Comment deadline approaching on FAA modification of Class B Airspace

If you intended to file a comment to the Federal Aviation Administration regarding the Class B airspace changes to Hartsfield Jackson, which we are told will have a direct impact at PDK thereby lowering the airplanes closer to our homes, the deadline is this Saturday, April 3rd.  All comments need to be filed in triplicate as the Federal Register requires to the P.O. Box listed below and placed into the mail ASAP.

The City of Dunwoody passed a resolution against this change and it has already been mailed off to the FAA to beat the deadline.

This evening I was copied on a good example of a letter that a neighbor sent to the FAA and please feel free modify to suit your needs.

Mark Ward
Manager, Operations Support Group
Eastern Service Area, Air Traffic Organization
Federal Aviation Administration
P.O. Box 20636
Atlanta, GA 30320

March 30, 2010

Dear Mr. Ward,

I am writing today to provide my comments to the FAA’s proposal to lower Class B airspace over the northern part of Dekalb County, Georgia.

I am a long time resident of the neighborhood of Dunwoody North, which despite its name, is the southernmost part of the city of Dunwoody. We are directly north of Peachtree Dekalb Airport, and my street in particular is aligned almost perfectly with the landing strips at this regional airport. I know this because planes seem to line up for their approach over the reservoir to the north of us and approach the airport by a straight line right over my house.

I am very concerned with this proposal because of the common-sense reality that the same number of planes arriving and departing from PDK will now be required to do so in a compressed amount of airspace. We already know that VFR planes coming in on cloudy days approach much lower than under normal circumstances, and when that happens, they are a terrible nuisance in the neighborhood. Lowering the ceiling of available airspace by 1,000 feet just means that the noise, sight, and air pollution from these plans will be much worse on a much more regular basis.

In addition, though I understand that the specific air over my home will only be decreased by 1,000 feet, I know that the longer-term plan is actually to smooth out approach and take-off patterns for Hartsfield-Jackson, which will inevitably affect the smaller plans at PDK and other regional airports, as well. The general PDK area will be compressed by 3,000 feet and these smaller planes will be pressed into an even lower airspace than initially considered. It seems disingenuous of the FAA to purposely fail to include this in their community presentations, as though this impact to Class B space, though not directly above my house, will not have any impact. Of course it will.

There is no way that these changes to streamline operations at Hartsfield-Jackson, their logical impact on PDK, and the resulting impact on my neighborhood can be good for my neighborhood. The lower flight patterns will be a terrible setback to our neighborhood: the added noise and visual disruption will most certainly lead to more daily dissatisfaction for current residents and an obvious drop in home values when prospective buyers are disturbed by the low-flying planes.

I urge you to take these comments into account and find a way to ease the congestion for Hartsfield-Jackson in a way that has less of an impact on the residential areas of north Dekalb.

Cordially,

Name, Address, City, State Zip