky, of course, is to reduce flight delays at Philadelphia and four New York-area airports....", to which I wholeheartedly agree, then perhaps we should reconsider having a major airline hub situated in the middle of five heavily traveled urban airports.

I understand the benefits of a hub system to an airline which draws much of it's passenger load from smaller airport feeder flights and I am comfortable with the logic of placing a hub in Charlotte, Nashville or Wichita which are well removed from heavy air activity. But, a hub in Philadelphia?

For those of us unlucky enough to book a morning flight from PHL, the sight of twenty-five aircraft- mostly adorned with USAir logos- awaiting takeoff is almost enough to make the drive to Baltimore tolerable.

It's time to reign in USAir's use of PHL as the designated overnight parking lot for all late schedule eastbounds and open up some slots people like JetBlue.

Anyone with a brain knows (or should know) that if you buy a house near an airport it isn't going to get better over time. The planes have been flying over Eddystone, Ridley , etc. for years, you think they were going to stop or change direction? Your property values have gone up less on a percentage basis than other communities because of your proximity to the airport and will always be depressed. While it may not seem fair that the financially lower end people get stuck with this....here is a news flash for you Geoff..the economic well being of the region doesn't depend on Ridley Park, it depends on a robust world class city...Philadelphia. Methinks you have been sucking on too many "blue ice" popsicles.

I live in Upper Darby, that is a far cry from near the airport. I now have Full sizes jets landing and taking off over my house. I can wave to the pilot they are soo low! I have been here for 15 years and this is new as of this summer. I also took a flight out of PHL on Southwest and it took 6 hours to get to Columbus OH. They did nothing to fix the problems the airport has and in the process pissed me and a million other people off! Put the plans back where they were and try using the technology that we have in our pockets and cars!