Hearing: Aviation and the Environment: Noise — completed
The House Subcommittee on Aviation conducted a hearing on October 24, 2007. The docket remained open for comments until Nov. 7. See Hearing: Aviation and the Environment: Noise.
Revision of FAA Order 5050.4 — completed
The FAA published official notice of its revision of Order 5050.4, "NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] Implementing Procedures for Airport Actions." This order supplements FAA Order 1050.1, "Environmental Impact: Policies and Procedures", which was recently revised (Order 1050.1E, June 8, 2004). Order 1050.1 is generally superior authority to Order 5050.4, but the two should be consulted together. The notice in the Federal Register describes what the FAA believes are the most important changes in the order. These changes are enumerated and described in the order in which they appear in the document, not in order of importance. Deadline for public comment was Feb. 16, 2005.
Stage 4 Aircraft Noise Standards (Docket 16526) — completed
The FAA was successful in putting pressure on the rest of the world to accept the U.S. government's plan for stage-4 aircraft noise standards at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The FAA has issued a "notice of proposed rule making" to implement the ICAO standards in the U.S. This stage-4 noise standards would apply to any person submitting an application for a new airplane type design on and after January 1, 2006. These standards are extended to aircraft above 12,500 pounds. However, earlier standards (stage 3) exempted aircraft below 75,000 pounds, i.e., most corporate private jets, many of which are classified as stage 2 (very noisy because of primitive noise-suppression technology). Deadline for comments was March 4, 2004.
Proposed Policy: Weight-Based Restrictions at Airports (Docket FAA-2003-15495) — still open
The FAA wants to effectively remove the ability of airports to determine what size aircraft to allow on their runways. The effect of this policy, if adopted, will be to prevent airport owners from conrolling airport growth, and giving the FAA complete power to permit unconstrained growth in air traffic capacity. Small airports that now accommodate only single-engine aircraft could be forced into building runways that accomodate larger, heavier aircraft. Deadline for comments was August 15, 2003. As of July 2007 no final policy has been issued.
FAA Noise Abatement Policy (Docket 30109) — still open
In 2000 the FAA drafted changes to its 1976 "Aviation Noise Abatement Policy." This is the major political document on aircraft noise. Deadline for public comments was October 23, 2000 (as of July 2007 the final document still has not been released). See:
FAA Regulations Overhaul (Docket FAA-2000-7623) — completed
The FAA requested public comment on what FAA regulations should be revised, eliminated, or simplified.
Study of Nonmilitary Helicopter Noise (Docket 30086) — completed
The FAA reauthorization bill of 2000 required the FAA to report to the Congress on the effects of nonmilitary helicopter noise in densely populated areas in the U.S. and ways of reducing that noise.