CITY OF HOMER

HOMER, ALASKA

Stark, Yourkowski

RESOLUTION 05-65

A RESOLUTION OF THE HOMER CITY COUNCIL APPROVING NOISE CONTROL MEASURES FOR SMALL AIRCRAFT IN PATTERNS OVER THE CITY OF HOMER ENTERING AND LEAVING HOMER AIRPORT.

WHEREAS Councilman Stark, a Commercial Pilot with land and sea ratings, has met with local pilots in an effort to reduce aircraft noise in the City of Homer and was met with a cooperative response, and

WHEREAS both the Homer Airport and the Beluga Lake Seaplane Base are State facilities with the airport pattern to the south over the bay and the lake pattern to the north over the City, and

WHEREAS noise problems are caused by planes violating normal patterns by cutting across residential areas at low altitude and by pilots operating high performance engines (300 horsepower or greater) with two bladed propellers at high revolutions per minute, which causes the blade tips to be supersonic and excessively noisy, and

WHEREAS normal practice, as advocated by the Federal Aviation Administration, is to avoid both of these practices, and

WHEREAS most local pilots do operate in a proper and thoughtful manner, but some visiting pilots are not aware of the problem, but are required to review the Alaska Supplement, a U.S. Government Flight Information Publication issued every eight weeks.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOMER CITY COUNCIL that the Federal Aviation Administration is requested to insert both into Airport Remarks in the Alaska Supplement for the Homer Airport and into Seaplane Remarks for the Homer - Beluga Lake Seaplane Base the following:

The City of Homer, for noise control purposes, has adopted the policy that the turn onto final or turn on takeoff be at an elevation of 500' AGL or greater and that high-performance aircraft on takeoff reduce their RPM prior to a takeoff turn, as long as such actions do not compromise safety.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this Resolution be forwarded to the Homer Flight Service Station and to the Airport Manager.

PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Homer City Council this 24th day of MAY, 2005.

CITY OF HOMER

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ATTEST: JAMES C. HORNADAY, MAYOR

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MARY L. CALHOUN, CMC, CITY CLERK

Fiscal note: NA