AIRPORT NOISE ADVISORY PANEL (ANAP) 2 nd Quarter, June 16, :30 P.M. FINAL MINUTES. General Aviation Pilots/Users

Transcription

1 AIRPORT NOISE ADVISORY PANEL (ANAP) 2 nd Quarter, June 16, :30 P.M. FINAL MINUTES MEMBERS PRESENT: Airport Board of Trustees General Aviation Pilots/Users Fixed Base Operators Washoe County Department of Comprehensive Planning City of Sparks Citizen Fixed Base Operators Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada Nevada Air National Guard Washoe County Citizen City of Sparks Community Development FAA/Air Traffic Manager RENO-TAHOE AIRPORT AUTHORITY STAFF: Manager of Planning and Geographic Information Systems Manager of Airport Noise Program Noise Analyst Program Technician MEMBERS ABSENT: Airport Board of Trustees FAA Airport Traffic Control Division City of Reno Community Development City of Reno Citizen Washoe County Citizen FAA Flight Standards District Office RTIA Airlines Representative Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority The Chamber, Reno Sparks Northern Nevada Nat Carasali, Vice Chair Gary Baker Trent Brownlee Chad Giesinger George Graham Brandon Leindl Frank Lepori Lt. Col. Anthony Machabee Yvonne Murphy Jim Rundle Karl Scribner Daniel Bartholomew Trish Tucker Rick Miller Faith Allen Bob Larkin, Chair David Ellsworth Nathan Gilbert Glenn Graves Michael Moreno Lee Oscar Capt. Jon Proehl Sienna Reid Brian Rivers Lisa Ruggerio VACANT SEATS: Air Cargo Carriers City of Reno Citizen (2) City of Sparks (2) Washoe County Citizen (1)

2 CALL TO ORDER The Airport Noise Advisory Panel (ANAP) met in the River Room in the Main Terminal of the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, Reno, Nevada. Vice Chairman Nat Carasali called the meeting to order at 3:35 p.m. PUBLIC COMMENT No public comment. INTRODUCTION OF NEW MEMBERS Trent Brownlee and Brandon Leindl were introduced to the Panel. They are representatives from Atlantic Aviation, the Fixed Base Operator at Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RTIA). APPROVAL OF MINUTES The Panel approved the minutes from the 1st Quarter meeting of March 17, 2014 with no changes. QUARTERLY REPORTS: Rick Miller, Noise Analyst, presented the quarterly reports to the Panel. SCHEDULED DAILY DEPARTURES The following flight schedule changes have occurred since December 2013: January (49 departures) Southwest Airlines discontinued one (1) non-stop flight to Denver, CO. Southwest Airlines discontinued two (2) non-stop flights to Los Angeles, CA. Southwest discontinued one (1) non-stop flight to Portland, OR. United Airlines discontinued seasonal non-stop service (1) to Houston, TX. United Airlines discontinued one (1) non-stop flight to Los Angeles, CA. United Airlines discontinued one (1) nonstop flight to San Francisco, CA. U.S. Airways discontinued one (1) non-stop flight to Phoenix, AZ. February (49 departures) Same as January. March (53 departures) Southwest Airlines restored one (1) non-stop flight to Denver, CO. Southwest Airlines added seasonal non-stop service (1) to Chicago-Midway, IL. United Airlines restored one (1) non-stop flight to San Francisco, CA. U.S. Airways restored one (1) non-stop flight to Phoenix, AZ. The current quarter started as follows: April (53 departures) Southwest Airlines added one (1) non-stop flight to Las Vegas, NV. Southwest Airlines restored one (1) non-stop flight to Los Angeles, CA. United Airlines discontinued one (1) non-stop flight to San Francisco, CA. U.S. Airways discontinued one (1) non-stop flight to Phoenix, AZ. May (53 departments) Same as April. Page 2

3 Future Flight Service of Interest: June 1: U.S. Airways will offer increased summer, seasonal service to Phoenix, AZ from four (4) daily non-stop flights to five (5), with an additional increase to six (6) daily nonstop flights effective July 1. June 5: United Airlines will restore daily (1) non-stop service to Houston- Intercontinental, TX. June 7: Delta Airlines will add non-stop (1) Saturday only service to Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. June 8: Southwest Airlines to discontinue non-stop service to Seattle, WA and non-stop service to Portland, OR. June 8: Alaska Airlines to increase frequency to a total of five (5) daily non-stop flights to Seattle, WA and a total of two (2) daily non-stop flights to Portland, OR. June 11: American Airlines will offer increased summer, seasonal service to Chicago- O Hara, IL from one (1) daily non-stop flight to two (2) daily non-stop flights. June 11: American Airlines will offer increased summer, seasonal service to Dallas-Fort Worth, TX from two (2) daily non-stop flights to three (3) daily non-stop flights. June 12: American Airlines to increase frequency to a total of five (5) daily non-stop flights to Los Angeles, CA from four (4) daily non-stop flights on a Sunday-Monday- Thursday-Friday basis. The number of daily passenger airline departures decreased during the first part of the year, hovering at 49. However, flight numbers began to increase in March (53) and then again in June (61). Year over year, the number of flights for the month of June remains the same with 61 peak daily departures to 14 destinations. American Airlines is upgaging their aircrafts out of RTIA for the summer months from the MD80 to the B737 aircraft. This will reduce the noise levels from American Airlines flights. CARGO ACTIVITY, RUNWAY USE & NOISE COMPLAINTS Staff shared there is soon to be a new cargo carrier at the airport. AmeriJet will begin service on July 7 using B767 wide body freighters. (Amerijet s fleet mix includes both B767 and B727 aircraft.) AmeriJet will be using Reno as its west coast cargo hub and Columbus, Ohio as its east coast cargo hub. The flights will arrive in Reno in late morning and depart in the early afternoon. There will be no scheduled night time flights (10:00 p.m.-7:00 a.m.). In regard to aircraft runway usage, wind direction determines which runways are used, as the aircraft take-off and land into the wind. During the first quarter, RTIA had increased south flow conditions (89%) and saw a reduction in the number of noise complaints. This is not surprising as it is during north flow conditions that the RTIA receives more noise complaints from community members concerned about the change in aircraft location. Staff presented the noise complaints from the 1st quarter of 2014 (January, February and March). The total number of noise complaints for 1st quarter 2014 was down in comparison to the number of complaints in 1st quarter This could be contributed to the decrease in north flow air traffic (11%) for this particular quarter and the fact that during the winter months, windows are usually closed. The total noise complaints for 1 st quarter 2014 numbered 38, with 14 complaints in January, 11 in February and 13 in March. Page 3

4 In regards to location, the largest percentage of noise complaints came from the Huffaker area. The 20 Huffaker complaints represented 52.6 percent of the quarterly total. The Mt. Rose Highway area logged in with 8 complaints, which represented 21.1 percent of the quarterly total. The Other area had 6 complaints, which represented 15.8 percent of the quarterly total. The Sparks area had 2 complaints, which represented 2.6 percent of the quarterly total. The Double Diamond and South Hills areas had 1 complaint each, which represented 2.6 percent of the quarterly total, respectively. There were no complaints from the Donner Springs, Northeast Reno, Smithridge, Stead, Virginia City Highlands or the Virginia Foothills areas. These 38 complaints came from a total of 11 locations (households). There were three main contributing factors to the number of noise complaints received during the 1st quarter. These were north flow arrivals which were minimal, military aircraft operations and helicopter activity mainly from the Nevada Army National Guard based at the Reno-Stead Airport. Daily commercial airline operations for the 1st quarter averaged 91. The daily cargo operations averaged 12. Of the 38 total noise complaints, 92 percent referred to flights occurring during daytime hours and 8 percent referred to flights occurring during nighttime hours which is a considerable decrease as compared to previous quarters. Commercial airline carriers had 87 percent of their operations occur during the day and air cargo carriers had 75 percent of their operations occur during the day. (Daytime operations occur between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., while nighttime operations occur between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.) There were only a total of 3 complaints between 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. during the 1st quarter of In response to Panel member questions, staff explained that the SPLTM procedure is not being used very often. It is no longer being automatically assigned by tower personnel, but only upon pilot request. A majority of these flights are being flown correctly which is south of the Marina. Some aircraft are not equipped to fly the procedure as it should be done and therefore are not requested by the pilot. SOUND INSULATION PROGRAM STATUS Trish Tucker, Manager of Airport Noise Program, presented an update on the sound insulation program to the Panel. The sound insulation program for the 2014 construction season is underway and consists of Phase 21.5 which is made up of 59 single, multi-family and condominium residences located in Reno, Sparks and Washoe County. The construction contract was awarded at the April 2014 Board Meeting to G & G Specialty Contracts out of Phoenix, Arizona. Secondary measurements were completed in mid-may and construction is scheduled for mid-august through mid- November, Staff has been working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to get clarification on new restrictions that they are imposing on sound insulation programs nationwide. Unlike past program homes, these new restrictions do not allow new acoustical windows to be placed in rooms that the FAA considers to be non-habitable, such as laundry rooms and bathrooms. After working diligently with the FAA, staff received approval for a few exceptions to the new restrictions where interior doors do not exist between non-habitable and habitable rooms. Page 4

5 Approximately 285 eligible homes have declined to participate in the sound insulation program. As this year is the final year for the residential portion of the program, these homes will not have another opportunity to be mitigated. In July 2013, the FAA approved the Airport Authority s request to amend Grant 22 to include the noise mitigation of the two remaining eligible schools in the approved noise contour (Marvin Picollo and Elizabeth Lenz Elementary). One of the new FAA restrictions requires that the schools be pre-tested (acoustical eligibility tested) to determine their eligibility before being brought into the program. Brown-Buntin and Associates completed the pre-testing in January and staff will be submitting their report to the FAA this week, requesting approval to include the schools into the program. Staff is seeking for approval for total mitigation at Marvin Picollo and at least partial mitigation at Elizabeth Lenz Elementary. If one or both of the schools are determined to be eligible, design will begin in the fall of 2014 with construction to be completed in the summer of In response to Panel member questions, staff explained that even with the sound insulation program winding down, the Airport Noise Advisory Panel will still exist. Although there are no contentious issues on the horizon at this point time, the Panel needs to be intact and quick to respond if an issue should arise. The Panel is also a forum for the public to come and communicate any issues or concerns they may have with respect to noise. AIRPORT AUTHORITY STAFF ITEMS At the request of Chair Larkin, Staff prepared a presentation which summarized the research accumulated by the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) regarding sound insulation program guidelines and the future of the programs (Project 02-31, Report 105). These guidelines are for existing programs and for future programs that are just starting up. As the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority s (RTAA) program is winding down, RTAA will not be able to incorporate the majority of these recommendations. After giving a brief overview of the RTAA sound insulation program, Staff gave background on the ACRP, which was authorized as part of the Vision 100-Century of Aviation Authorization Act in December The research topics are proposed by airports and cover a variety of airport subject areas. The results of these studies are then disseminated to the end users, which are typically airport operating agencies, service providers and suppliers. Each topic or project is assigned to an expert panel who is appointed by the Transportation Research Board (TRB). RTAA staff members have been selected to participate in a number of these panels over the years. The goal of this project was to investigate past airport sound insulation program products, identifying possible causes of deterioration in acoustic performance over the years, as well as evaluating how program changes in methods and procedures over time has affected acoustic performance. The ultimate objective was to reduce or eliminate future deterioration issues by creating best practices and practical guidelines for sound insulation programs and to ensure program effectiveness for homeowners and occupants. This report was intended to complement other reports that have been published regarding airport sound insulation programs. The ACRP finding showed that there was less deterioration in acoustic performance over the years than expected. In most cases, deterioration in performance was attributed to homeowner Page 5

6 modifications, poor maintenance and extreme weather conditions. In fewer cases, deterioration was the result of poor installation and/or the deterioration of the products themselves. Typically, these issues were identified by the program sponsors or their consultants and corrected by the manufacturers or contractors. The lessons learned along the way have led to changes in products, installation and quality control procedures which have reduced the frequency of such issues. Windows and doors are among the most commonly reported products with durability issues. The delamination and warpage of acoustical wooden doors, which are susceptible to moisture, have been a problem. The RTAA program avoids this issue by not using wooden doors. Another general issue is the difficulty of installing doors within existing door frames. The RTAA program allows the contractor to replace the door and door frame, utilizing pre-hung materials. Programs have also had issues with automatic door bottom seals. However, the RTAA program has utilized new thresholds and door sweeps with fixed in place seals since the beginning of the program. Another issue that has been experienced is hardware malfunctions. RTAA bid documents call for heavy residential or commercial hardware. Double sliding glass doors have been difficult to operate, but once single frame, acoustical sliding doors came into the market in 2004; RTAA has been successful using that product. Over the years, there have also been reported issues with the window products being used. Aluminum windows tended to be somewhat flimsy and were subject to misalignment during installation. The RTAA program has used vinyl framed windows since Another issue is window sagging and operational issues due to oversize and faulty installation. The local program has always following the manufacturer s size and installation guidelines, but when there has been a problem, the contractor s warranty has been activated. Some programs have experienced window condensation in double window assemblies. On the rare occasion when RTAA has had this issue, the window warranty has been activated. Additional miscellaneous situations have also arisen over the years. These have included thermal insulation in attics that has deteriorated due to settling and lack of fresh air inside the post-construction home, creating interior moisture issues. The RTAA program has used fiberglass insulation in most phases, which has helped. In addition, the RTAA program has always added a fresh air component to the noise mitigation design, except where inadequate space existed. A few other issues experienced by homeowners are weather stripping deterioration and dirt build-up on sliding tracks, both which are homeowner maintenance issues. In its final conclusions, the ACRP report recommends that lessons learned from previous projects be reviewed and incorporated into future designs. The RTAA program has done this over the years and it has saved the airport from reoccurring problems. Additional recommendations include creating standard designs with consistent treatment approaches, specifying appropriate and durable products and incorporating strong quality control plans. A thorough punch list inspection is also recommended, as well as thorough and constant communication with the contractor and the homeowner. The most important take-away from this report is that FAA funded programs will provide modifications to each dwelling only once. Therefore, both the manufacturer and contractor warranties are important. Homeowners are responsible for proper maintenance and care for the products which affects the performance and durability of the acoustical materials. They are also responsible for replacements due to aging and regular wear. Even though the RTAA sound Page 6

7 insulation program is sun-setting, staff will need to continue to be responsive to warranty issues for a number of years. GENERAL COMMITTEE COMMENTS, QUESTIONS & ITEMS FOR FUTURE COMMITTEE MEETINGS Vice Chair Carasali spoke briefly about the potential Transportation Enhancement Fund, which will be brought before the Nevada Legislature during the 2015 session. The fund is intended to help with development of new air service. Additional air service is essential to the local economy and our future growth. He stressed that more air service correlates to greater economic growth for the region. Vice Chair Carasali requested that, before the next quarterly meeting, the Panel think about how and if the Panel should approach the public. The Panel should contemplate if they should be proactive and explain to the public that the number one goal of the airport is to create more traffic which will create more noise. The Panel could explain why the airport is taking that stance and why increasing flights is important. PUBLIC COMMENT No public comment. ADJOURNMENT There being no further questions or business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m. /fma Page 7