Letters to the Editor
Letter to the Editor | Tacoma Narrows Airport: A good neighbor? (Part 4)
Editor’s note: Read previous letters from Mr. McLaughlin on this subject here, here and here.
In this Letter, I will be sharing with you some of the responses we’ve received from the TNAAC (Tacoma Narrows Airport Advisory Committee), the Tower, and others.
This is just a partial listing of verbal responses we’ve received. I stress the word “verbal,” because none of us have ever received a written response other than emails from Trent Smith. He has been thoughtful enough to respond to several emails. These comments came from several individuals, not all of whom are on the TNAAC or on the Tower.
Comment #1
Don’t expect any response to your requests.
Response: I’m convinced this is a true statement based on the lack of any response from the County (other than Trent), TNAAC, or anyone else.
Comment #2
It’s too expensive to fly over water.
Response: This is a ridiculous statement. Yes, there are extra outfitting requirements for planes flying over water, but only under these two circumstances:
- The plane flies more than 50 nautical miles from the nearest shore
- The plane flies more than 30 minutes or 100 nautical miles from the nearest shore, whichever is less (FAR §91.509)
This is typical of the responses we’ve heard. The speakers seem to hope that we are too ignorant to know their statements are either half-truths or totally false statements.
Comment #3
What do you want? To shut down the flight schools?
Multiple people said this to me at a meeting on May 13, between two of my cohorts, Trent Smith, the Tower, and other attendees.
Response: Let me reiterate my very first statement at that meeting:
We’re not here to ask anyone to take any actions that would impact the financial operations of the Tacoma Narrows Airport or any of its tenants.
I have never said or written that my goal is to shut down the airport. That never been my goal.
Comment #4
File noise complaints with the FAA.
Response: Several people have told me and others to file noise complaints and quite a few nearby residents have done just that over the years. The speakers want us to believe this is our only course of action. What they are hoping we don’t know is that the FAA has NEVER imposed any operating restrictions on any airport in the USA.
Comment #5
The planes flying at low altitudes over Fox Island are in the landing or departing pattern which allows for low altitudes.
Response: While I’m no aviation expert, I do have an understanding of the FAA’s definition of a landing pattern. Here’s a graphic provided by the FAA:
One caveat: With safety being the #1 concern, it’s entirely possible that the Tower can deviate from this simple rectangular pattern for traffic safety reasons.
The key point is the typical pattern is a rectangle with the downwind leg being parallel to the runway, the crosswind and the base legs being at 90 degrees to the runway, and the departure and final approaches are on the runway heading. We’ve brought many flights to the attention of the TNAAC, the Tower, and the County that were flying AWAY from the airport at, for example, a 45 degree angle to the runway. By definition, that plane is not in a landing pattern and it should be observing the FAA’s and, hopefully, the airport’s low altitude rules.
Comment #6
Planes can’t fly over the Narrows Bridge.
Response: Seriously? They do exactly that on many occasions every day.
Comment #7
Your Radar24 data can be way off because it shows Barometric pressure-based altitudes and the true altitudes can be off by several hundreds of feet.
Response: This is a true statement … up to a point. I thanked the gentleman who informed me of this limitation in Radar24, and then proceeded to do my homework. I now know that the base barometric pressure is 29.92 inHg. Every .01 inHg difference between that base number and the airport’s current barometric pressure is a 10’ error in Radar24’s indicated altitude. If the actual pressure is less than 29.92 inHg, Radar24 will show an altitude that is higher than the true altitude. If the actual pressure is higher than 29.92 inHg, Radar24’s altitude will be lower than the true altitude. Over a 7 day period, the barometric pressure at the Narrows airport ranged from 29.82 inHg (an error of 100’ higher) to 30.13 inHg (an error of 210’ lower). So, yes, Radar24 can be and usually is off, but it’s an exaggeration to say it can be off by several hundreds of feet.
Do you feel the TNAAC, the Tower, and others are responding to us in a serious, fair, and reasonable manner?
I have also been recently informed that the County, TNAAC, and the Tower have a long history of ignoring or dismissing complaints by local residents. What I’m experiencing is nothing new. We all deserve better.
Craig McLaughlin
Fox Island