CPA seeks FAA help on flight pattern concerns

The Commonwealth Ports Authority is seeking the assistance of the Federal Aviation Administration in resolving concerns raised on the takeoff and landing patterns of aircraft flying between Saipan and West Tinian International Airports.

“We are in the process of consulting with FAA through Guam CERAP and the Flight Standards Office on this matter. Correspondingly, our ability to resolve these concerns depends on their answers,” said Ports Authority Executive Director Carlos H. Salas.

Mr. Salas, in a letter to lawyer Michael A. White, said CPA did not intend to imply by its previous statements that the agency is unsympathetic to the concerns raised on the noise created by the new flight pattern between Saipan and Tinian.

“We merely wished to explain how the change in takeoff and landing patterns came about. Hopefully, we will be offered the flexibility to accommodate your concerns, perhaps, through a slight modification of the flight rule,” he told Mr. White.

Mr. White has asked the ports authority to require aircraft passing between Saipan and Tinian to fly at a higher altitude to minimize the noise level generated by the altered flight pattern.

Mr. White’s complaint involves the preferred left-turn route which has been published since 1995 but was not strictly implemented by the ports authority until recently.

However, Mr. Salas explained that the Federal Aviation Administration’s Flight Standards Office requires Saipan-based single engine aircraft to fly between Saipan and Tinian from the closest land masses.

The practice allowing right hand turns for Tinian-bound aircraft is still being allowed but only when traffic and weather permits, according to Mr. Salas.

Since SERCO, a private contractor of the FAA under the Federal Contract Tower Program, took over the Saipan airport tower, airline and FAA representatives have expressed intention for more stringent enforcement of the left-turn for single engine going to West Tinian Airport.

Therefore, single-engine aircraft are directed to fly the preferred left-turn route as published by the FAA to the extent possible and without causing any undue delay to other air traffic under tower’s control.

This route in Saipan and West Tinian airports was established by the ports authority after a series of meetings with air carriers, following concerns raised by turbo-jet operators and the pilots of single and twin engine aircraft on flight safety separation.