Two weeks ago we received from Mayor Bibas a copy of the Civil Airline Authority (CAA) document which outlines its decision to implement the original landing path over the heart of Modiin, with some minor modifications. We have also received volunteer advice from a flight expert who is a resident of the city.
The flight expert has gained access to the details of the CAA flight path which for some strange reason are omitted from the 47 page document of the CAA. We have learned that the flight path crosses Menachem Begin Blvd at 2,900 ft, continuing its descent over Moriya & Shvatim (Buchman South & North), Reut, Mesuah (Giva C), Nechalim (Sfadia), Prachim (Meromi) until finally leveling at 2,300 ft over Cramim/Neviim (Tsipor/Shimshoni).
The heights stated above are relative to sea level, and as Modiin is situated at 800-900 ft above sea level, this means that flights will fly as low as 1,400-1,500 ft., or 426 meters. This is before bringing into account the height of buildings, particularly the tall towers.
The original flight path revealed in September 2008 features the same exact geographic pattern as detailed above, crossing Menachem Begin Blvd at 2,650 ft and leveling out over Tsipor/Shimshoni at 2,300 ft., precisely at the same height as the current CAA landing path. Ergo the current landing path features only a marginal increase of between 0-250ft., which are an average of 125 ft.=37 meters in the height over the city than the original path.
Yet the municipality boasted only two weeks ago that the new landing path is 1,300 ft. higher than the original landing path, and thus it would supposedly significantly reduce the noise levels. Most remarkably, when confronted with the data revealed this week about the landing path and its height, the municipality continued to stick to their original position in their responses to the local press.
Our flight expert has also proposed that the 180 degree turn conducted over the heart of the city be shifted 2.5 km north-west, instead of a 2.5 km leg of level flight, using the same exact patter suggested by the CAA. This way the U-Turn would take place mostly over unpopulated areas. The expert said that the same approach is used in Ben Gurion Airport for runway 26, also via instrument landing. However his proposal was rejected out of hand by the CAA, without offering any reasoning.
We have requested a meeting with Giora Rom, head of the CAA, who met us in July 2009. However this time he rejected our request.
To sum it up: It looks as if the CAA is determined to push through with its landing path and that the Modiin municipality has laid down its resistance.
We at clear skies think that unless the CAA offers solid reasoning why not to implement a landing path that is least damaging to Modiin residents, and provides guarantees that will limit the flights over Modiin to 5-10 flights a day as the CAA declared - that we should continue the struggle. In order for that to happen the public will first have exert enough pressure to convince the municipality to change its mind.
Please see the map of the landing path and more detailed information on our Hebrew website.
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