THE CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY CONTINUES TO EXAMINE ALTERNATIVES – MEANWHILE THE STATUS QUO PREVAILS

The following update was issued by the Modiin Municipality spokesperson regarding the meeting that took place Wednesday between Modiin Mayor Chaim Bibas and the CEO of the Civil Aviation Authority, Giyora Rom:

The mayor of Modiin, Chaim Bibas and his deputy Chanan Bernshtein, met with Giyora Rom, the CEO of the Civil Aviation Authority, last Wednesday. This was yet another meeting between the sides, as part of the struggle to change the proposed flight path over Modiin.

At this meeting Giyora Rom said that the alternatives that the city has proposed are being reviewed in simulation equipment by Continental Airlines, in the USA. The Americans had several questions and needed further clarification regarding some of the proposed landing paths presented to them by the Civil Aviation Authority, and an answer is expected within the next few weeks, as to whether these proposals are viable alternatives.

The alternatives include a number of options proposed by the Modiin municipality and the Civil Aviation Authority that would divert the flight paths to unpopulated areas of the city or change the altitude of the landing planes in a way that would limit the impact to the quality of life of the residents of Modiin.

It should be noted that the Modiin municipality hired Israeli as well as international aviation experts who are working with the Civil Aviation Authority with the goal of finding alternatives to the landing path originally proposed by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Mayor Bibas demanded that in either case, after the results of the simulation are determined, that real test flights be conducted in order for the alternatives to be tested by pilots in coordination with representatives of the Civil Aviation Authority that will come to Modiin in order to see the impact.

Rom has promised the representatives of Modiin that they will kept up to date at every stage and development in the process, in the spirit of real cooperation between the parties, in order to try and resolve the issue. Rom assured that a situation in which the new flight paths will go into effect without the representatives of Modiin being informed about it will not happen.

The Modiin Municipality emphasized that the meeting was a positive one and in an atmosphere of real cooperation between the parties. It seems that as a result of the tenacious confrontation of the Irya and the citizens of Modiin,  that the representatives of the Civil Aviation Authority have realized that they cannot ignore and disregard the city of Modiin and its residents.

These update meetings and examining of the alternatives will continue over the next few weeks. On September 10th, the Minister of Transportation, Yisrael Katz, who is the overseer of both the Civil Aviation Authority and the Israeli Airport Authority, is expected to visit Modiin.

The bottom line is that the Civil Aviation Authority is continuing to examine the alternatives for the landing paths in order to minimize the negative impact on the residents of Modiin. During this exploratory period the status quo will prevail and no flights will fly over the city and no new paths will be approved without coordination with the Modiin Municipality.

We thank the 460 residents of Modiin-Macabim-Reut who flooded the decision makers both in the offices of the aviation authorities and in the government offices in Jerusalem, with emails, and faxes expressing their strong opposition to the flight path that was proposed by the Israel Airport Authority, who reminded the powers that be, that behind the Mayor of Modiin stands a large and determined public that will not allow Modiin to be turned into an airport. 

Our impression is that the public and political pressure has had an effect and that the aviation authorities and the Minister of Transportation are now making an earnest effort to find an alternate solution for the decent path for runway #30. We expect the Civil Aviation Authority to continue to fully examine all alternatives and to leave no stone unturned until they find the proper alternative for the descending flight paths which will not impact negatively on the quality of life and safety of the citizens of Modiin.

We will continue to follow up and keep you updated of the developments.

Together We'll Stop the Foolish idea to turn Modiin into an Airport!

This coming Wednesday, August 12th, Mayor Haim Bibas is scheduled to meet Giora Rom, the CEO of the Civil Aviation Authority. Rom is expected to update Mayor Bibas on the status of the evaluation of the alternative landing paths for runway 30.

We ask the Modiin-Maccabim-Reut public to bombard the decision makers with emails in order to remind the decision makers in the Government offices in Jerusalem and in the Aviation Authorities that behind Mayor Bibas stands a large and resolute public of Modiiin-Maccabim-Reut who will not allow to turn Modiin into an Airport!

Method: Overflowing the decision makers via emails & faxes today Monday August 10th and tomorrow Tuesday August 11th.

Each of us will forward on this message to fellow residents and call them to do the same.

Operational Instructions:

1. Send Email to Decision Makers

a. Create the header and recipients

1) Outlook users:

Click here to create an email automatically populated with the recipients and header (seven email addresses of the national media are cc'd on the above email).

2) Gmail, Walla, Hotmail and other webmail users:

Compose an email and copy-paste the following recipients and header (or compose your own header as you please):

Recipient list:

   

sar@sviva.gov.il; sar@mot.gov.il; yiskatz@knesset.gov.il; pniot@sviva.gov.il; KobiMo@iaa.gov.il; gerdan@knesset.gov.il; lplanes@modiin.us; ganoty@mot.gov.il; yanivb@moin.gov.il; shamayas@moin.gov.il; eyishay@knesset.gov.il; news@y-i.co.il; letters@haaretz.co.il; cotvim@maariv.co.il; letters@yedioth.co.il; letters@themarker.com; editor@globes.co.il; hayom@israelhayom.co.il

 

[The last seven email addresses above belong to the national media].   

Proposed header: Stop the Foolish idea to turn Modiin into an Airport!

b. Fill the email body, Sign it and click Send

Write a few words in the email body or copy into it the following sample text, sign it with your name and address, and click send.

Sample email body text:

    

TO:
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Eli Yishay
Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz
Minister of Environmental Protection Gilad Erdan
General Manager of the Ministry of Transportation Yaakov Ganot
General Manager of Civil Aviation Authority Giora Rom
General Manager of Israel Airport Authority Kobi Mor
Manager of the Population Administration Shamay Asif

Dear Sirs,

I vehemently oppose the intention of the aviation authorities to convert Modiin-Maccabim-Reut into part of Ben Gurion Airport and to bring planes down, in their landing path, at a height of 300 meters above our heads, every 10 minutes in the afternoon hours.

With this plan you will impose on us and our children unacceptable and untenable hardships of noise and air pollution.  But most of all a life threatening danger, every 10 minutes in the event of human or mechanical failure that might cause a crash into one of our tall buildings, which are built on hills, and cause an unfathomable  human catastrophe.

We chose to live in Modiin as a quiet and green city and a good place to raise our children.  In order to achieve this we took on upon ourselves longer commutes to our places of employment.  If we were interested in living in one of the existing residential communities surrounding Ben Gurion airport , we would have chosen to do so.

It is unacceptable that the residents of Modiin-Macabim-Reut should be expected to pay the price due to the failure and omissions of the aviation planning authorities  for the past years upon years to address flight safety issues. This is an outright arbitrary maltreatment  by the authorities, of the citizens.

The city of Modiin is a national project of the Government of Israel, and it will be the height of stupidity on behalf of the Government of Israel to invest a huge fortune in developing this city and attracting to it 73,000 residents from all over the country as well as from abroad, only to strike it a severe blow, by offhandedly turning it into an Airport.

We demand implementing one of the alternative landing paths that pass over the uninhabited areas of the city or its surroundings, rather than directly over the populated area as proposed by the IAA.

Two weeks ago we set out in our masses via a long car convoy and demonstrated with our children in front of the IAA offices in Ben Gurion Airport. We conducted ourselves in exemplary orderly fashion. We did not throw stones nor dirty diapers, we did not burn trash cans nor did we insult the dedicated police officers who keep the law and order. We are law abiding citizens who contribute to the economy, pay out taxes, serve in the IDF in regular and reserve capacity, and the recruitment rates of our children are amongst the highest in the country.

We are law abiding citizens, but we are also very determined to preserve the green and serene nature of our lovely city, which we resurrected by our sweat in the middle of nowhere.  If necessary we will come in our masses to demonstrate in front of the government offices in Jerusalem or in the Supreme Court of Justice .

Justice, justice shall ye seek - and we shall do so decisively and forcefully until wisdom returns to dwell in Jerusalem.

Sincerely,

Name
Address

     

2. Send Fax to Decision Makers

Print the mail you just sent and fax it to the following numbers:

Minister of Transportation: 02-6663004
Minister of Environmental Protection : 02-6535958
Minister of the Interior: 02-5666376
General Manager of Civil Aviation Authority : 03-9774599
General Manager of Israel Airport Authority : 03-9712436

You can fax all five numbers at once free via the internet on the FreeFax website. Copy paste the email you sent into MS-Word, save it as a document and upload it to the FreeFax website.

3. Forward this message to your mailing lists

Forward this message via email to all the city residents in your mailing lists - school, kindergarten, synagogue, etc.

_________________________________________________

 

We will post updates on the Hebrew campaign web site throughout today and tomorrow as to the number of mails sent by the residents (one of the email addresses belongs to our campaign and we will use it to monitor the progress).

The Hebrew version of this message is available here.

קראו כאן את הגרסה העברית של הודעה זו

UPDATES IN THE STRUGGLE FOR CLEAR SKIES OVER MODIIN

In this update you will find:

• Status of the evaluation of the alternative landing paths
• Asking for the public's help in widening the number of signatures on the Clear Skies petition
• Wanted: residents with contacts in the national media
• Senior manager in the Israeli Aviation Industry: "A major aviation disaster in Israel is only a matter of time"

Status of the evaluation of the alternative landing paths

The airport authorities are currently evaluating alternative landing paths and that is the reason for the trial flights which are taking place in our area, these days. The Minister of Transportation has instructed the general manager of the Civil Aviation Authority, Giora Rom, to refrain from publishing and implementing the new flight path over Modiin, the same flight path that per our meeting with Giora Rom was supposed to be approved a few weeks ago.

It seems that the pressure that the public has exerted on the aviation authorities, with our demonstrations, and the ceaseless political pressure that is being exerted on the decision makers in Jerusalem by our mayor, is having an effect, at least for now.

On August 12, 2009, our mayor Haim Bibas is scheduled to meet with Giora Rom, at which time he is to receive answers regarding the alternatives that are being examined including the Irya’s suggested alternative which was done in a simulator by the FAA in the USA. This meeting will take place several days after the 60 days timeout issued by the Supreme court will expire (August 9, 2009).

We will be planning our next steps based on the results of the meeting that the mayor will have with Giora Rom. In the event that the aviation authorities will inform us that they have rejected the various alternatives that have been proposed, we will be forced to intensify our campaign in order to avoid the implementation of the new flight paths.

Campaign “knock on the door”

We are appealing for your help in the coming days in order to greatly expand the number of signatories to the petition “clear skies for Modiin”. To this date approximately 5,000 out of approximately 35,000 adult residents have signed the petition. Signing the petition with a valid email address enables residents to receive our updates on new developments and various campaign activities. Additionally we are preparing to submit the petition to the Minister of Transportation. With that in mind we need many, many, more signatures.

What we are now asking each one of you is to knock on your neighbors’ doors and and get additional signatures. We are asking each one of you to commit to signing at least five more of your neighbors to sign the petition.

You are invited to copy-paste the English text here and to email it to your contacts in Modiin-Maccabim-Reut (neighbors, friends, members in your shul, parents in your kids' class/kindergarten), while personally emphasizing to them the importance of signing the petition. Similar text in Hebrew is available here.

You can also print up the petition and hang it in the elevators of your buildings, in the staircases, parking garage, possibly at your doctors’ offices, at restaurants that you frequent, or any business establishment where you are a customer. Remove the signed page after a week or so and forward the signatures to us in the following manner:

We ask you to enter the signature data you collected to the excel spreadsheet you can download here, and to email the filled spreadsheet together with the scanned signature page to planes@modiin.us. If you do not have Excel or a scanner you can simply fax the signature page to 073-2406874.

If each one of us will take it upon ourselves to do this, we have a good chance of getting a much greater representation of Modiin residents on the petition.

Wanted: Residents with connections to the National Media

We received national media coverage of our protest convoy to the airport by channels such as Galei Zahal, Reshet Bet, Arutz 1, Maariv newspaper, and its internet site NRG, Hot Local News, IBA English news and Globes. However some of the national media ignored our protest rally claiming that it is a local struggle and not of national interest. From our experience we have found that it is very helpful if you know someone at a TV station, radio station or newspaper that can connect us to the right people in order to get our message publicized. If anyone has any connections whatsoever in any of the above mentioned media formats, please contact us at planes@modiin.us.  

A major Aviation disaster in Israel is only a matter of time

From a myriad of press reports it is understood that the chaos which exists in the civil aviation in Israel continues to exist and expand. Two planes almost had a fatal collision without the control towers noticing it and alerting the pilots. In another instance a passenger plane belonging to the Turkish airline Sky, with 180 passengers on board, approached the ground in a dangerous manner during its landing at Ben Gurion Airport. The state auditor (Mevaker Ha'medina) is about to publicize a first of its kind report regarding the dangerous conditions existing in the Israeli civil aviation. A senior official at the aviation industry has declared that a major aviation disaster in Israel is bound to happen and is only a matter of time. For more details see here.

We are not waiting for the disaster to happen and we are not waiting for the pulic inquiry committee to be appointed.

We, the citizens of Modiin-Macabim-Reut, cannot and will not allow this chaos of the civil aviation to take place 300 meters above our heads and the heads of our children!