(Re: “Dense fog delays flights at SM Airport,” Nov. 21) It is interesting how different the FAA views how the fog affects Santa Monica Airport compared to the view of those residents living close to the airport. The article does not mention that there were, what appeared to be, at least a dozen missed approaches by jets Monday, from 10 a.m. until dark.
Eventually, they stopped trying to land, due to an even thicker marine layer.
Exactly what is a missed approach and how do they affect the impacted community? A missed approach is when an aircraft attempting to land at the airport is off course and cannot visually locate the runway to land. This happens when the marine layer rolls in and forces approaching aircraft to fly lower in their attempt to land. When they finally realize that they are off course and will not be able to safely land, they have to power up their engines and circle around to try again to line up properly to land. The noise impacts from these maneuvers are frightening and severely stressful for those going about their daily routines. The extreme noise from these missed approaches is not recorded by the lonely noise monitor far enough away from the noise source not to register it as noteworthy. Therefore, these noise impacts from missed approaches are not included, with regard to noise measurements, by either the FAA or the city of Santa Monica.
At times, even on their second attempt, aircraft cannot find the airport. As each aircraft circles around again, they fly low over neighborhoods to either the north or south, depending on their circle direction, and they are cause for alarm to many surprised by these unusual occurrences. Residents observe that it is the jets that fly off course, adding still another safety — as well as health and quality-of-life — concern regarding the jet traffic at Santa Monica Airport.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 24, 2007. Read the original PDF.