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Letter: Clearing up jet noise editorial

Dear Editor,

Your editorial regarding continued concerns about jet noise at the Livermore Airport (April 2, "Jet noise still a concern for Pleasanton") contains similar naiveté found in most articles about aviation. You state that Southwest Airlines changed its approaches to Oakland Airport. Airlines simply don't fly anywhere in the sky they feel like. Routing is actually directed by Air Traffic Control either on fixed routes (highways in the sky) or by an assigned compass heading. As planes arrive over Pleasanton, they are typically assigned a westerly heading to intercept the final approach course that aligns them with the runway for decent to landing.

As far as noise, yes, planes make some. So do the cars on the Interstate 680 close to my house. When I purchased my home here approaching 20 years ago, there was much less traffic and thus less noise. Using the same logic as those forecasting jumbo jets landing at Livermore Airport, why don't you support reducing the size of freeway to two lanes, thus reducing noise to where it used to be? Silly, of course. In fact, if you would use the facts on the number of takeoffs/landings, you would see a reduction of approximately 25 percent due to the escalating costs of flying. Five dollars per gallon aviation gas is keeping most planes parked for longer periods between flights.

Jim Simone