The Split East Turn proposal by Seattle-Tacoma Airport in 2001 would have directed full-throttle airliner take-offs directly over Renton neighborhoods.
Twenty-four years ago I received an urgent phone call from Mayor Jesse Tanner: “Randy, I need you to meet with Mercer Island tonight. They’ve learned of a distressing proposal by SeaTac Airport. I’m going to stay in my office tonight and make phone calls to learn more.”
A proposed change would route SeaTac airliners in full-throttle takeoff directly over Renton neighborhoods. This would happen when winds were coming from the the north, typically during our warm sunny days when we have windows open and people are enjoying the outside.
“Wouldn’t this conflict with Renton Airport Traffic?” I asked Mayor Tanner, who had been a high-level FAA executive before serving as our Mayor. “No, they could do it. He said. They’ll be just above Renton traffic, crosswise to it. Renton traffic might get a lower ceiling”
This flight trace shows the path of a jet pilot on final approach into Renton field on Monday. The 150 mile per hour loop, about 900 feet above homes, was not approved by Air Traffic Control.
Benson Hill residents got a preview of what’s to come with Renton’s new Jet refueling center.
A twin-engine Cessna Citation jet landing in Renton from out of state on Monday afternoon made an unauthorized 150 MPH circle about 900 feet above Renton’s Benson Hill neighborhood. The abrupt high speed loop, which interrupted Renton’s busy traffic pattern, earned the pilot an immediate rebuke from the controller in the tower.
The Citation jet pilot was first asked by the controller to slow down multiple times. “Where are you going?” the controller in the tower asks the pilot urgently, as he began his loop. To another pilot the controller says “I’m not sure what he is doing.” “WHAT are you doing?” she asks the jet pilot again. “Looking for spacing.” comes the pilot’s response. “OK that traffic is well out of your way, was well out of your way, turning out of your way You CANNOT do something like that on final without letting us know” she says firmly.
Both before and after the pilot’s unauthorized and risky donut in the sky, the busy controller can be heard directing at least two piston-powered aircraft into 360-degree turns in the pattern for spacing. As she states clearly, she had cleared the runway for the incoming jet, and certainly did not need him improvising a loop around South Renton while making a 150 MPH/130 Knots approach.
Just a few days ago the Mayor had issued a memo asuring residents the Jet Center would not create any issues, even though the Jet Center owner’s business plan says they intend to market fuel to jet aircraft flying through our state. This unapproved wayward loop over Benson Hill, while local piston-engine aircraft were in the Renton traffic pattern, shows we should expect local resident and pilot complaints from this change.
This morning Mr. Anderson met the Airport manager at the Renton Municipal Airport office, shown here. The Airport manager keeps the office locked, and insists on appointments to meet with tenants. Tom had an appointment this morning.
Update 4/16/2024: A few hours after I posted this blog entry, Mr. Anderson was notified his employees’ credentials would be reinstated. Their passes worked this morning.
I received a phone call from Tom Anderson, President of Landing Gear Works, explaining that his employees have been locked out of accessing his east and west hangars. Their electronic credentials will no longer give them access.
Mr. Anderson has been working all day to get the credentials restored. According to Mr. Anderson, the Airport manager gave Mr. Anderson the brush-off this morning, saying the manager needed to talk to the city attorney and would get back to him in a couple of hours. Then he dodged Mr. Anderson’s calls until mid-afternoon. At that point he said the credentials would not be forthcoming.
The Mayor issued a statement on Friday about the Renton Airport which focussed on specific subjects I had been covering in my blog. I’m not sure who prepared the statement for him, or if he did it himself, but it has numerous errors in it. If it was prepared by individuals making decisions at our airport, it unfortunately validates concerns I’ve heard voiced about a shortage of experience and engagement in Renton’s airport leadership.
I have reviewed the Mayor’s statement paragraph-by-paragraph, and inserted my comments in bold or in blue or purple underline. My blue or purple underlined comments link to more detailed blog entries, which in turn link to the source data (like leases, emails, documents, etc).
The Mayor’s words are in italics.
_______________________________________
April 12, 2024
Good afternoon, Renton –
I’d like to take a moment to address a few points of interest I’ve heard garnering a lot of attention around the Renton Municipal Airport. There’s a lot of speculation out there, and some misinformation – and the fastest way to address that is to focus on the facts.
A primary source of misinformation is this Mayoral statement. If someone wrote it for the Mayor, they need some retraining. I’ll respond with accurate blog posts that include proof.
1. Is there a brand-new business coming into the Renton Municipal Airport?
One of our longterm existing airport tenants (Pro Flight Aviation) has sold their existing business to a new operator (Dark Horse Aviation). Under the terms of the 35 year lease, the existing tenant has the express right to do this. The only role the city can play is in evaluating the new operator’s financial capacity, experience in running an FBO, or fixed-based operator business, and compliance with Airport Leasing Policy.
FBOs are required to maintain public buildings, like customer lobbies, offices, pilot lounges, restrooms, and adequate parking. They also have to provide a ramp area for aircraft parking for at least five aircraft. An FBO is also mandated to have regular operation hours schedule, open for a minimum of eight hours per day and seven days per week. After-hours fueling services must also be available either through on-call employees or shared schedules, but the operational and regulatory demands contribute to the limitations on the airport’s 24/7 operations.
3. Shouldn’t this have been reviewed by the Renton Airport Advisory Committee? In short, no. The only role the city has in this scope is to review the new operator’s feasibility and have city council approve this. There are specific provisions noting that consent should not be “unreasonably withheld, conditioned or denied” by the council. If we took any other action beyond what is described in the lease, the city could have been open to an FAA Part 16 Complaint, or a potential lawsuit for damages as a result of losing the sale of the business.As stated above, there are many ways to influence the lease, and they are encouraged by the FAA-sponsored Renton Airport Sustainability Plan.
A statement from the Mayor claims the historic old control tower building, along with two popular airport hangars, were “originally scheduled for demolition in 2015.” This is false.
A public statement issued by the Mayor two days ago provided inaccurate information about the buildings occupied by The Landing Gear Works. “The City of Renton is moving through the legal process of eviction of a tenant for a long-standing non-payment of rent. The occupied buildings in question were originally scheduled for demolition in 2015.”
The statement says “buildings” plural, indicating that the old tower building together with the hangars leased by Landing Gear Works were all scheduled to be torn down in 2015. Discussion of tearing down the hangars in 2015 is nonsense, as they were in good shape and in high demand. They should only be demolished if better replacements are planned and shovel-ready.
Potential long-term replacement of the old tower building has been discussed notionally for years, and an appropriate advisory statement was added to the lease. But the building was never “scheduled for demolition”, and still isn’t to this day. The building was designated Aircraft Manufacturing space in the 2017 FAA-approved Renton Airport Layout Plan with no reference to possible removal, and this status was unchanged until 2022.
The lengthy process for demolishing and replacing this building involves an airport layout plan revision, public notification, RAAC review, Council approval, FAA approval, environmental review, Requests for Proposal, bid openings, new building plans, lease negotiations, and many other steps– a process that generally takes years. In the nine years elapsed since 2015, the only step taken has been the first one, the 2022 Airport Layout Plan now says the building might possibly be replaced at some future date.
So why does the Mayor’s statement say these building were scheduled for demolition? Unfortunately, this looks like an excuse for the airport neglecting the old tower building since 2015.
According to a 2019 email from Landing Gear Works to the Airport Business Manager, the airport stopped repairing the un-leased sections of this building– the historic tower, hallways, bathrooms, and other public areas– many years ago. (These areas were not leased to The Landing Gear Works.) One would expect these areas to be professionally cared for by the airport.
It is not okay to stop maintaining a building in Renton just because the owner decides it will be torn down at some future date. This is unsafe, and contrary to building codes. They city should set a good example, not a bad one.
Renton’s code enforcement division has allowed vacant buildings to become hazards in our city. For instance, the large seven-story glass office buildings on Park Avenue, that served as Boeing offices until 2021, have become dystopian and deadly, with broken glass, missing fire protection, and reported open elevator shafts. Residents have been pleading for action from Renton code enforcement. City officials say not to worry because the buildings are scheduled for demolition in the future, but the danger is real today. Will the Landing Gear Works building be next?
Missing doors and broken windows allow thieves to steal metal from fire protection systems in the seven-story office buildings on Park and 6th, vacated and sold by Boeing in 2021. Broken glass, fire hazards, and fall hazards put curious youth in peril.
Just a few days ago Landing Gear Works repaired a leaking 2 inch water main in the old tower building. Fortunately, they discovered it quickly, repaired the pipe, and cleaned up the mess. The leak would have flooded the entire building if it had been vacant.
A few days ago Landing Gear Works made an emergency repair on a gushing 2″ water main in their ceiling; if the building had been vacant it would have flooded
We need our Public Works office and Code Enforcement to help keep all of Renton’s buildings looking their best, regardless of how many years the buildings have left. Working with Landing Gear Works on roof repairs would have been the easy, cost-effective approach to protect the airport’s old tower building while they complete the lengthy public process for making eventual improvements. If they insist on going through with the eviction, they must have a plan to keep the building safe and looking good until final decisions are made about its future.
Below is an email from Tom Anderson, President of Landing Gear Works, in 2019, asking the the Airport Business Manager to properly maintain the public parts of the old tower building. Tom eventually did the maintenance himself.
———- Forwarded message ———
From: Thomas Anderson <tom@tlgw.aero>
Date: Wed, Dec 4, 2019 at 2:15 PM
Subject: Building issue/Leven Lease
To: Casey Boatman <CBoatman@rentonwa.gov>
Casey,
I hope you had a great week.
As I am sure you are aware that we have been fighting water leaks here ever since we moved in. The airport initially took care of us in 2013-2015. Fixing items as required and maintaining the grass that merged into the public ramp area. In 2016 we finalized and leased the whole building and three hangers in building one. There is also public areas still here that we do not lease, hallways, bathrooms, the tower, etc. We had always complied with the terms of the lease and made sure minor repairs were done.The airport leased us a supposedly turn key building as so we can make a living and contribute to the community. In 2016 the airport stopped or greatly cut down on the services we had depended on. The roof is in very poor shape and we have attempted under airport guidance to make repairs, bandaids at best. At first the trade off for reasonable lease rates made it possible for us to afford the maintenance. However the Airport and the transportation division of the city has used its advantage to reduce our working area in building 1 and thus we have now used every square inch of 295 prime space. Three times in the last 2 years we had to move everything out of 800 square feet to keep office furniture, office equipment, sensitive records, drawings and such safe from water damage. I am asking for help here as the public areas above the halls are the main area that the airport, in my humble opinion, should be maintaining.
The next question is where are we at with our lease application proposal? We are now more than ever wanting to take over the SW corner and move into a nice useful and mutually beneficial facility. There is an unconfirmed rumor floating around that the Leven Estate will be granted a 10 year extension over the original lease. Is this true? If my opinion is worth a nickel, it should be legally challenged. I am sure there is a way through our legal efforts to make sure businesses like ours are fast tracked into space that is GA community beneficial, safe, dry and spacious. I doubt if the original lease holder is true to the original intention. Bruce died and his estate really does not use the space as was intended. It probably can be shown one or two corporate aircraft and businesses are not related to the ideas of the original lessee.
Let me know as soon as you can what the airport can do for us, possibly a credit for currently condemned space, options for possible partial use of a closed building to the south, building 1 or the old Kaynan main hanger that does not have major leak problems. Any future ideas we may find attractive? I do wish and hope to grace these grounds as TLGW grows in support of Renton and this awesome airport.
A RAAC meeting was held in 2023, after a one and a half year period of no meetings
In a statement yesterday, Mayor Pavone dismissed one of the most important tools we’ve used to maintain a livable city; The Renton Airport Advisory Committee (RAAC).
I’ve written about this committee frequently, providing background here. In this entry I want to address a comment that shows his fundamental misunderstanding of the role and effectiveness of this committee
The Mayor diminished the effect they’ve had in the past by writing “RAAC has a limited scope as an advisory committee, and can make suggestions, but are not in charge of setting policy or changing lease agreements. “
The Mayor’s comment is wrong, just as it would be wrong to claim that the Chamber of Commerce is merely advisory to the City Council. The RAAC is made up of pilots, aviation professionals, and residents, who have authority in their planes and neighborhoods that the Renton City Council does not possess.
To put it succinctly, as soon as a plane is airborne, city council has no more influence over them. Residents can have some influence, lodging FAA complaints if they feel unduly impacted and they track airplane tail numbers. This is where RAAC shines. Pilots, aviation professionals and other airport users work with neighborhood representatives to establish voluntary standards that keep complaints to a minimum. The FAA has a representative on RAAC that participates, and so does city council. This work is not subordinate to Renton City Council.
When RAAC is working smoothly, it’s an excellent forum for creating operational documents, voluntary noise standards, airport layout plans, lease policies, fuel policies, and other important work. With such an organization at our disposal, staffed with aviation experts freely giving their time and talent, it’s a terrible waste to not activate them. There is strong precedent for them setting lease rates and providing other leasing decisions.
Unfortunately, because the Administration appears to think “they have limited scope as an advisory committee,” the RAAC has been effectively grounded most of the past few years. This has allowed relationships to get more tense at the airport, and noise levels to increase in our neighborhoods. Soon jets that are three-times noisier than prop planes will start landing regularly for fill-ups, and we will have missed our chance to engage RAAC to mitigate the issues.
All of this because the administration does not understand the RAAC’s capability or role.
Yesterday the Renton Mayor released an Airport statement explaining that council felt compelled to evict The Landing Gear Works (TLGW). He put sole blame on TLGW for falling behind in rent without mentioning the serious billing errors by his administration that plunged TLGW into rent arrears. I’m describing these errors here for the first time. (The Mayor also didn’t mention the failure of the airport manager to extend a long enough lease to make building repairs, per airport lease policy, and I’ve covered that here.)
In November 2022 the Renton Airport Business Manager realized he had a serious problem. He had been underbilling The Landing Gear Works (TLGW) for months for their hangars, workshops and offices on Renton airport. The lease rate had increased and the new amount was NOT reflected in the bills. The accounting error added up to five months of lease payments. The Airport’s error would be bad news for TLGW and would negatively impact their business, especially on the heels of the pandemic. It would have been courteous to call or visit TLGW to break the news, apologize for the mistake, and work out a plan. But instead, the Airport Manager just directed his accountant to send a bill for the corrected amounts.
His efforts to downplay the error resulted in predictable confusion in the offices of Landing Gear Works and Renton City Accounting.
When the bill for the error showed up in the accountant’s office at Landing Gear Works, she wrote back to the City “Is there a way to fix this statement to reflect the actual balance of $14709.22? In the meantime I will get another payment asap.” When she received a response from the city, she immediately forwarded it to President Tom Anderson with this email message: “I asked for a current statement from the City of Renton for the rent. This is what she sent.”
Tom Anderson’s shock is apparent in his email reply: ” This says we owe 50K !!!!!!!!! ”
The Airport Manager and his boss, the Public Works Administrator, obviously knew it looked bad. Whenever they told this story, they referred to it, unfairly, as the Landing Gear Works falling behind on rent, never mentioning the city’s own accounting mistakes that contributed to it. To this day I have not seen them publicly explain it to City Council or the Renton Community.
As Mr. Anderson was working to catch up from the city’s billing error, his roof began to leak. That is where I picked up the story in my first post on The Landing Gear Works.
Here is the statement from the city that started it all. The text in the first image reads as follows:
———- Forwarded message ———
From: <City of Renton Accounting>
Date: Thu, Nov 17, 2022 at 12:16 PM
Subject: RE: Airport Invoice
To: Accounting TLGW <accounting@thelandinggearworks.com>
Hello,
Please see attached statement. The statement was inadvertently generated from 2019-current. I’ve highlighted the outstanding balances on the statement, and below is a screenshot of your open items for ease of reading. It was brought to my attention under addendum 6 to LAG-13-005 there was a rent increase that was to take affect in March 2022. I have issued an invoice for the difference from March-December (attached), and your billing amount will reflect this increase on your monthly invoices moving forward. Invoices issued for September-November are due in full ASAP, but we can work out a payment plan for the back billing invoice. Please feel free to email or call with any questions or concerns. Thanks!
Mr. Anderson met with the Airport staff and they agreed on a plan. TLGW would pay the previously unbilled amounts over time. But the airport’s normal bills do not contain a lot of information, and the catch-up accounting proved confusing and time-consuming. The City made more errors along the way. Accountants at Landing Gear Works and the City struggled to coordinate how to apply payments to current rent vs back rent. The Airport Leadership, not TLGW, had created the billing confusion and abundance of overdue rent.
Typical bill received by Landing Gear Works. The Company paid these bills throughout 2022, only to be told they had fallen behind. This bill from February 2024 does not give any clue as to past due amounts.
The remainder of this article is a tiny sample of the actual back and forth emails between their offices. I’ve removed the names and email addresses of personnel.
Renton’s Pro-flight hangars are being marketed for jet parking.
In a statement yesterday, Renton’s Mayor claimed that there was nothing the city could have done to prevent Proflight from selling their facility for private jet parking. His capitulatory statement almost rolls out the red carpet to jets from Boeing Field.
“One of our long-term existing airport tenants (Pro Flight Aviation) has sold their existing business to a new operator (Dark Horse Aviation). Under the terms of the 35 year lease, the existing tenant has the express right to do this. The only role the city can play is in evaluating the new operator’s financial capacity, experience in running an FBO, or fixed-based operator business, and compliance with Airport Leasing Policy.”….”The new firm is looking to try to service jets shut out of Boeing Field; however, this was going to occur naturally as Boeing Field is taking on greater importance as a cargo hub and site of large business aircraft. “
This position contrasts with many Renton officials of the past, who have worked hard to prevent a Jet Center in Renton. Mayor Jess Tanner, a former FAA executive living just west of our airport, become involved in city politics when he was appointed to the city’s aviation board overseeing the Renton airport after his retirement in 1980. He was determined to keep our airport focussed on prop-powered general aviation along with new Boeing takeoffs.
Mayor Tanner appointed an Airport Manager who shared Mayor Tanner’s affection for diverse, accessible general aviation, and understood the airport would thrive if it had both aviation community and Renton community buy-in. This manager helped draft the Proflight lease in a way that encouraged propeller airplane services, like flight training, aerial photography, rental aircraft, and repairs, ahead of jet parking. The lease was negotiated with the owners of Proflight when they sought to build their beautiful new building, and needed a long-term lease.
This effective Airport Manager took another important step, spearheading the city’s work in creating the Renton Airport Sustainability Management Plan. This plan, which the FAA helped sponsor with $150,000, could assure we had a sustainable, effective, neighborly airport into the future. The Renton Airport Advisory Committee (RAAC)– composed of industry representatives, airport tenants, residents, Renton officials, and FAA — worked with a consultant to create and approve this plan.
The Sustainability Management Plan would be an important tool for introducing new tenants and working with them toward a successful future. But for the plan to work, the Airport Manager has to make it work. There are daily, monthly, quarterly and annual, and biennial tasks for the Airport Manager in the plan, and few of these were getting done as the airport leadership changed five times in the past five years (with one airport director working remotely from out-of-state).
If the Airport Management sustainability tasks had been getting completed, and the RAAC had been empowered to meet regularly to assist, other attractive uses for Proflight might have been available. Or Proflight could have received a rent-reduction, in exchange for a lease that further limited future jet activity. Or when the new lease was signed with Dark Horse, they could have been advised that they would only be allowed to expand in the future under certain conditions, like preserving prop-powered airplane services. Or new voluntary noise agreements could be reached in exchange for future consideration, or operating hours might have been agreed to. The new tenant could have been informed they had to study the sustainability plan and commit to it, as is expected with other Renton standards and procedures. I’m sure many other levers for influencing the future were available, but cast aside. Instead, the Mayor’s statement says there’s no way to influence it.
Below is some of the specific language in the Proflight lease that encouraged a community-focussed facility over jet parking. With collaboration, this could have been further improved on over the years:
I was surprised to see the Mayor issue a statement tonight defending the Airport Director’s actions at the airport. In my blog entries on the topic, I had not mentioned the Mayor, but his statement shows that a lack of knowledge of aviation goes all the way up to the Mayor’s office.
I immediately spotted many errors in the Mayor’s statement, and I don’t have time to respond to all of them right now. I will point out a very obvious one for starters.
The Mayor’s statement includes this question and answer:
2. Will Renton Municipal Airport be opened up to 24/7 jet traffic?
No, any business operations will be subject to the air traffic control tower operation hours – from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM in winter; and 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM during summer.
But Renton residents under the flight path need to merely look up at night to see that our airport is open 24/7. When the tower is closed, pilots self-report their arrivals and departures.
Residents can confirm the airport’s hours on the City of Renton’s own website. Our airport is a 24/7 operation. Note paragraph 3 below says pilots can not be directed when or where to fly. Here is an excerpt.
After working for 33 years in aviation, with 28 years on City Council, I feel like this is a lop-sided debate.
Tomorrow I plan to address problems with the Mayor’s statement regarding the jet center, the RAAC, the lease policies, the current eviction, and the statement that the old control tower was scheduled for demolition in 2015.
In last night’s meeting, The Landing Gear Works president Tom Anderson said he welcomed the forthcoming discussion with the Transportation Committee, as recommended in the agenda bill 3532 attached to the consent agenda. Today Mr. Anderson learned that Council had approved the eviction without making the recommended referral.
The council voted unanimously last night, but due to an error in the printed agenda, the vote left observers uncertain whether Council had voted to evict Landing Gear Works or send the matter to Council Transportation Committee.
The confusion arose because the consent agenda action said “Council Concur” paired with the attorney request regarding Landing Gear Works, but the formal Agenda Bill 3532 that was attached to the item (and recycled from two-weeks ago) explicitly recommended Council refer the item to Transportation Committee.
I emailed the City Clerk to clarify whether Council had concurred with the Agenda Bill or the attorney’s recommendation, and was informed that it was the attorney’s recommendation. In other words, the Renton Council has voted to evict Landing Gear Works. Unlike the approach in past decades, the Council never discussed the issues with the tenant.
Since the Council acted unanimously without any public discussion, it is a reasonable assumption that the Executive Session last Monday concerned this topic. If so, it means that “public knowledge regarding the discussion is likely to result in an adverse legal or financial consequence to the agency,” which is a requirement for holding such an executive session regarding an enforcement action per RCW 42.30.110 1(i) .
It’s never a good look for the city to admit they would probably lose if they were forced to discuss an issue in public. Such a move should only be taken in extraordinary situations, not to get out of discussions with a tenant about how to deal with a leaky roof. I think the Council should study all sides of how they arrived in this circumstance, and make any necessary changes, so that they aren’t afraid to discuss their lease-related decisions in public next time.
Mr. Anderson spoke last night about his repeated requests to lease a different space, and said the requests had been lost by the city. If the eviction goes through, eight living-wage jobs, a world-renowned high-tech Renton-made product, and tax revenues will also be lost by our city.
City Council item 6(c) references agenda bill 3532, and recommends council concurrence
Agenda Bill 3532 recommends the item be referred by council to Transportation Committee for discussion. But this is not what will happen.
Full background on The Landing Gear Works conflict with Renton Airport Management can be found here
The Gweduck (pronounced “gooey duck” ) is a Renton-built, Renton-designed amphibious, highly-advanced composite plane that burns a fraction of the fuel and is much quieter than earlier generations of similar planes. Building such a plane in Renton fit perfectly in our FAA-sponsored Sustainability Management plan. But a few years ago Renton Airport Management rejected a proposal to manufacture the plane here, and today Airport Management is evicting the Gweduck/Landing Gear Works engineering offices. The space appears to be targeted to even more private jets, dramatically out of step with our Airport Sustainability Management plan. Council is enabling it.
Twelve years ago Renton proudly stepped up to being one of the first airports in the country to create an FAA-sponsored Sustainability Management Plan. We were eager to demonstrate leadership in environmental sustainability, livability, and aviation innovation, and we requested and received a $150,000 FAA grant to create the sustainability plan– one of the first ten cities in the country to do so.
Creating the plan took hard work and coordination with many stakeholders. It’s a detailed and thoughtful 41-page plan, that shows Renton’s early and enduring commitment to protecting our climate, our natural environment, and our community’s livability– the issues our leaders claim they embrace right now.
Graphic from Airport Sustainability Management Plan
The problem is, I’m left wondering if our current leaders even know the Airport Sustainability Plan exists. They should know, since long-standing airport tenants, residents, and RAAC members keep bringing it up. And Airport Management should be showing how their decisions fit within it. Committing to this plan was a promise to both the community and the FAA.
Our Airport Management Team is currently bringing private jets to Renton and ejecting companies that improve efficiency of small planes. They seem eager to demolish the historic tower building, possibly to clear enough space for large private jets on the south-east corner of the airport, after leasing to a jet center on the west side a couple months ago. Private jets create ten times as much carbon as airline seats and other forms of travel, pay 2% of FAA expenses while generating 16 % of the flights, and are noisier than propeller driven aircraft.
Our City Council has not publicly questioned this unexpected heading. The Council appears to be boarding a rudderless plane, piloted by a crew that doesn’t know the approved flight plan.
The Renton Airport Advisory Committee (RAAC), our FAA-supported Community Roundtable, is supposed to be meeting at least quarterly, and far more often when there are issues like these. But Airport Management is responsible for scheduling RAAC meetings, and they have held just a handful of RAAC meetings within the last few years; and these meetings have been hindered by zoom technical issues. By ignoring our sustainability plan and not regularly scheduling and supporting RAAC meetings, our leaders have rejected our best tools for ensuring we have a sustainable airport, and a livable environment, into the future.
I’m asking city leaders to study this plan, discuss it, and recommit to it. This will include reinstating regular RAAC meetings, as called for in the plan.
The Airport Sustainability Plan is available here in the most recent form I could obtain by publication of this article. The Plan is mentioned on the Renton City Website, but I could not find a link to the plan on the city’s website at the time of this writing. So I’ve uploaded the final version as approved by RAAC in 2012, and it is available here. If/when I acquire a different later version, I’ll add it to this blog entry.
Introductory page from Sustainability Management Plan
Goal summary from Airport Sustainability Management Plan
Renton’s long-time general aviation service provider, Pro-Flight, has been sold to a company with an express plan to transition it to servicing Jet Aircraft, to relieve Boeing Field. An enhanced fueling station (a gas station for jets) appears to be part of their plan.
I’m not referring to new Boeing jets, which are the latest technology, and take-off lightly-loaded over the lake once or twice per day. I’m talking about 30-year-old Learjets price-shopping for fuel, and landing at all hours of day and night.
Excerpt from Dark Horse business plan
Industry pressure to cater to jets in Renton has existed for decades, but we resisted this pressure during the 28 years I was on Renton City Council. Jets are typically 2-3 times louder than the propeller-driven counterparts, and Renton neighborhoods are already barely tolerating airport noise as it is.
In addition, private jets are not as available to residents. With smaller propellor planes, a Renton resident wishing to learn how to fly can go to Renton airport and take lessons. Similarly, a Renton photographer can charter a plane for a photo-shoot. Other Renton residents have joined flight clubs at our airport, or even keep their private airplane here.
Our airport is currently a Renton Community Airport (that also launches new Boeing aircraft once or twice per day). If we’re going to switch the airport’s focus to relieving Boeing Field Jet traffic, this was worthy of a discussion by our Renton Airport Advisory Committee. The greater Renton community also should have been notified. While few noticed as the city extended this lease, everyone will notice when jets begin refueling regularly in Renton in the future.
Our community had a heated episode with a proposed Jet Center seventeen years ago, when our Council was presented with a proposal, and residents living from Benson Hill to Mercer Island formed an organized opposition. The “NoJets.org” group used every bit of leverage they could to defeat the proposal. This was not easy because FAA does not give cities any real say in what airplanes use our airport. Our city can only partially manage the airport activity by the choice of tenants we lease to, and by the length of our runway.
I do not blame the new Leaseholder, Dark Horse Aviation LLC, as they have been completely up-front with their intentions. They sent a letter to Renton’s Public Works Administrator back in November spelling out exactly how they would use the property if a lease was extended. I just wish our RAAC and Renton community had been notified.
The letter of introduction. The words “Renton’s outstanding future to be the legitimate first-class corporate reliever for light and midsize jets in the region,” ideally would have prompted airport management to consult RAAC and the greater Renton community for advice.
Renton airport may become a gas station for jets. Noisier older model jets, that burn more fuel and have owners that are more price-sensitive, may be Renton’s likely customer base.
This excerpt from the business plan shows the new lease will extend Pro-Flight’s current daytime prop-plane operation to 24/7 jet landings and takeoffs. This will be of interest to residents living within a few thousand feet of the airport. The RAAC has representatives from every neighborhood specifically to advise on topics like this.
This noise comparison published by Purdue University includes a Jet Airplane flyover at 1000 feet at 103 dB, and a propeller flyover at 1000 feet at 88 dB. Because of the logarithmic scale, the Jet is 2-3 times louder. This is due primarily to the greater flow of air at higher speed in a jet engine.
