Dear Friends, 

Nearly 6000 + comments have been submitted for the FAA’s Noise Policy Review.

• LAST CALL! If you have not commented yet, please add your voice at the FAA's link HERE by Friday September 29. Please include “NIGHT TIME” and “SLEEP” in your comments.

• The final Sky Posse input with answers to all of the FAA’s questions is here. 

In 2021 the FAA received 4000 comments and, per the FAA’s Summary of the 2021 Responses, Palo Alto had the 4th most responses. The #1 message the FAA received to their central question - “What, if any, additional investigation, analysis, or research should be undertaken..;” The answer was none, and the agency has since proceeded to review their noise policy. For the distribution of Sub-topics for Noise and Thresholds, the top recommendation in 2021 was to use additional existing metrics, notably Number Above which counts the number of aviation noise events over a certain location. We recommended lowering the DNL threshold to 50 DNL to agree with the guidance of the WHO and EU, and to adopt more metrics and assessments to distinguish night time noise, frequency of events, and low frequency sounds (vibrations). 

For the current solicitation, the FAA asked upwards of 25 questions. The FAA’s decisions will ultimately be budgetary–to meet their obligations to existing laws and statutes such as NEPA– as well as political. We suggest that the most glaring problem with the FAA’s policy is that the FAA does not consider health in their threshold criteria, or night time noise. There is no escaping that there is a strong relationship between noise and health effects; the FAA will need to find the metrics and thresholds that can credibly address this concern. We would especially like to see a policy that protects quiet at night. 

THANK YOU to everyone who has posted already or sent us feedback to include in the Sky Posse input. The verdict is in from the comments we have heard from you - Eliminating night time flights cannot wait for the Noise Policy Review.

We need action on eliminating night time noise from the City Council, Representative Eshoo, and the FAA on fixing this issue!

• ELIMINATE NIGHT TIME NOISE!
• Address unfair concentration of routes and "Fly at Higher Altitudes!"
• Need new Metroplex re-design team and resources to work for communities.

Eliminating low altitude night traffic and noise should be the easiest task for FAA because there is no traffic congestion at night. Assessments of alternatives using the right tools and metrics* that reflect our experience on the ground are also long overdue.

*Request to Members of Congress to ensure that adequate information about aircraft noise and exposure is made available to the public 

***As we go forward, much of what we need is within the power of local and regional officials to help accomplish.***