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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFlying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission - 07/14/2022APPROVED MINUTES FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2022 7:00 P.M. CITY CENTER 8080 MITCHELL RD COMMISSION MEMBERS: Chair: Dan Dorson Vice Chair: Andy Kleinfehn Commissioners: Bob Barker Chilkunda Narendranath Marc Morhack Michael Lawrence (Business Representative) Blaine Peterson (Airport Manager) COMMISSION STAFF: Scott Gerber, EP Fire Chief Kristin Harley, Recording Secretary MAC STAFF: Jennifer Lewis I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Dorson called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Absent were commission members Kleinfehn and Barker. Resident Kurt Laughton and Brad Juffer, Manager of Community Relations for MACjoined the meeting. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Morhack moved, seconded by Lawrence to approve the agenda. Motion carried 5-0. I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Lawrence moved, seconded by Narendranath to approve the minutes of the April 14, 2022 meeting as amended to correct the spelling of Herrmann’s name and other small corrections. Motion carried 5-0. II. PUBLIC COMMENTS Gerber read an emailed letter he received after receiving a phone call from an Eden Prairie resident, Lynn Crist of Bishop Court: “Hello Scott, FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION July 14, 2022 Page 2 “Below is my public comment for the Flying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission. Thank you for relaying it to the commission and for taking time the other day to answer my questions about airplane noise. I really appreciate your insights and professionalism. “All the best, “Lynne Crist “After a productive phone conversation with Scott Gerber, I am submitting a written comment to the Flying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission about the airplane noise in and around my neighborhood in Eden Prairie. “My husband and I moved to Eden Prairie 36 years ago. We have lived in our home at 12303 Bishop Court for 31 years. We have never really thought about Flying Cloud Airport until recently when noise pollution from small aircraft became a problem. Searching for an explanation -- initially, I had no idea why loud planes were circling our part of town -- and hoping for a solution, I made online complaints, phoned the MAC noise hotline, and spoke with MAC's Jennifer Lewis, all with mixed results. Sometimes the aircraft noise abated, sometimes it increased. Sometimes our family could sit on the deck or in the kitchen in peace, sometimes we could not. “My question is what can be done to end/reduce/regulate this noise? “I now know about the expansion of flight schools at Flying Cloud Airport and the uptick in flight training. Given this increase in air traffic, the increase in noise was foreseeable. I assume someone at Flying Cloud is considering the impact on Eden Prairie residents. Are there meaningful adjustments that can be made in the scheduling, duration, location, time of day, etc. for flying lessons? My hope is that measures will be taken to spare local neighborhoods from long hours of unhealthy, droning noise. My husband and I love Eden Prairie and do not want the quality of life (or property values) diminished by increased airplane noise. “Thank you for your time and any help with this situation. Respectfully, “Lynne Crist” Laughton stated he lived west of Flying Cloud Airport and had found Lewis to be very helpful when he contacted her, and agreed with Crist that he also wanted to see improvement during the 4:00 to 7:00 a.m. period. Departures caused most of the noise, and there were 67 aircraft that departed westbound between these early hours in April, 94 in May, and 68 in June so far according to the database. He urged continued action on outgoing flights as these are much noisier than incoming ones.. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION July 14, 2022 Page 3 Dorson reminded Laughton that the commission also could not regulate departures, but other actions could be taken to ameliorate the situation. Laughton noted within the Noise Abatement Plan amended in January of 2017, nighttime restrictions were voluntary and allowed if pre-approved by the airport manager or a public emergency. Dorson replied he looked at flight training, and none of these flights were training flights. Laughton agreed they were not, but probably business flights. Dorson added he and Lewis had a safety meeting on August 6 to discuss noise abatement during the voluntary night flight hours. He agreed there was an uptick in business operations. Lewis noted that any pilot who did not meet the criteria Laughton read in the Noise Abatement Plan received a letter, followed up with a conversation. Lawrence observed aging aircraft had louder engines. III. FOCUS TOPIC FOR THE MEETING a. Airport appearance at Flying Cloud Airport Follow-Up Dorson displayed the list of observations and Peterson gave updates for each. 1. Public viewing area: Peterson stated the issues were power, which was costly, but perhaps solar batteries could be used with an RFI to turn them on and off, and the Eagle Scout leader had not yet returned his calls. Morhack suggested perhaps no radio was needed, but a sign giving the website and the frequency. Peterson agreed; a QR code could be used. 2. Parking outside of Gate G: Peterson stated this was supposed to have been done, but now it was slated for August 25-28 and would be completed by September. 3. FlyWise building: Peterson he would give more details on this later in his operations presentation. 4. View of hangars along Pioneer Trail: Peterson stated pruning was done and would be continued, but adding more trees could interfere with snow overflow. Fence poles were not designed to withstand wind so fence screening would involve new poles. 5. Thunderbird Aviation: Peterson stated he would have another conversation with Corey Grape, the station manager. 6. Elliott Aviation: Peterson stated the exterior walls were cleaned up, and additional signage would be put in but there had been supply chain issues. 7. AV8 Aviation: Peterson stated improvements would continue on both sides, but they were not completed. This was also due to a supply chain issue, but new tin siding would be installed in August. 8. Blue airport sign: Peterson stated Pioneer and Flying Cloud Drive would be properly lit at night. He hoped for a response on a new FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION July 14, 2022 Page 4 sign the next day which would hopefully be installed early next year. Dorson noted he drove by a saw the sign lit at night. 9. Executive Aviation building: Peterson stated the sign had been improved. 10. Hangar 5: Peterson stated the windows had been cleaned but the interior needed more work. The lease would be up next year, which would be a chance to have a conversation. Bill Hauptmann had completed a repainting job of his hangar. Dorson thanked Peterson for his updates. VI. STANDING DISCUSSION ITEMS a. NOISE REPORT – MAC Lewis first presented two examples of flight paths, the first overlaid on a map of the neighborhood of Lynn Crist, showing the frequent take-offs and landings of training flights. The second flight paths example showed the flights over Kurt Laughton’s house the night before (eight hours duration). Dorson suggested a letter to all of the flight schools strongly encouraging training operations elsewhere. Peterson agreed. Lawrence stated solo flights (after initial training) were confined to home airports, which he thought would be the explanation for the number of flights over this residential area. Peterson noted this was asking the school to change its procedures. Dorson agreed the commission could not change where the planes fly but this issue was about awareness, and asked to work with Peterson on a letter. Peterson suggested a letter to every school. Flying Cloud is the third busiest airport in the Tri-State region. Morhack asked if it was possible to fly in the opposite direction. Dorson replied the second runway was an obstacle to that. Also, noise complaints arose when the airport closed the north runway. Discussion followed on changing the flight direction. Peterson stated most training was done on the north runway, and there would be significant environment changes if it was switched to the south runway. Dorson agreed the number of training flights had increased. He showed the number and directions of arrivals and departures compared to Laughton’s house, with many of the flights north of his house. The first example showed how training had increased. The second example showed flights twice as high, but perhaps noisier with engines at full throttle. The jet traffic was more set in its routes. Laughton was 1.3 miles off the departure end, and it did make him contend with some noise. Lawrence noted there was training flight traffic on the south runway at that time, and it had to make a hard left to due to MSP Airport. There were a lot of moving parts to this issue. Lawrence added the Flying Cloud Airport did try to split training between the north and south runways. Lewis added the flight towers FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION July 14, 2022 Page 5 closed at 10:00 p.m. and the flights turning south were at the request of MAC when the south runway was used. Gerber asked if the planes would be less noisy if they went straight. Lewis replied it depended if the plane was on an inside or outside turn; an inside turn was a longer event; an outside turn was shorter. Because of the way noise propagates 45 degrees of the tail, a plane flying straight would be heard for quite a while. Dorson proposed discussing business travel and business jets before the regular noise report presentation. He asked Lewis if business travel had increased the noise complaints. Lewis replied they had, but it impossible to make a strict apples-to-apples comparison with the previous year due to the data processing change (tower counts versus MACNOMs). Jet aircraft produced the second- highest number of complaints after piston-engine aircraft. There were 3,092 jet operations at Flying Cloud Airport in the second quarter of 2022, up from 2,448 in the first quarter. Dorson noted more operations this year than last year and the year before. Lewis agreed, and added the trend was to have a peak in June, July and August, then to fall off in September. Juffer stated the first quarter at MAC was comparable year to year, but in the second quarter showed lower numbers compared to last year due to weather. The pattern was trending down in operations year by year Dorson asked Lewis to address nighttime operations by jets. Lewis replied when she received the hour-by-hour by operation there was an increase in “shoulder hours” (between 10:00 p.m. to midnight and 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.) more than nighttime hours. There was a drop in the hours between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m. There was an increase in piston aircraft too; she could not say if those were business flights. Gerber displayed the heat map and Dorson pointed out the various types of aircraft traffic it indicated. Lewis stated that business carriers who have received a letter received details and techniques in order to fly quietly when they could not avoid nighttime hours, such as flying as close to 7:00 a.m. or to 10:00 p.m. as possible, reducing power settings for departure, flying straight in, staying higher longer, and making that south turn. Lewis presented the noise report. There was a reduction in noise complaints by almost half as many as last year, and slightly fewer households filed complaints. In second quarter of 2022, 53 households filed 2,811 complaints, down from 57 households filing 5,841 complaints in the second quarter of 2021. However, more households were reporting nighttime complaints. Morhack stated it would be helpful to know if this was due to flight schools. Having followed the complaint process he did receive the automatic validation email, but wished to have more data, or at least an informational link in the email. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION July 14, 2022 Page 6 He added it would also be helpful to know how many letters were sent. Dorson agreed, and suggested tailoring specific data for the operation’s purpose. Laughton urged more transparency around what happens when a complaint is submitted. He feared perhaps households became worn down and eventually gave up after repeated complaints without changes. b. ORDINANCE 97 MONITORING – MAC Peterson stated there were four total with one repeat: an aircraft returned for maintenance. This was more than second quarter of last year (which had been zero). c. AIRPORT INCIDENTS AND OPERATIONAL UPDATES – MAC Peterson stated there was one incident in which aircraft left the runway and struck a runway light which tore the center fuselage propeller. This was a solo flight. There were no injuries. Operational updates: FlyWise had a soft opening today with the Eden Prairie Mayor Ron Case cutting the ribbon. The building had been gutted and rebuilt. He suggested a walkthrough sometime this year. There would be a FAA Part145 repair station training program (Airframe &Power Plant mechanic school). FlyWise would hold a grand opening in the fall. Upcoming construction: the Taxiway Hotel was slated for October 2022. d. LONG TERM COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE – MAC Peterson stated the open house for the community was held on June 6. It was very well attended with around 300 surrounding residents attending. It ran from 4:30 – 6:00 p.m. with presentations and a Q&A. There were many great questions. This was the first of four events. The next would be held in October, location TBD. Dorson asked if there were questions about changes. Peterson replied there were no huge changes. The presentation had focused on processes, and the rest of the discussion focused on design criteria and facilities, the actions of other tenants, and future forecasts. VII. OLD BUSINESS a. Airport Tour for Commissioners FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION July 14, 2022 Page 7 Peterson described the tour. There was no tour of the tower, but a small group might have that opportunity. Dorson suggested another airport tour around the same time of year the following spring with the student representatives. VIII. NEW BUSINESS IX. UPCOMING EVENTS AND TOPICS FOR FUTURE FCAAC MEETINGS • The Air Expo will be held July 23 and 24, 2022. Updates on Wings of the North webpage. • Flying Cloud Airport Annual Barbeque will be held August 10, 2022, time TBD. • The Girls in Aviation Day will be held September 24, 2022 at the Jet Links Hangar. X. ADJOURNMENT The next FCAAC meeting will be held on Thursday, October 13, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. in Heritage Room I. MOTION: Morhack moved, Second by Lawrence to adjourn. Motion carried 5-0. The meeting was adjourned at 8:04 p.m.