Delta jet to see how a new digital messaging capability improves communications
between the Tower and a soon-to-take-off aircraft. A MPR reportwrs asked me
about it., since the public benefits of the change --suppossedly safety and
emissions --were touted.
A Star-Tribune story quoted a Delta Captain as saying air pollution would be
reduced a lot because departing aircraft would not "linger on the tarmac."
SMAAC thinks the point was the tiny bit of time gained, not safety or pollution
reduction.
The ongoing and not yet environmentally reviewed long-term operational plan is
being tweeked to synch MSP runway operations at peak hours and not cause
conflicts in NW flow. Converging runways were found, in 2013 to be unsafe at
the then-planned hourly maiximum runway use levels.
The current maximum is not known yet, but operations still will nvolve turning
departures off the North parallel runway and hard, full power take-offs off the
South parallel runway. Per flight emissions are not regulated using Next Gen
technology.
It is a sad, sad thing if Next Gen arrivals at MSP are the biggest air quality
benefit in the airport's history! This was SMAAC's response to the second big
'media conference' annonced by the MAC for Monday (Apr 17). This one is about
arrival procedures and a similar conference was held last week about "Next Gen"
departures at MSP.
FAA, Delta and MAC are putting a pretty Next Gen ribbon on a package of crap
(often more emissins per flught) and hoping the package doesn't get opened
(considered in environmental detail). An FAA goal for MSP has been to use Next
Gen and PBN/RNAV to increase maximum hourly arrivals without missing a
departure.
As an unintended result of converging runway safety-risk management, a few
arrivals will possibly use less fual by a steady low power descent from cruise
altitude to the MSP runways. This is good, but since use is increasing at peak
hours at MSP, not lasting.
MSP added vast amounts of air pollution concentrated near the airport in
2010-11 operations at busy hours. These included lower departures and frequent
runway use (interlaced arrivals and departures) that depend on both PBN/RNAV
and Next Gen Airport deployments just being done at MSP
As it turned out peak-hour operations were limited by the CRO Order, so there
are more hours daily (for the same number of daily flights) because of
scheduling. There is no doubt that fuel use and air pollution is greater per
flight at busy hours (ie, over 130 ops/hr) than when alternating arrivals and
departures are unneeded (fewer than about 90 ops/hr scheduled).
Secondly, Next Gen was never conceived as a fuel use or overflight impacts gain
and the airlines have lobbied diligently to exempt Next Gen-controlled flights
and plans from environmental review.
More about this is posted at other sites and hopefully some reports will
include details that MAC, Delta and FAA aren't mentioning.
FIGHT BACL1 SUPPORT SMAAC1