Local Politicians, Milton Residents call for Massport to Adopt Voluntary Resolution

Milton asks Massport Board Members to Address and Resolve Plane Abuse

Massport, FAA sends up 500 low flying planes over the same schools, parks and homes up to 20 hours per day; abuse has substantially increased over the last six months

On Thursday, October 20, 2016, beginning at 9:00 a.m., Milton residents and local politicians will attend their second Massport Board Meeting to speak in support of the voluntary resolution the town has put forth for the Board’s consideration. The resolution calls for fairly-aligned arrival air traffic over Milton with prevailing headwind frequency (18%) in accordance with universally accepted and FAA approved criteria, rather than subjecting Milton to an unfair continual skytrain comprising 36% of all Logan landings due to a system that ignores prevailing wind and lands aircraft even in conditions of  no-wind, or with tailwinds or crosswinds under clear skies, rather than balancing runway loads.

Milton residents and politicians are seeking a fair distribution of flights over all towns and cities surrounding Boston’s Logan Airport. This past September, over 7,000 planes flew over the same homes and schools in Milton, which is located approximately ten miles from Logan Airport. In the past 12 months, 60,000 jets have flown over Milton.

The suburb currently endures 36% of all jet traffic arriving at Boston’s Logan Airport.

For several consecutive days and sometimes weeks, residents experience 20 hours (from 4:30 a.m. until after midnight and often intermittently between 2:00 – 3:00 a.m.) of low, roaring planes flying at altitudes lower than 2,000 feet, which has led to numerous, negative physical and mental health consequences. Toxic plane emissions from arrivals flying this low fall directly on Milton’s schools and residents, and impact air quality, health, and use of property.

On September 15, 2016, approximately 40 Milton residents, along with Milton Board of Selectmen member David Burnes, State Representative Walter F. Timilty, State Representative Daniel Cullinane, State Representative candidate William Driscoll, and representatives from the offices of Senator Elizabeth Warren, Congressman Stephen Lynch, and Congressman Michael Capuano, attended the Massport Board Meeting. Milton residents, wearing red in solidarity, gave victim impact statements about how near-constant plane traffic has caused loss of sleep, loss of work productivity, and general loss of quality of life.

Residents called for the Massport Board to adopt a voluntary resolution to mitigate traffic over Milton. Residents will speak in support of the resolution during the Board Meeting on Oct. 20. Massport Headquarters is located at One Harborside Drive, East Boston, MA. Security check-in must take place by 8:30 a.m.

The group of residents and politicians plan to attend every Massport Board Meeting going forward. They are scheduled for the third Thursday of the month, with occasional exceptions.

The resolution calls for the following:

1. Form an ad hoc committee composed of three (3) Directors and three (3) designees from the Town (collectively, the “Working Group”), to be supported by Massport staff as necessary and appropriate, to work together to develop a presentation to be made at the December 2016 meeting of this Board that outlines the goals and implementation plan for a voluntary program to test reducing or mitigating the impacts of NextGen in Milton, including airplane noise and pollution; and
2. The Working Group shall consider these goals as its priorities in developing the voluntary program to reduce or mitigate the impacts of NextGen in Milton:
   1. Massport to provide the Logan Tower with [hourly or daily] runway use data with a look-back covering a rolling [7 to10-day] basis so that 4R and 4L arrival utilization in excess of prevailing headwind can be rebalanced by the Tower on a moving average basis in times of light wind or headwind from other directions, in 951652v1 order that the percentage of 4R/4L utilization more closely reflects the percentage of 4R/4L headwind;
   2. Providing for continuous descent on approach for arrivals on 4R and 4L, including but not limited to providing that arrivals turn south of the NABBO waypoint for 4R (and a comparable point for 4L) at altitudes of 3,000 feet or higher;
   3. Providing for 4R/4L arrival approaches to be distributed over a wider span than the present single lane repetitive 4R/4L approaches;
   4. Measuring air pollution and dispersal under the 4R and 4L arrival paths in Milton and its residue on Milton buildings, which are attributable to airplane emissions.
3. The Working Group shall consider and make recommendations on how it can coordinate these goals with the FAA, the airlines, the air traffic controllers, and the pilots.
4. The Working Group shall consider, among other implementation issues, how long the voluntary program will run, but in no event shall it be less than 90 days.

How to get involved:

• Join the Fair Skies Nation group on Facebook.
• File an air traffic complaint every time the planes bother you: miltonscene.com/planecomplaint.
• Join nearly 1,100 Milton neighbors in signing the Air Traffic Petition.