SANAC Issue Paper #8

ISSUE: Control flight schedules from point of origin

BACKGROUND: At the May 12, 1998 SANAC meeting this issue was one of thirty-eight issues brought forward as a noise reduction idea by members of the public.

ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION: This issue is most easily divided into three groups.  The groups are international, domestic and general aviation (COMAIR).

International - flights originate in the United Kingdom in the early morning and fly westward to the United States.  These flights generally follow the north Atlantic routes and are consistent with other west-bound traffic.  Late afternoon flights generally reverse this direction and most fly eastbound in the late afternoon.  About 85% of our international flights arrive and depart during daylight hours.

Domestic - the vast majority of our domestic flights also arrive and depart during daylight hours.  We have some influence over the domestic schedules but for the most part the carriers pick times that are most convenient for the flying public, not the airport staff or the local residents.

General Aviation (COMAIR) - Comair is a flight training school.  They have about 75 airplanes based here and about 400 students in the training pipeline.  In order to get the greatest use of their assets and to minimize the total length of time a student spends in training they tend to fly extended hours usually from 6:00 a.m. to about 11:00 p.m. daily.  We have management principles in place with Comair that assist in scheduling and with assignment to the GA runway for repetitive training periods.

CONCLUSION: Continue to influence schedule development of both international and domestic air carriers.  Work with Comair on the four basic management principles of 1) pattern management 2) landing in the first third of the runway 3) establishing proper climb schedule for the C-172 RG and 4) starting the repetitive training later in the morning especially on Saturdays and Sundays.

RECOMMENDATION: Same as above

SUB-COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Sanford Airport Authority

DATE PREPARED: November 12, 1999