FAA: FREEWAY IN THE SKY

FAA Proposes Multiple Low-Flying Aircraft Routes over Salt Lake Valley

The FAA is currently monitoring noise effects of a possible east bench flight path. Below is the contact information to report noise complaints regarding air traffic over your home or in the Wasatch Wilderness.

Contact:
Alan McCandless 575-2231 or
David Miller 575-2972.
If it is an evening call, your complaint can be registered by the Airport Duty manager.

FAA Related Links:

FAA Initiative In The Press

Salt Lake City Airport - See maps prepared by the Salt Lake City International Airport showing where jets fly now and where they would fly under the FAA's plan.  Read the Airport's well-reasoned and detailed rejection of the FAA's plan.  Also read why pilots think the FAA's plan is unsafe, and see letters of concern from the County and Community Councils.

View/save a Fact Sheet - large file with color photos containing an explanation of the FAA proposal and how it affects you...good for presentations (MS Word, 2,947.5kB)

View/save SOC's comments letter to the FAA with our position on the FAA proposal...may prove helpful when writing the FAA (MS Word, 89kB)

View/save SOC's comment period extension request to the FAA to allow more time for public comment on the proposal (MS Word, 21kB)

View EIS Scoping Comment by the Town of Alta on the FAA Scoping Proposal

View EIS Scoping Comment by Alta Ski Lifts on the FAA Scoping Proposal

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been developing an initiative that will dramatically affect the quality of life for the majority of residents in the Salt Lake Valley, and not for the first time.  Proposed initiative alternatives would route half of arriving flights over the east side of the valley and four wilderness areas rather than above the Oquirrh Mountains and the Great Salt Lake where most flights currently approach the airport.  Save Our Canyons requested that the FAA conduct an Environmental Impact Statement before taking any action and is encouraging the FAA to adopt our "Clear Sky Alternative."

In response to considerable heat on this issue, the FAA put its plan for extensive and high-impact flight-plan changes into the NEPA Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process.  Information on the proposal for the changes, given the name Northern Utah Airspace Initiative (NUAI), can be viewed on the FAA's NUAI website.

Due to pressure brought to bear by SOC, Congressman Jim Matheson, Salt Lake City Council, Salt Lake City Department of Airports, Salt Lake County Council, and many City and Community Councils, the FAA grudgingly extended the public scoping period for its initiative to May 30th.  We were initially seeking a 60-day extension to better allow the public to comment on this complex and highly contentious issue.  See SOC's extension request letter posted in the sidebar above for more information.

Curious as to the circumstances of a previous FAA proposal for flight-path changes, we contacted Mr. Louis Miller, a former Director of the Salt Lake City International Airport and now Executive Director of the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority's Tampa Airport, for comments on this one.  Following is his reply in part:

It is true that while I was in Salt Lake City I was very much opposed to changing the flight tracks to allow for down wind approaches on the east side of the airport.  We discussed this in great detail when the new runway was opened in 1995 based on the FAA's statement that it would improve the flow of traffic for arrivals.  However, the FAA could not demonstrate to me that it was necessary based on the volume of arrivals and departures to and from the airport.  As a matter of fact, it was clear to me that the airport could meet its capacity requirements for at least the next twenty years without any changes to the current utilization of the four runways, including the airspace restrictions that were in place.
--from an e-mail message dated June 24, 2002
 
FAA Public Hearings / Salt Lake Valley Study Timeline
      
  • 2005 -- Airspace changes expected.  Just when depends on whether there are court challenges to the final decision, and whether equipment upgrades for Salt Lake City area air controllers are in place.   
  • Fall 2004 -- Final EIS released, followed by a record of decision by officials at FAA's Northwest Mountain Region, Seattle.   
  • Spring 2004 -- Draft EIS finished; new round of public hearings will be scheduled.   
  • Spring 2003 -- The EIS begins.   
  • May 16 -- Deadline for public to submit comments.   
  • March 20 -- Public hearing at the Marriott Ogden, 7-9 p.m.   
  • March 19 -- Public hearing at the Marriott Provo, 7-9 p.m.
  • Feb. 19  -- Expected publication, in the Federal Register, of a Notice of Intent announcing the FAA's plans to conduct an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) of proposals to reconfigure airspace over the Wasatch Front.
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FAA Initiative In The Press

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