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Summary Reagan National Airport Community Working Group

Regular Meeting (12) – April 27, 2017 Date: April 27, 2017 Time: 6:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M. Location: Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Terminal A – Historic Lobby Conference Center Agenda: February 16, 2017 Meeting Summary, FAA Update, Working Group Discussion Working Group Members Present:

Ken Hartman Montgomery County Paul Janes Montgomery County - Inside Beltway John Mitchell Prince George’s County - Accokeek Jim Phelps Fairfax County - Dranesville Susan Shipp Montgomery County – Outside Beltway Brian Stout Arlington County Steve Thayer City of Alexandria Wayne Tonkins, Jr. Prince George’s County - Ft. Washington Bob vom Eigen District of Columbia - Ward 2

Alternates: Don Crockett District of Columbia - Ward 2 Carol Hawn Fairfax County - At-Large William Noonan Montgomery County - Inside Beltway Dominic Patella District of Columbia - Ward 3 Richard Sternberg Montgomery County - Outside Beltway

Agenda Item 1 – Welcome and Updates: Margaret McKeough, MWAA Chief Operating Officer

Welcomed Working Group to new meeting location and facilitated introduction of new/current Working Group members, as well as elected official representatives in the audience.

Disclosed that the meeting was being tape recorded by an audience member and asked if Working Group members had any objections; audio recording will be available from audience member upon request. There was no objection raised.

Acknowledged since the last meeting MWAA distributed to the Working Group the Ricondo Noise Monitor Report presented in executive summary at February 16, 2017 meeting and also the DCA 2012 noise contours.

Affirmed MWAA is committed to providing meeting materials in timely manner, recognizing not all requested information is readily available.

Acknowledged neither Airline Working Group member was in attendance due to travel conflicts; MWAA would be requesting the airlines consider designating an alternate representative, similar to other stakeholders.

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1B) MWAA Recent Meetings with Regional Elected Official: o Met with DC Councilmembers, Mary Cheh (Ward 3) and Jack Evans (Ward 2), and several

Working Group members to discuss the Working Group’s progress; explained the complexity of working with 6 political jurisdictions to address a complex issue associated with regional airspace.

o Received and responded to all written correspondence received from elected officials, including letters addressed to MWAA’s Board of Directors.

o Updated several MWAA Board of Directors on the Working Group’s progress. o Consulted and collaborated with industry colleagues, including BWI, concerning issues being

address in their noise Working Groups. o MWAA CEO addressed noise issues in annual testimony to the D.C. City Council and have

been in frequent contact with Congresswoman Norton’s office. o Conducted a comprehensive review of the Working Group’s meeting summaries to ensure

MWAA has been responsive to community concerns and all deliverables have been provided to the committee.

1C) February 16, 2017 Meeting Summary: o Approved

Agenda Item 2 – General Working Group Discussion: 2A) Jurisdiction Updates (City of Alexandria, Fairfax, Arlington, Montgomery, District of Columbia, Prince George’s):

o City of Alexandria: Steve Thayer:

Mayor, Council Members and condo associations in Old Town have been briefed about South Flow departures that follow the west bank of the Potomac River instead of maintaining a flight path over the center of the river.

Elected officials and Working Group members have supported the solution to move the flight path over to the center of the river

o Arlington County: Brian Stout:

In May, County Board will appoint a new Working Group representative. o Fairfax County:

Carol Hawn:

Fairfax County is updating its Comprehensive Plan and currently in the process of updating the Dulles Suburban Center which is a large parcel south of Dulles.

Given that the office campus market is not as strong as it was when it was zoned in the 1980s, developers are proposing residential housing close to Dulles International and within the Airport Impact District.

Mike Rioux:

(via email) Will provide an update at May 25th meeting. o D.C. Ward 2:

Bob vom Eigen:

In August 2015, LAZIR departure route was implemented which has impacted Georgetown University and surrounding communities.

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FAA has developed a proposal for an alternate route to BEBLE waypoint but it has not been implemented due to the opposition of some community members.

o Montgomery County: Ken Hartman:

Montgomery County communities, directly affected by FAA changes implemented in 2015, have organized the Quiet Skies Coalition to oppose new North Flow departure procedures and modified Runway 19 approach waypoints.

Data gathering is slow and frustrating.

Appreciate that the Working Group adopted Recommendations 6 and 7 regarding departure and approach procedures.

Interested to see how we can roll back to a place when the airport was operating just fine without the concerns our communities have today.

Richard Sternberg:

Received 2016 noise complaint data; it would be more useful to receive the data by month and quarter.

Requested recent 2017 noise complaint data, including raw comments. Susan Shipp:

Requested the noise complaint webform be modified to select multiple disturbance types.

o Prince George’s County: John Mitchell:

Agreed that multiple disturbance types should be enabled on the noise complaint webform.

Referenced Ricondo results showing the Reagan National operated in North Flow conditions for 68% of 2016.

Southern Maryland Fair Skies Coalition formed to express concerns and share information.

Recently attended an Accokeek Civic Association meeting where folks expressed that the noise issue was better 3 years ago and something changed.

Accokeek is across the Potomac River from Mount Vernon; the community includes the Piscataway National Park, a public/private partnership that includes the first federal scenic easement over private lands, intended to protect the viewshed from Mount Vernon so that Mount Vernon visitors may enjoy a view similar to what George Washington would have experienced.

It’s disconcerting to Accokeek community members to have jets buzzing overhead every 2 minutes.

Community members have called and left complaint messages; do the complaint statistics include calls/emails as well as online complaints?

o Discussion: Margaret McKeough:

MWAA will investigate the technical possibility of selecting multiple disturbance types on the noise complaint webform and report to the Working Group by the next meeting.

Mike Jeck/MWAA Noise Office Manager:

MWAA does not receive many phone calls or emails but they are responded to and included in the statistics.

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Agenda Item 3 – FAA Update:

o Margaret McKeough: Facilitator observations:

Goal is a consensus in the form of motions and recommendations.

Number of topics related to the FAA that have been under discussion for an extended period.

One item began two years ago when the District of Columbia asked for a procedure to address Runway 19 approaches. FAA developed an RNAV GPS South Flow Arrival to Runway 19 then suggested bundling proposed North and South Flow procedures changes to ensure efficient use of resources and time during the environmental design and review process.

FAA has utilized a lot of resources to address Working Group concerns; FAA has offered several ideas and solutions that have not yet been formally responded to by the Working Group although, ultimately, the FAA has final decision on aircraft procedures.

3A) Notional North Flow Procedure: o Lynn Ray/FAA VP, Mission Support Services for the Air Traffic Organization:

FAA gives fair consideration to any recommendation that comes from a community working group as long as it reflects the voices of the community; need community engagement and opinions across the recommendations to ensure proper direction.

DCA Working Group requested FAA to focus on North Flow departures with a goal to maximize aircraft time over the water; LAZIR-B modifications were based on that criteria.

FAA bucketed the ~1000 public outreach LAZIR-B comments; many pertained to airline schedules.

FAA will provide the LAZIR-B public outreach summary and breakdown to MWAA for distribution then post on FAA website.

Even though FAA did not move LAZIR-B forward as a project, FAA is still prepared to look at additional North Flow modifications to attempt to strike a community balance knowing that it is not possible to make everyone happy.

FAA believes there are still North Flow adjustments, avoiding P-56 restricted airspace that will provide additional time over the river centerline that will benefit Georgetown and Montgomery County.

FAA Presentation: Conceptual West & East RNAV SIDS Bennie Hutto/ FAA NACTA Representative:

At the last meeting, FAA briefed the Working Group about a “potential” solution for northbound departures over Montgomery County when turning west at the COVTO waypoint.

The notional North Flow SID’s would have aircraft turn west and continue over the river versus flying over Montgomery County.

Aircraft would depart northwest off Runways 01 and 33, avoid P-56, then align with the center of the Potomac River:

o ADAXE waypoint would be replaced with WP395 o Current BEBLE waypoint would remain

Westbound traffic:

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o COVTO waypoint would be replaced by WP173

Eastbound traffic: o Continues to COVTO then ALEEX

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o Ken Hartman: Notional North Flow SID benefits folks to the west but does not resolve the issue for

folks under the eastbound leg. o Bennie Hutto:

DCA eastbound traffic being sequenced with other eastbound traffic, including Dulles, to get into flows headed to New York, Boston etc.

Capacity does not change given that DCA is primarily a 1 runway airport that requires 4 mile aircraft spacing.

FAA will produce revised Notional North Flow SID graphics with better clarity. o Bill Noonan:

Flight tracks are more channelized now. Is it possible to develop multiple departure procedures that would be rotated?

o Benny Hutto: Prior dispersion was due to communications delays between Air Traffic, pilot and

equipment. Under these procedures, the onboard flight management system is flying the aircraft

and anticipating waypoints which eliminates communication delays. Working Group would need to propose alternate waypoint positions before the FAA

could address feasibility of multiple departure procedures.

3B) RNAV Runway 19: o Margaret McKeough:

Several existing arrival procedures for aircraft arriving from the north on Runway 19; one procedure positions aircraft over Montgomery County and Georgetown.

Approximately 2 years ago, a Working Group representative from the Palisades area requested the FAA to develop a GPS approach procedure with greater precision to minimize noise on neighboring communities.

A Working Group recommendation was submitted to the FAA; consequently, FAA developed an RNAV GPS approach to Runway 19 and presented to the Working Group.

o Bennie Hutto/ FAA NACTA Representative: FAA received a Working Group recommendation to develop an RNAV GPS procedure

to follow the curves of the Potomac River; 2 GPS options:

Radius fix: curved arc which requires more advanced technology aircraft equipage.

Straight line: waypoint to waypoint

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Graphic shows the current LDA radar vector arrivals (black) and the prototype RNAV GPS procedure (red).

Montgomery County requested the approach procedure start at a location different than FERGI waypoint.

Flyability criteria placed aircraft at highest possible altitude when crossing waypoints:

STAND at 6,000 ft.

HIXIT at 3,000 ft. STAND, NIPEE and MEGGS waypoints only help when air traffic volume is low,

however, aircraft will be vectored to join the final approach course around 10 DME when sequencing is required to ensure safe and orderly traffic flow.

On Dec 12, 2015, FERGI waypoint moved .9 miles to the northwest to align with the localizer to meet the RNAV RNP flyability criteria.

Two reasons aircraft line up at 10 DME:

Voluntary Part 150 Noise Compatibility study states that aircraft join the river at 10 DME.

Procedure restrictions require aircraft cross FERGI (10.15 DME) at or above 3,000 ft.

o RNAV (RNP): Cross at 3,000 ft. o Vectored: Maintain 3,000 ft. until established on the RNAV final or

maintain 3,000 until the river. Altitude mandates are not possible given that aircraft must descend to 3,000 ft. by 10

DME in order to maintain the 3°glideslope between waypoints needed to safely align with the runway, i.e. – 318 ft / nm or 3,180 ft at 10DME.

o Ken Hartman:

Strongly expressed that other procedures are no longer in use, perhaps at the request of MWAA or Virginia residents.

Requested to see the initial NEPA review from 2 years ago associated with approach procedures that were changed/eliminated and resulted with more aircraft over Montgomery County.

o Margaret McKeough: Montgomery County has 2 separate issues:

Relocation of FERGI waypoint

Existing procedure flown during inclement weather which results in communities being overflown.

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Current focus is whether there is an opportunity to change the procedure flown during inclement weather that better aligns with the river, i.e. – the RNAV GPS procedure?

o Benny Hutto: Prototype (green) is the FAA’s professional conclusion for an RNAV GPS Runway 19

procedure.

When the weather ceiling is low, communities under the LDA (purple) are getting every South Flow arrival.

Prototype (green) puts flights over the Potomac River.

Currently, ~30% of aircraft can fly the RNP. More than 30% of aircraft would be able to fly the RNAV GPS but not all aircraft, i.e. –

RJs. Most of the main airlines will be able to fly the RNAV GPS.

o Paul Janes: Need a comprehensive analysis to determine the impact of procedure changes

relative to noise on the ground. o Lynn Ray:

Procedures are modelled against all other procedures; procedures are not modelled in isolation.

o Becky Cointin/FAA, Noise Office: FAA models current conditions versus proposed future procedure to determine the

noise impact. o Richard Sternberg:

Requested baseline analysis for Dec 12, 2015 before any changes. o Becky Cointin:

Analysis was completed and environmental difference allowed for the action to be Categorically Excluded.

FAA is trying to locate that environmental document to determine the level of analysis that was completed.

o Lynn Ray: Environmental vetting is completed during the formal procedure design process. Typically, FAA models return a negligible change the farther out from the airport. RNAV GPS benefits include more time over the water and more aircraft will be able to

fly the procedure.

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At some point, a prototype procedure needs to go through the environmental/safety review process which requires significant investment by the FAA and our aviation partners.

o Dominic Patella: What is the target date for RNP equipage?

o Lynn Ray: No RNP equipage mandate; most new aircraft are RNP equipped.

~50% nationwide o Benny Hutto:

Airlines/Pilots prefer flying procedures such as the RNAV GPS that are loaded into their flight management systems versus flying the River Visual procedure.

o Margaret McKeough: Working Group needs to come to a consensus on the proposed RNAV GPS Approach to

Runway 19 procedure before additional resources will be expended by the FAA.

3B) Project Bundling: o Lynn Ray:

Given that FAA also received a Working Group request to review South Flow SIDs, FAA developed a proposal that would bundle North and South Flow procedure changes to ensure efficient use of time and resources including environmental work.

If Working Group cannot reach a consensus on bundling the procedures then FAA will not pursue it.

o Steve Thayer: Opposed to bundling given that the Working Group passed Recommendation 3 on

4/14/2016. Don’t want to wait for North Flow issues to be resolved to be bundled with South

Flow SIDs. At some point, we need finality on a vote.

o Lynn Ray: FAA will provide North and South Flow procedure bundling information for

distribution.

Agenda Item 4 – Other Business/Next Meeting Agenda:

o Margaret McKeough: MWAA will poll Working Group to set a firm day for future meetings, i.e.- 3rd or 4th

Thursday of each month.

Action Items – Prior to Next Meeting or Future Meeting: FAA:

FAA will provide the LAZIR-B public outreach summary and breakdown to MWAA for distribution then post on FAA website.

FAA will produce Notional North Flow SID graphics with 328 radial and non-aerial map.

FAA will provide North and South Flow procedure bundling information for distribution.

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MWAA:

MWAA will investigate the technical possibility of selecting multiple disturbance types on the noise complaint webform and report to the Working Group by the next meeting.

MWAA will poll Working Group to set a firm day for future meetings, i.e.- 3rd or 4th Thursday of each month.

Working Group:

Working Group needs to come to a consensus on the proposed RNAV GPS Approach to Runway 19 procedure before additional resources will be expended by the FAA.