| People
Over Planes, Inc.
of Contra Costa County, California P.O. Box 2336, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523 (peopleplanes@oocities.com) Send us an e-mail request to receive notices of upcoming airport meetings by e-mail. |
Last
Updated
March 25, 2000. |
| An information group providing the community with information on the operation of Buchanan Field airport from the perspective of the community. | |
| The Air Carrier Page... | ||
| How
Loud is a BAe-146-200A?
If your computer has a sound card and speakers, you can click here and listent to this sound file and find out. Is a BAe-146-200A
really 4 times quieter than some of the corporate jets flying into
and out of Buchanan as claimed by West States Express in a recent
Channel 4 interview?
|
FAA
NOISE RATINGS - FAA Circular 36-3G
When the BAe-146-200A was built in the early 1980's, it used the first generation of Stage-III jet engines, and was among the quietest planes at that time. Since then, jet engine technology has decreased the emitted noise by a factor of at least 6 dBA. Today, Boeing 757's are rated by the FAA as being quieter the BAe-146-200A, yet they weigh 2.5 times more and carry more than twice the number of passengers. In addition, most of the planes built before the introduction of the BAe-146-200A have been banned from operating in this country, or have been required to be fitted with hush-kits or new engines. Click here to see an easy to read version of the noise rating Circular. |
The ALUC Page |
| Buchanan Accidents | ||
| Join our E-MAIL Alert | ||
| E-MAIL US. | ||
| The County lost money on the previous air carrier. In the June 1996 Issue of Airport Business, the previous airport Manager, Hal Wight, is quoted as stating it cost him "way more" money to have scheduled air carrier service than he could get back from the airline. Click here to read it. | What killed the previous air carrier? Newspaper accounts say it was the recession, pilots say it was that USAir did not promote the route after it bought PSA. No one mentions that Southwest Airlines started service at Oakland in 1989 and cut fares for Central County travelers in half. Before Southwest's entrance, it cost the same to fly from Buchanan as it did from Oakland. | |
| FAA Circular 36-3G | ||
| POP's Condensed Version of Circular 36-3G | ||
| A Majority of Orange County Business Leaders do not support a second airport to augment John Wayne Airport. In their view, it is more important to attract high quality workers with a high quality of life rather than to have easier access to air carrier service. In their view, the proposed El Toro Airport will degrade the quality of life in southern Orange county. Click here to read more. | Will air carrier service be an economic boon? One of the start-up airlines predicts that it will have 110,000 enplanements per year at Buchanan, each paying $107 to go to LAX. That works out to being a economic input to the county of $11.77 million, which is what 267 BART Parking spaces at the Concord Station brings to the county per year as an economic input. | |
| The Airport was here first, Right? Yes and no. While the Towns of Pacheco, Concord, and Clyde were here first by more than 80 years, most of the homes around the airport were build after the airport. Back in 1939-40 when Buchanan was being planned, no one apparently though twice about sandwiching a major airport between two towns (Concord and Pacheco) that were only 1.5 miles apart from one another. It was a different era then: Jets did not exist, aviation had not yet undergone its major revolution (which was caused later by WWII), the largest plane flying carried 22 passengers, and the biggest expectation was a few commercial flights a week during spring, summer and early fall. Flying during the winter was definitely out! Today, planners would never place an airport between two towns that were 1.5 mile apart from one another. | Warren
Buffett on Investing in the Airline Industry: "...
despite putting in billions and billions and billions of dollars, the net
return to owners from being in the entire airline industry, if you owned
it all, and if you put up all this money, is less than zero." Click
here to read it.
Did You Know that .... both Buchanan Field and John Wayne International Airport sit on 500 Acres each? (Not counting the Buchanan FIelds Golf Course, which is approximately 50 acres). A significant difference between these two airports is the shape of that 500 acres. John Wayne Intl. Airport sits on a stretched-out rectangle, while Buchanan is more square in shape. This difference in shape allows John Wayne to have a longer main runway than Buchanan (5,700ft versus 5,010ft). |
|
|
While many of the homes around the airport were built after the airport,
they were build well before commercial jets were certified to fly in this
country (1958). The County, which operates the airport, planned and
approved many of these homes, and what it planned then was, for the most
part, compatible with prop planes.
The Federal Government took control of the airport from the county in 1942 for the purpose of training pilots for WWII, and returned it in 1947 with the condition that that it be able to take over the airport again at any time (the so-called "recapture clause"). With this condition, no fixed-based operator (FBO) would start commercial operations at the airport. To earn revenue, the Airport leased out two-thirds of its land to farming (hay). The recapture clause was removed in December of 1961, but major farming continued until at least 1963. The airport signed its first FBO in December 1961, which started building its hanger from scratch. Between 1947 and 1962, the economy of Central County began substantial development without the Airport's contribution. |
An
Airport on Shaky Ground ....
In 1941-42, Buchanan Field was built over the old wash basin of Walnut Creek with dirt fill, and lies over the Concord fault. As a result, it is the center of maximum ground shaking in central Contra Costa County, and structures at the airport expected to be destroyed by a 6.8 Magnitude earthquake on the Concord Fault. SFO and OAK will experience less ground shaking from quakes on their neary faults. Click here to see the earthquake map from the Association of Bay Area Governments. Delays
Predicted for Buchanan, Living in the Shadows of three major airports....
|
|
| Online Agendas | ||
| C.C. Board of Supervisors | ||
| City of Concord | ||
| City of Martinez | ||
| City of Pleasant Hill | ||
| This page is updated periodically. | so keep checking back. | |