Minutes of the Ad Hoc Airport Advisory Committee 1/26/97 The Little River Airport Ad Hoc Airport Advisory Committee met on Sunday 1/26/97 from 4-6pm. Six committee members were present: Tim, Trey, Joel, Ray, Susan and Fran. Andy Becker and Diana Scully also were present. We agreed that the next Ad Hoc meeting will take place Sunday, February 9 from 4-6pm at Coast Flyers. The minutes of the previous meeting were approved. Reports ------- Tim reported that he telephone Ron Clenney of the Los Angeles FAA Flight Procedures Office, to follow up on the possibility raised in the recent Capital Improvement plan that a survey might be required for the GPS approach. Mr Clenney said that if the Airport Layout Plan (ALP) didn't have latitude and longitude coordinates for key points on the airport, a survey would be needed. I told him that I'd sent Barry Rosenberg (his boss) an approved ALP last year and had been told that it satisfied all of the technical data requirements for the approach (it has latitude and longitude for the key points). I asked Mr. Clenney if he could take a look at the ALP and confirm in a letter to me that no survey is required. I explained that we need documentation for our report. I asked him how large an area they examine when considering the environmental impact of a non-precision GPS approach. He said they look at an approach trapazoid which extends 1/2 mile on either side of the runway centerline at the threshold, five miles out along the extended centerline and then one mile on each side of that. He went on to explain that they consider fewer than 500 people per square mile to be "sparsely populated". He said that if we already have an instrument approach in our Airport Master Plan, then community meetings are not needed, since the subject was already discussed at the Master Plan meetings. He also said that they ordinarily issue a "categorical exemption" from environmental impact reports if an instrument approach is added to a runway which already has a visual approach because aircraft are already landing on the same runway. He said that he'd confirm with a letter. GPS --- Tim handed out a 2nd draft GPS report. Trey handed out a 2 page introduction to GPS which he'd drafted, for possible inclusion in the report. He also said that he'd like to see more explaination of Loran and radar in the report. Fran said that people do need to understand what GPS is, but their concerns about noise and traffic are much more important. Someone mentioned Jim Wagoner's letter in this week's Beacon, criticizing Dr. Imperial. Susan asked if Dr. Imperial would have been able to land that day if we had the GPS approach. Joel said "no". Even a precision approach would not have been adequate that day. But the GPS approach would have helped on other days. Ray said that some people believe that the GPS approach is a plot to allow an airline to start using the airport. Two people have asked him about this. We discussed whether the report should discuss airline use. So far, the consensus seems to be "no". Trey said that the approach will limit traffic. Tim said, yes, but only when the weather is bad enough for instrument flight plans to be required. It will not affect traffic in any way when the weather is good. Susan asked if the approach will stop scud running. Joel said "no", but it will reduce it. There is no practical enforcement of the FARs regarding controlled airspace in a rural area like ours. Over a period of time, most pilots will get equipped with GPS and will use it instead since it is safer. Trey said that Clinton opened the gates [when the government promised that GPS would be available for widespread civilian use], and that there is a rush to implement. The Coast Guard is planning to phase out Loran by the year 2000. Trey went on to remind us that noise is mitigated by GPS procedures. Fran said that the report should explain how scud running will taper off over time. Trey said that the report should clearly spell out what an instrument approach procedure is like, illustrations would also be good. Someone said that some people have expressed concern that the non-precision approach could without warning become a precision approach. Tim explained that this is impossible. First, precision GPS approaches are not available now. Second, the FAA has tougher standards for qualifying an airport to get a precision approach and we don't meet them. And third, no new approach would be added without a formal request from the County. Susan asked how many operations there were at the four airports that reported no increase in traffic. She also wants to know what percentage of their operations are transient (tourist). Tim said he'll try to find out. Fran said she'd like to know if there was support or opposition from the communities where those airports are located. She also wondered if the community attitude changed as a result of the GPS approach. Tim said that he was told by several of the airports that they did not hold community meetings. He'll have to ask the other questions, but doubts that there was any change in attitude since the effect of having a GPS approach is minimal. Trey said he'd like to know how many based pilots here and at the 4 airports have approved GPS receivers. We counted up the local pilots who now have TFR GPS - Jack, Dave and perhaps one other. Tim said his GPS isn't approach approved - he has been delaying buying an approved receiver until we have an approach since the prices are falling. Joel mentioned that Loran is degraded by bad weather, while GPS is not. Fran asked if the County will be adding the altimeter setting to the airport supervisor's contract. Trey said we should push for the County to do this, regardless of whether the GPS approach is approved, since giving the altimeter setting is good for safety. Andy said that he is willing to give the altimeter setting if Flight Service or Center telephones him to ask for it. The workload is less that way. Joel said that he doubts that this will be relevant - he thinks it is very unlikely that the GPS approach will be designed before the contract is renewed in July. Tim agreed, saying that if the letter requesting it were sent soon, it will still take the FAA quite a while to get around to designing and publishing the procedure. Trey said that the report should mention that there are a limited number of aircraft equipped with approved GPS receivers and that the instrument approach will only be available part-time, due to the limited times of altimeter setting availability. Trey also said that he thinks a grant for an automated weather station will be more likely once we have a GPS approach. Andy said that the hospital in Ft. Bragg has a helipad and is staffed 24 hours. They don't have altimeters now, but perhaps they could be equipped. Fran said that people have expressed concerns to her about a precision approach being a plot to bring in airlines. Someone said that airlines won't serve us because there isn't enough demand for it to pay, and the controlling factor will be passenger demand, not an instrument approach. Trey said that even if there was an airline, it would only be one flight a day and might be very valuable to older people. He's not worried about airlines but about lots of other airplanes. Trey mentioned WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System). Tim explained that this is one of several systems that have been proposed for providing differential GPS signals. Differential GPS signals come from a ground-based station. They broadcast corrections to the local error in GPS position, and greatly increase the accuracy of GPS navigation. Differential GPS is not needed for a non-precision approach such as the one we are discussing, but it is used for precision approaches. Tim said that the new Health, Welfare, Planning and Transportation Committee will meet on Friday 1/31/97 and that we are on the agenda for 1/2 hour starting at 11:30am in room 1090. Michale Delbar and Patti Campbell are the two new Supervisors. Fran said we should be sure there is publicity surrounding each stage of implementation of the noise abatement policy. We agreed. We breifly discussed the flooding of the airport access road. Trey said that the culvert isn't blocked, it is just flowing in the wrong direction! We agreed to meet next on February 9 at 4pm. The agenda will be: - approve minutes of previous meeting - reports on recent events - GPS instrument approach - new HWP&T committee - agree on agenda for next meeting Ad Hoc Airport Committee voting members: ----------------------------------------- Joel Bornstein pilot, flight instructor lives near airport Trey Loy non-pilot, lives near airport Jack Reichel pilot, businessman Tim Scully pilot, computer programmer, lives near airport commutes by air to Oakland weekly Susan Winding airport neighbor, non-pilot, local business owner Ray Yates non-pilot, Albion businessman Fran Tucker non-pilot, neighbor of the airport manages the Woods Ad Hoc Committee alternate members: ----------------------------------- Michael Moore pilot, economist Dick Ahrens pilot airport neighbor