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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFlying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission - 01/12/2023APPROVED MINUTES FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2023 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 STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES: Aadit Bhavsar Luke Brown Julie Fang Aditya Kshirsagar Landon McDowell Darren Tanubrata Anirudh Vadrevu I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Chair Dorson called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Absent were commission members Kleinfehn, Lawrence and Narendranath and student representative Fang. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Morhack moved, seconded by Barker to approve the agenda. Motion carried 5-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Peterson moved, seconded by Barker to approve the minutes of the October 13, 2022 meeting amended to correct the spelling of Ronken’s name and revising the discussion regarding noise mitigation in Item VIa. Motion carried 5-0. IV. PUBLIC COMMENTS FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 12, 2023 Page 2 V. AIRPORT OPERATOR OF THE YEAR a. MAC presentation of Flying Cloud Airport Operator of 2022 Peterson awarded Steve Bruss the 2022 Airport Operator of the Year Award. Bruss encouraged the student representatives to be persistent in attaining their goals. Dorson congratulated Bruss and commented the vote was unanimous. VI. STANDING DISCUSSION ITEMS a. Flying Cloud Airport tenant list & points of interest – Student Commissioners Gerber displayed a list of airport tenant names, and Dorson asked the student representatives to respond to specific questions about these organizations as they related to aviation in general and to their role in or with the commission. Dorson also explained certain terms: FBO – fixed base operator Aircraft charter – plane rental Civil Air Patrol Cloud Seven Club Barker stated the MAC website listed contributions to the economy. Peterson agreed, saying 1,000 jobs had been directory or indirectly created by Flying Cloud Airport, which generated 1.2 million dollars of revenue. Gerber reminded the student representatives that the Eden Prairie school superintendent Swanson was an avid pilot, and the Pathways program was connected to the Flying Cloud Airport. He emphasized there was so much more than just airplanes at the airport, so many other jobs and functions for interested students to explore. Options included both a two-year, technical/trade education or a four-year baccalaureate and various fields including insurance, maintenance, et cetera. He encouraged the student representatives to advocate on behalf of the airport to classmates and friends. Dorson stated Flying Cloud Airport, being in the middle of Eden Prairie, had true advocates in the community and he urged the student commission members to extract as much value as they could in terms of training and vocational opportunities. He stated the commission would schedule a tour later in spring. Morhack asked if the commission kept track of the businesses that the Commission had toured at the airport, and Barker replied Peterson had been helpful in this. Peterson stated there were 1,190 jobs at Flying Cloud, the economic output was 229 million, with 2.6 million paid in local and state taxes. Peterson offered to pull a list of businesses included in the Commission tours going back two or three years. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 12, 2023 Page 3 b. Nighttime Operations – early morning focus Lewis stated during the October meeting there were questions raised that she later did a deep dive on: how many aircraft generated complaints at night? How many aircraft operations flew at night by hour? She also researched a case study of top five nighttime complaint-related aircraft operating at night and took a sample of the communication with aircraft operators who generated complaints. She also researched the number of medical/law enforcement operations, and what percentage of Flying Cloud Airport operations involved jet aircraft. She also broke down aircraft operations by category and determined the top five types of aircraft generating nighttime complaints in 2022. Finally, she would present the number of new Eden Prairie households filing complaints, the number of complaints filed in the fourth quarter of 2022, and the number of operations in that same quarter. The number of nighttime operations that generated complaints were: 950 in 2022 out of 1,175 complaints 1,039 in 2021 out of 2,309 complaints 819 in 2020 out of 3,656 complaints 872 in 2019 out of 3,208 complaints 404 in 2018 out of 991 complaints The number of nighttime complaints generated from Flying Cloud Airport were 1,175 in 2022 with a total number of 4,900 operations 2,309 in 2021 total with a total number of 3,788 operations 3,656 in 2020 total with a total number of 2,294 operations, which was an anomaly. There was a high level of annoyance despite fewer operations due in part to residents not used to the level of activity due to being home more during the pandemic. 1,203 in 2019 with a total number of 3,208 operations 991 in 2018 with a total number of 3,296 operations Lewis explained there was a data analysis change to the MACNOMS methodology in July 2021 which accounted for the increased number in 2022. Nighttime arrivals and departures were defined as operations between 10:00 p.m. - 7:00 a.m., and that was consistent across all of the MAC airports. Comparing arrivals and departures during nighttime hours, arrivals peaked in 2022 as well as every year at the 10:00 pm hour. A peak of departures occurred at 6:00 a.m. This had to do with the types of operations occurring at night. Her office encouraged pilots to complete operations by 10:00 p.m., but there were trainings in spring and summer months where “nighttime” doesn’t start until one hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise. Nighttime currency flights could get pushed into the later/early morning hours. Lewis presented her case study of the top five complaint-generating aircraft. Her study took the five operators that generated the most complaints in 2022 and went back to five years. Four of the operators were medical operators, and one (number four on the chart) FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 12, 2023 Page 4 was a corporate operator who communicated with Lewis before every flight. All operated in a twin-engine turbo-prop aircraft. Most had been operating at the airport for years (although number three on the chart started in 2019). Dorson asked if there was a close sixth operator, and Lewis replied there was a large gap between the top five operators and other operators, enough for a natural break. The number of operators who generated nighttime complaints fluctuated between the years. Operators could come and go, although most remained consistent. Barker asked if she or Peterson anticipated new operators that could show up in next year’s numbers. Peterson replied he expected the number of operators to stay similar. Lewis stated any operator who generates a nighttime complaint receives a letter unless they were a medical service operator. She displayed an example of the letter and added that quite a few operators would respond and talk about their flights, and some knew about the nighttime flight standards. This communication was helpful. Even questions were logged as complaints, and all complaints were logged, and Lewis’s office did follow up with those who requested it. Gerber asked if between 2018 and 2022 she had received more or fewer contacts from pilots, and Lewis replied there was more communication now. Aircraft operators wanted to continue the relationship and explain their role, and they valued it as she did. Barker explained for the benefit of the student representatives that nighttime operations were not prohibited or restricted, but there was a voluntary noise abatement program. The emphasis was on communication and being a good neighbor. There were no penalties, fees, or lawbreaking involved. The agreement was between the MAC and the City of Eden Prairie. Lewis displayed the actual operation levels. In 2022 there were 303 operations that generated nighttime complaints. 16 percent of the operations that generated these complaints were due to a Beech Jet, 16 percent due to an Air Commander, and 67 percent due to a King Air Turboprop, with the final one percent due to a Beech King Air. These were medical operators only. Lewis explained for the benefit of the student representatives the medical and law enforcement operations which included the transport of medical supplies, doctors and nurses (staff), organs and blood transport, also COVID vaccines. There was a mixture of cargo and people. Peterson added typically an organ is harvested and transplanted in the central states within 4-6 hours. Elective surgeries were held during the day and life- saving measures had the operating theater during the night when the operating room was free for these longer processes. Lewis added there is also a rule that the doctor must fly with the organ, and sometimes the entire team flew together. Sometimes there is a requirement for two airplanes to accommodate the entire team. FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 12, 2023 Page 5 Lewis displayed the hour-by-hours tally of the percentage of jet flights. The highest percentage of operations was in the nighttime hours, because there were so few other types of aircraft operating at night. Jets comprised nine percent of the operations in 2022, but 16 percent of the operations in 2018. Twenty percent of the nighttime operations were jet operations. 30 percent of the operators were Turboprops, 27 percent were jets, and 43 percent were propeller aircraft. The jets actually were the smallest percentage of nighttime operations at Flying Cloud Airport. BE 40 Beech Jet comprised 6 percent of operations in 2022 that generated nighttime complaints. BE20 and BE 30 King Air comprised 30 percent of operations in 2022 that generated nighttime complaints. PA 28 German comprised 22 percent that generated nighttime complaints. C172 Cessna comprised 6 percent that generated nighttime complaints. Lewis explained her office received complaints via email, the website portal, and over the phone. All were documented, including how many people complained and how many new people complained. Number of new households registering complaints: 58 in 2018 45 in 2019 49 in 2020 40 in 2021 26 in 2022 Her office was experiencing now a lower level of complaints in 2022. Both the complaint level and number of households had decreased. There had been 104 complaints in December 2022, the lowest level for this year. Barker asked what accounted for this, and Lewis replied there was a lower level of complaints from top complaint-registering households, though none had dropped off altogether. There were also fewer new households registering complaints. Generally with the inclement weather there were fewer operations, and also people could be focused on other things or get called away from the situation and not be exposed as much to the operations. Morhack asked if the corporate turboprop was noisy and Lewis replied it operated frequently and often at 6:00 a.m., and had a loud engine, but it was not doing anything differently. Peterson noted complaints were dependent on the economy, too. Several severe storms also affected this; snow affected noise and also air traffic congestion. Peterson gave the regular operations report. In 2022 there were 828 complaints, compared to 1,896 complaints in 2021. In 2022 there had been 28,410 operations, of which 681 were nighttime operations. In 2021 there had been 29,565 operations, of which FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 12, 2023 Page 6 755 were nighttime operations. This showed a roughly 3 percent decrease in operations. There was an eight 8 percent reduction in takeoffs and landings (operations) between the two years. He expected stagnant growth in the future, as businesspeople were starting to use charter rather than airlines. In the summer hours windows were open, people were awake or outside later, and training flights had more light hours to operate. c. ORDINANCE 97 MONITORING – MAC Dorson explained for the benefit of the student representatives the reason the Flying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission was founded to maintain the relationship between the City and the airport and to monitor the size of airplanes that could land at Flying Cloud due to their agreement. The airport was restricted to a certain size aircraft, but occasionally someone just over the limit slipped in. Peterson reported there were four violations, two in October, one in November and one in December. One was a repeat on the 7th and the 9th, and he was attempting to contact the pilot. The current approach was to educate the pilots in response to these incidents. Morhack asked if the tower enforced this ordinance. Barker replied it was a MAC ordinance so it was a law, and conceivably could result in a fine, but the emphasis was on education. d. AIRPORT INCIDENTS AND OPERATIONAL UPDATES – MAC Peterson stated an aircraft landed on the 10R runway instead of the 10L. He added the Taxiway Hotel construction would begin in spring. He offered to bring diagrams to the next meeting. Premier and Flywise were performing construction updates in the future. e. LONG TERM COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE – MAC Eric Gilles, MAC Senior Airport Planner, explained this was an opportunity to look at the airport. The FAA asked the MAC to update its long term vision in five- and 10-year increments for improvements to determine existing needs and forecast future needs of the airport and its tenants. The Stakeholder Advisory Panel was included in this. Gilles summarized the Discover Flying Cloud held in October 2022, which was an event to get information to the public and increase awareness to what happens at the airport via an information booth. The plan took an inventory of the last 10 years of existing airfield facilities, airport operations, dimensions, design standards, and goals and objectives to enhance airfield safety, preserve operations capability, and promote good financial stewardship with an eye toward the year 2040. The forecast was 133,000 operations going up to 143,000 by FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT ADVISORY COMMISSION January 12, 2023 Page 7 then, which represented relatively benign growth. FAA airfield design standards were based on critical design aircraft and the plan examined different sized surfaces to preserve runway safety since the runways could not extend longer than 5,000 feet. There were internal conversations with the FAA and MNDOT to ensure all proposals were in conformance with design standards. The there would be meetings with the Stakeholder Advisory Panel and the public to unveil the new concepts and solicit feedback. Gilles explained the runway safety area for the benefit of the student representatives. It was an area that surrounded the runway and ran laterally across its center. There was grading and slope criteria to minimize aircraft damage if an aircraft left the runway. The surface was kept as clear as possible: no buildings, signage, foliage, or anything else. This runway safety area now impacted Flying Cloud Drive and Spring Lake Road and was a non-conforming object. The goal was to bring this back into compliance. VII. OLD BUSINESS VIII. NEW BUSINESS a. City Council Workshop Presentation – February 7th Dorson stated he would put this together in consultation with Lewis. IX. UPCOMING EVENTS AND TOPICS FOR FUTURE FCAAC MEETINGS • Possible tour of Flying Cloud Airport at 4:00 p.m. on May 11 or May 18, 2023 – would be finalized at April meeting. X. ADJOURNMENT The next FCAAC meeting will be held on Thursday, April 13, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. in Heritage Room I. MOTION: Morhack moved, seconded by Barker to adjourn. Motion carried 5-0. The meeting was adjourned at 8:23 p.m.