1. Who owns Flying Cloud Airport?
The taxpayer. MAC controls the airport and the FAA regulates the airport.
2. Who pays for the Flying Cloud Airport expansion?
The taxpayer through federal grants from the general fund passed through the FAA.
3. Who are the final decision-makers at Flying Cloud?
The taxpayer. Although for practical purposes the working decision makers are the FAA, the State and MAC - in that order.
4. Who can stop the expansion?
The taxpayer. Again, for practical purposes, at this point the only thing that can stop the expansion is if the FAA decides to not fund the expansion. Who could actually influence the FAA to make that decision? Our elected officials - the Governor, Legislators, Jim Oberstar - who is the head of the transportation Committee - but they won't do it unless the taxpayers ask them to do it.
5. Why do you think Mayor Phil Young says that the expansion is a "done deal" -- and do you agree with him?
Opinion - our opinion is that it is not done until it gets funded.
6. What size jet will be allowed into Flying Cloud Airport after the expansion?
This is kind of a trick question. According to FAA regulations, airports cannot discriminate because of weight and even the pavement strength at an airport cannot be a determiner of who gets to land where. After all is said and done that is the main reason Ordinance 51 was turned over – because it limited Flying Cloud to aircraft weighing 20,000 lbs and less. The pavement bearing strength of the expanded runway is for 60,000 pounds gross weight. In practice, aircraft usually abide by that limitation in conjunction with the runway length and width. The Final Agreement also commits MAC to taking no further action to increase the weight restrictions of the airport pavement at Flying Cloud. However, to put this all into perspective, a 757 did land at Woodbourne Airport in New Zealand on August 23, 2006. That airports longest runway is 4,675 feet and that airport is certainly not designed for that size aircraft.
7. How much noise is represented by 65DNL?
DNL stands for "Annual Average Day/Night Noise Level", which takes a standard noise measurement but penalizes any nighttime sound levels by an extra 10 decibels. It is an annual weighted average noise metric that is widely accepted in the aviation industry. It would be characterized as the sound of running a vacuum cleaner every minute of every day for a year.
8. What is the difference between DNL and Noise Spikes? Which method is more accurate in representing the actual effect on the human ear?
DNL is an annual average. A single noise spike can be many times louder than that and is more consistent with the sound somebody actually hears.
9. How many 5,000 foot runways should the Twin Cities have?
Opinion. The point is that the MSP airport both the Lindbergh and the Humphrey terminals, the Anoka airport and St. Paul Holman field all have 5,000 foot plus runways. MAC is planning on expanding Flying Cloud and Lakeville's Air Lake to 5,000 feet. When do we reign in MAC and say enough is enough?
10. How close does an airport have to be before you would consider it "convenient"?
Opinion. The point is everyone likes convenience - but in this case - the aircraft users convenience is the neighboring households inconvenience - what gives one party the right to inconvenience another?
11. Do you support subsidizing boat owners in order to make their boating experience more affordable?
Opinion.
12. Do you support subsidizing car owners in order to make their driving experience more affordable?
Opinion.
13. Do you support subsidizing aircraft owners in order to make their flying experience more affordable?
Opinion. The point here is to ask why is one mode of transportation/hobby/entertainment subsidized while others are not? It could be argued that car owners are also subsidized - but that is not correct. Car owners pay enough user fees in the form of gas taxes that they not only pay for the roads they drive on, but they also pay for light rail, subsidized bus transportation, hiking/biking paths and subsidized air transportation.
14. How much does General Aviation contribute to the Airport and Aviation Trust Fund?
Less than 2% of the Airport and Aviation Trust Fund come from General Aviation.
15. What does the "Airport and Aviation Trust Fund" pay for?
The Trust Fund is barely enough to cover the costs of running the Air Traffic Control system in the United States.
16. What portion of the "Airport and Aviation Trust Fund" is consumed by General Aviation?
According to a variety of sources, the portion of the Airport and Aviation Trust fund that is consumed by General Aviation in any particular calendar year is approximately 15% to 20%. This is the primary reason there has been so much discussion about raising User Fees at General Aviation Airports - since GA only contributes 2% to the fund, but uses anywhere from 15% to 20% of the fund.
17. Approximately how much money does the FAA take from the General Fund annually to pay for General Aviation?
A minimum of about $2.7 billion is needed to cover the approximately 18,000 GA airports that receive $150,000 each to cover annual costs. AIP or CIP funds for GA airports also come out of the General Fund - direct from the taxpayers - which Congress usually appropriates for the FAA in the middle of each year for a total of anywhere from $3.2 to 3.7 billion. So the answer is that the FAA absolutely needs $2.7 billion to cover their initial obligation to GA airports, and if the GA is to get any AIP or CIP funding for building projects, the FAA takes everything they can get over the $2.7 billion - which usually runs between an additional $.5 billion to $1 billion for a total of $3.2 to $3.7 billion annually for GA airports/aviation. The general fund is money that comes directly from the taxpayer.
18. What will the final figure for the Flying Cloud Airport expansion be?
This could be considered a manner of opinion. However, the land purchased for the buffer zone for the expanded runway cost approximately $45 million, plus the current stated cost of up to $27 million equals about $72 million. If you guessed at anywhere from $58 million to $86 million - you are in the ballpark.
19. Current operations at Flying Cloud are a little over 100,000 per year. What does MAC estimate the operations will be in 2010? Hint -- look in the FEIS.
The projected range is around 240,000 to 310,000
Your Neighborhood Zero Expansion Team
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