FAA: No major noise change in proposed overhaul
Control of jetliners and other aircraft in Florida is slated to switch next year from radar and voice commands to a system relying on GPS and automated instructions for more precise landing and takeoff routes along narrower corridors.
For residents of Central Florida wondering about noise near their homes from planes going to or leaving Orlando International Airport, Sanford’s airport and Orlando Executive Airport, the Federal Aviation Authority will conduct a public workshop online at 6 p.m. today and another June 12 at 3 p.m. to explain the proposed changes.
The meetings will include FAA officials, air-traffic controllers, airline executive and airport representatives. FAA officials say they are not proposing major changes in the flight patterns that Central Floridans experience today.
“Arrival aircraft typically will fly along the same paths and at similar altitudes as they do today,” states FAA’s online materials offered in advance of the meeting.
FAA regional administrator Michael O’Harra said that as far as noise, there is likely to be some change, “but it’s not going to be significantly down or up.”
Added FAA environmental specialist Lisa Favors: “There are minor increases and minor decreases” expected from the proposed overhaul of air-traffic control.
The agency held its first online meeting for Florida on Wednesday for the Palm Beach area. Presented on Zoom and social media platforms, it drew an audience of 24,000, said FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.
Registration for the upcoming meetings for Central Florida airports can be done at floridametroplexworkshops.com
For each person who registers, the FAA will send a link to videos, documents and an interactive map with dozens of dots that when clicked will show current noise levels and expected levels from proposed changes.
The dot locations vary from the edge of Lake Eola, Lake Nona, Winter Park and hundreds more areas of Central Florida.
The materials also provide instructions for the online workshops and a basic explanation of routes used for landings and departures. For example, maps depict a path labeled Alina crossing over Winter Park and routes labeled Grnch and Jafar angling over Apopka.
Also depicted are the corridors for flights to and from the Northeast, Europe, South Florida and the West.
A digital flight-control system, according to the FAA, will bring more direct and precise routes, reduce the complexities of communications and reduce holding patterns and instances of airliners have to slow down in route because of air-traffic congestion.
“By increasing the level of automation, within the flight deck and between air traffic control and the flight deck, we reduce the potential for verbal communications problems,” said Jim Arrighi, manager of FAA’s Metroplex Program, which is revamping air-traffic control. “A higher degree of automation increases safety all around.”
The system also will provide for an “optimized profile descent,” so that jetliners when approaching airports won’t have to repeatedly throttle up or down, but will glide to a landing on “idle power.”
“Florida is the only state in the country where there are four, major international airports,” O’Harra said of the Orlando, Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa airports. All of the state is being revamped at the same time to incorporate GPS and digital air-traffic control systems.