FAA presents a new procedure that may make things worse over the Mid Peninsula

FAA presents a new procedure that may make things worse over the Mid Peninsula

At the August 4 meeting, the FAA presented a new procedure called DAVYJ which will move the current ground track for flights approaching from the south slightly to the west. This procedure was proposed by Representative Sam Farr’s constituents. The illusmap1tration shows the current SERFR route in blue and the proposed DAVYJ route in orange. This new procedure will relieve some people in the Santa Cruz Mountains and near the coast a the expense of others in the mountains and near the coast. As you can see, the flights converge at the MENLO waypoint so will be little geographic change in the Mid Peninsula.

The number of flights will not be reduced and will likely increase because of decreased vectoring. The narrow flight swath will be remain. Planes will still fly the noisy OPD procedures. The FAA distributed projected altitudes comparing the average altitudes for the old BIGSUR, the current SERFR and the projected

DAVYJ procedures. As you can see, the DAVYJ maximum and minimum altitudes over Palo Alto

Elevations above Sea Level. The blue line is the old BIGSUR route, the orange line is the current SERFR route and the two yellow lines are projected maximum and minimum lines for the proposed DAVYJ route.

Elevations above Sea Level. The blue line is the old BIGSUR route, the orange line is the current SERFR route and the two yellow lines are projected maximum and minimum lines for the proposed DAVYJ route.

and surrounding cities (yellow lines) are actually lower than in the current situation. This new procedure will only make things worse for the mid Peninsula.

Furthermore, the FAA says they will require two years to create the new DAVYJ route.  This is two years that will be spent not working on reducing noise overall for everybody and not considering solutions that would help the most affected area — the Mid Peninsula.

Although the FAA made clear that moving the routes will not reduce noise, they have been misled into believing that this change is the wish of the Region. This is an extreme misunderstanding on their part: the DAVYJ proposal does not reflect any of  the Sky Posse Palo Alto or City of Palo Alto recommendations.

DAVYJ will be again on the agenda at the Select Committee meeting on Thursday, Aug 18, 1 -4 PM, Palo Alto City Hall. Although the audience is not allowed to speak during the Select Committee meeting, it is important to attend to show our concern.   (It is also possible to talk to Select Committee and FAA members after the meeting.) Moreover, please write to our elected officials, particularly Congresswoman Eshoo, to insist that the FAA focus on solutions that will reduce noise for everyone and not waste years moving noise for just a few who have been far less affected than those in the mid-Peninsula.