San Luis Obispo's Growth Plans Vs Airport Safety Zones

CalPilots

San Luis ObispoAirport safety zone plan conflicts with San Luis Obispo’s growth plans – The plan could significantly limit the potential of land the city has long seen as critical to future growth. A plan that could expand the safety zones at San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport is raising concerns about the possible limitations it could force on development. The plan could significantly limit the potential of land the city has long seen as critical to future growth.

As the city began updating its own land-use plan, a key blueprint for development, it became increasingly worried that the safety boundaries were not clearly mapped or defined, said Kim Murry, deputy director of long-range planning.

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Helicopter Noise Relief Act

CalPilots

California Senate OKs Message To Obama, Congress On Helicopter Legislation – Urges President And Congress To Adopt Helicopter Noise Relief Act For The State

The California Senate has passed a resolution offered by state senator Ted W. Lieu (D) urging President Obama and Congress to adopt the Los Angeles Residential Helicopter Noise Relief Act.

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Third-Class Medical Certificate Exemption On Hold?

CalPilots

Reporting on a recent meeting with FAA Administration Michael Huerta, AOPA President Craig Fuller said support in the agency for the third-class medical certificate exemption seemed to be waning. “High-level FAA staffers told us the exemption was not a priority for the agency,” Fuller said, referring to a meeting earlier between FAA executives and leadership teams from AOPA and EAA. The two associations jointly petitioned the FAA last year to allow pilots of four-place, 180-horsepower fixed-gear aircraft and smaller to fly in day VFR conditions using only a driver’s license as a medical certificate. The proposal included a requirement that pilots regularly complete online training courses that educate them on their health and how it relates to flying safely.

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FAA Discusses Safety Issues Surrounding Tower Closures

CalPilots

faaIt appears the FAA is backtracking on an earlier directive that forbade at least some of its FAA Safety Team (FAAST) representatives from talking about pending tower closures. On Wednesday the FAAST Safety Team issued a general note of advice about operating at non-towered airports (the FAAST Team doesn’t like the term “uncontrolled”) and touched on all the points covered by myriad other sources on the topic since the closures became a real possibility. (Click here for a PDF of the e-mail.) Closures of 149 towers were supposed to start April 7 but on April 5 the FAA delayed that until at least June 15 citing the spate of legal challenges to the closures. Also on April 5, a regional FAAST assistant manager on the East Coast told his safety team that any discussion of tower closures was off limits. (Click here for the PDF.)

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FAA's 149 airport-tower closures

CalPilots

FAA’s 149 airport-tower closures cleared for takeoff – WASHINGTON – The Federal Aviation Administration is moving ahead with plans to close 149 small air-traffic-control towers across the nation as part of mandated spending cuts.

“We don’t have the money to keep them open,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told the House Appropriations subcommittee on transportation Tuesday.”It’s a big headache for us.”

 

The FAA on April 5 postponed the closures until June 15. LaHood said was mostly so lawyers could review the decisions and give local governments a chance to find the money to keep them open.

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Quail Brush Power Plant Update

CalPilots

The California Pilots Association (CalPilots) has been heavily involved with the FAA to address power plant plume issues involving flight safety concerns. We were very pleased when the FAA recently announced it completed a Plume Study of the effects of thermal plumes on fixed wing and rotor aircraft.

In December 2013 – after opposing the location of a proposed power plant project, the California Pilots Association (CalPilots) applied to become Interveners in the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) Quail Brush Generation Project (Quail Brush Genco, LLC, 11-AFC-03 siting proceedings). The CEC agreed and issued order granting CalPilots Petition to Intervene.

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Tehachapi – Pilots Concerned About Airport Viability

CalPilots

Tahachapi DevelopmentCaltrans addresses motel project compatability – Some local pilots are concerned that certain types of development in the Capital Hills area will eventually mean constraints on activity at Tehachapi Airport and long-term threats to the viability of the 75-year-old airport.

And a national organization — the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association — has put the airport on its watch list of 10 airports nationwide that it is most concerned about.

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President Obama's Proposed 2014 Budget Will Hurt GA

CalPilots

Green-Dollar-iconA section of President Obama’s proposed 2014 budget aims to “reduce the deficit and more equitably share the cost of air traffic services” through a “$100 per flight fee” payable to the FAA, with exceptions. The fee would not apply to piston, military, public, or air ambulance aircraft as detailed on page 43 of the budget. It would also exempt Canada-to-Canada flights and those operating outside of controlled airspace. The user fee is one of two proposed measures that would directly affect general aviation. Aviation interest groups, from AOPA to GAMA to NATA, responded quickly, and negatively, to both proposals.

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LAX – Runway Move Under Review

CalPilots

LAXLos Angeles City Council to address Los Angeles International Airport runwayplan in spring – Will Los Angeles International Airport be permitted to move a runway 260 feet closer to Westchester homes and businesses?

That’s now a question for the full, 15-member Los Angeles City Council,which is expected to take it up later this spring.

The project took another step forward earlier this week when two councilcommittees moved jointly to recommend the entire council adopt a LAXproposal to change the configuration of two runways on the north side of theairfield. The Trade, Commerce and Tourism and Planning and Land Use Management committees voted 5-1 in favor of the modernization plan, whichalso includes less controversial items such as an intermodal transportationcenter, a consolidated rental car facility and an automated people mover.

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WASPs seek donations for Tournament of Roses Parade float

CalPilots

WASPAs SUN ‘n FUN celebrates the 70th anniversary of the creation of Women Airforce Service Pilots Thursday, efforts are underway to raise enough money to have a WASP float in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade.

“The theme of this year’s parade is ‘making dreams come true,'” noted Kate Landdeck, WASP historian and coordinator for the WASP Float project. “The WASP worked so hard to make dreams of flying for their nation come true, and it’s important to honor and recognize their legacy and what they did for all the women who came after them.”

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