City of Cupertino, CA
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Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Resources
Who to Contact If You’re Impacted by Aircraft Noise
San Jose Flight Standards District Office (FSDO)
FSDO Phone: 408-291-7681
San Francisco Airports District Office
District Office Phone: 650-827-7600
Read the FAA Initiative to Address Noise Concerns of Santa Cruz/Santa Clara/San Mateo/San Francisco Counties Feasibility Study, along with the appendices and executive summary.
Read the reformatted version of the FAA Feasibility Study.
Helicopter Noise Impacts
The FAA has implemented the ICAO Chapters 8 and 11 helicopter noise standard (called Stage 3 in the U.S.) as of May 5, 2014. The Stage 3 helicopter noise standard applies to all new helicopter types certified after the implementation date of the rule. It does not affect existing Stage 2 helicopters. As operators retire older helicopters and buy new ones, Stage 2 helicopters will diminish as a percentage of the fleet and Stage 3 helicopters will increase. Since the international standards are already in place and many manufacturers sell worldwide, many existing helicopters in the U.S. fleet may already meet the Stage 3 noise levels, but would need to be re-certified as Stage 3. You should contact the helicopter operator directly for information regarding the helicopter operations you are experiencing.
FAA Rulemaking: SFO Class B Airspace Meetings
From January 30th, 2017 through February 1st, 2017, the FAA held three informal stakeholder meetings concerning the proposal to modify the "Class B Airspace Area" at SFO. The proposal would allow pilots to make smooth, shallow descents without throttling up, thus decreasing noise. While in some areas the proposed changes would lower landing altitudes, this occurs mostly outside of Cupertino. Overall, it appears that the proposed changes have the potential to result in a mild decrease in noise over the Cupertino area.
FAA Meeting at the National League of Cities Congressional City Conference
Hosted in conjunction with the NLC Congressional City Conference in March 2017, staff from the National Organization to Insure a Sound controlled Environment (NOISE) presented on developments in the FAA’s implementation of NextGen and new techniques and metrics for measuring aviation noise. NOISE is a coalition of locally elected officials and industry stakeholders working cooperatively with local and federal government to find workable solutions to the issue of excessive airport noise. Attendees had the opportunity to engage in a discussion about the organization’s key legislative and policy priorities for 2017. The following resources were provided by NOISE: