By TR Robertson
Recently Cliff Kaiser, Chairman of the Palomar Airport Advisory Committee, took time out from a busy schedule to respond and discuss some of the issues surrounding the recent approval of a lease agreement allowing American Airlines to begin daily flights to Phoenix, Arizona. This two-year lease agreement was also unanimously voted in favor of approval by the County Board of Supervisors, which also included leases for airport terminal space, offices and plane parking. The December 2024 McClellan-Palomar Airport Monthly Performance Report listed a total of 125 complaints from 30 callers dealing with issues of flight paths and noise. Of the 30 callers, 43% of the complaints came from 3 callers. The report broke down the local quadrants that the complaints were dealing with and the Southwest Quadrant received the most complaints. The data also broke down the type of aircraft the complaints centered on.
Dealing with the recent addition of American Airlines flights from Palomar airport, the lease allows American Airlines to operate a dual-engine Embraer 175 jet and a first departure each day starting at 6:15 a.m. to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. The early flight time was approved by FAA to “support the airport and for the good of the larger community in meeting connecting flights in Phoenix”. One other outcome of American Airline’s addition to Palomar Airport will be the creation of up to 150 new jobs for the airport. It also offers convenience and efficiency to North County’s 870K residents. Kaiser said American Airlines must follow a specific flight path that is filed with and approved by the FAA, voluntarily avoiding residential areas as much as possible. Voluntary flight paths are also the rules for planes landing and taking off using visual flight procedures.
Jaime Abbot, County Airport Director, has said the County will take steps to alleviate noise concerns and will install monitors to record the noise. The majority of the complaints come from residents in close proximity to the airport. Kaiser said the majority of the noise also comes from the take-offs of the Embraer 175 jet, but this is for a very short period of time taking less than one minute for the plane to be over the ocean. He also said “a noise-impacted airport is one where the Community Noise Equivalency Level (CNEL) contour is high & extends into noise sensitive areas (residential areas) surrounding the airport and there are no residential communities in the CNEL contour of CRQ. He reminded everyone that the noise falls under the Voluntary Noise Abatement Procedures (VNAP) which has been around for years and pilots can’t “violate” a voluntary program. Kaiser acknowledged they will continue to study the noise levels at the airport as well as continue to educate and remind pilots about VNAP.
Kaiser said other concerns that were brought up dealt with the runway being too short for the E175 jet. He said this would be true if the jet were ever fully loaded with both passengers and fuel, but that is not the case on the planes landing and taking off at Palomar. He also said looking at environmental concerns everything falls into approval through the EPA and does acknowledge there might be some exhaust that occasionally falls from larger planes, including private planes that take off from Palomar. He added that the Palomar Airport Advisory Committee will continue to study the variety of issues surrounding the addition of American Airlines and they welcome comments and suggestions.
