The fight to change the flight paths

A lecture and workshop hosted by the Santa Rosa Airport at Analy High School draws a collection of unhappy West County residents

Nearly a hundred locals, including 5th District Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, gathered inside Analy’s auditorium on Wednesday night. (Photo by Ezra Wallach)

On Wednesday, the Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport (STS) hosted a lecture and workshop to address and solicit community concerns about airplane noise.

While some of you may never notice airplane noise, over the past year, new and altered routes going to and from STS—which now sees 21 departing flights a day at its peak—have certainly disturbed the peaceful life of some West County residents.

Take Sandy Reed, a Graton resident who moved to the countryside to get away from the city and the noise. Reed, who says an airplane flies directly over her home once every twenty minutes, feels sure that her property price has gone down. She, like others in attendance at the event, is considering moving as a result.

“If I wanted to live in San Bruno, I would have bought a house in San Bruno,” Reed said, referring to the San Francisco suburb bordering the Bay Area’s busiest airport, SFO.

Sandy and others were seeking answers and hope tonight. But, when they saw the proposed routes of Cignus, a consultancy the airport has contracted with to perform an “Approach Feasibility Study,” they found themselves no more reassured.

Cignus has maps of their proposed route laid out during the workshop part of the event. (Photo by Ezra Wallach)

The proposed “Runway 2” route, for example, which can be seen above in orange, seemed the same to many in attendance as the route already in place, even if Cignus had proposed altering the altitude on the route.

“They’re even worse!” someone shrieked when a Cignus consultant attempted to reassure them that they were using all of the “tools” available to them that could lower the overall community impact of each route.

“Why does it have to be right over the bridge!” contended another person.

“That’s right above my house!” said someone else.

These comments echoed throughout the Analy hallway, where dozens of locals were eager to tell STS and Cignus, who were there to answer questions, and a “court reporter,” who was there to document complaints, about their grievances.

“They go until 9 or 10 at night, and they start waking me up at 6:30 in the morning,” said Nancy Frost, who is also in the path of Runway 2 arrivals.

“It is so annoying,” said Reed. “I have to hang up the phone or go inside.”

Many gathered around a Cignus consultant at the workshop after he finished his lecture. (Photo by Ezra Wallach)

Others were annoyed by the fact that this event only dealt with *arrival* routes, not *departure* routes such as the RREHD—or “redhead”—route that many dismayed locals were at the event to protest.

The main problem though, which Cignus and STS Airport Manager Jon Stout both explained, is that neither Cignus nor STS have the power to change flight patterns. They can only make recommendations.

The decision making is solely the job of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) who, without telling the airport, switched up its flight routes earlier this year.

That’s right. The airport doesn’t have to be notified when the FAA changes its routes because of the Airport Noise and Capacity Act that was enacted in 1990. According to Airport Manager John Stout, STS wasn’t notified about the “redhead” route, for example. According to 5th District Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, who spoke at the start of the event, the county also was not notified of the change in the “redhead” route and, like STS, was only made aware of it by resident complaints.

The “redhead” route now crosses through populated areas of Occidental. (Photo courtesy of Sandy DeVries-Troxel)

Patricia Dines, who is organizing for Community Action Airplane Noise Sonoma County (CAANSC), and who has created an an alert system to keep concerned residents updated, says that this problem began back in February.

“We experienced a sudden increase in low flights over West County,” she said. “This changed our previously quiet homes into airplane zones without including our needs as stakeholders.”

Changing flight routes are an issue being dealt with by communities all over the country who feel like their desires have been ignored by the FAA.

According to the FAA's wesbite, the FAA has received 10,481 aviation noise complaints from 2,592 individuals located around the United States in the past year. Sixty-five percent of those complaints came from 71 individuals.

As shown by this map, the FAA’s decision making is a concern all across the country. (Photo via FAA wesbite)

Locals like Dines think that forming a coalition to stand up to the FAA and their staff in Seattle will speed up the process to reevaluate the West County routes, a process which could otherwise take years.

But, some aren’t too keen on a months- or years-long campaign to get rid of the airplanes. They just wish they could make them go away, that they could go back to living their golden years in peace tomorrow.

As one local put it: “I don’t wanna have to talk to some guy in Seattle!”