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I must respectfully disagree with Ms. Del Calzo's analysis of the
effects of the new North-South runway currently under construction at
MSP International Airport. The City of Minneapolis will not gain
anything from the construction of the new runway, except perhaps more
cheap flights to Las Vegas. In fact, we are among the losers. As I
pointed out in my earlier posting and as Ms. Del Calzo correctly stated
in her most recent posting, the new North-South runway (35-17) will be
used almost exclusively for departures to the south (away from
Minneapolis) when wind conditions permit. That is, when the prevailing
winds are from the south, southeast, or southwest, aircraft may depart
to the south (into the wind) on the new runway. Eagan is not
particularly happy about it, by the way.
Under these conditions and at the same time, aircraft are landing (into
the wind) on parallel runways 12-L and 12-R from the north. That is,
aircraft are flying over Minneapolis to land. Aircraft do not land or
take off with the wind at their tails. If there is no wind--a rare
occurrence in Minnesota--air traffic is routed for greatest efficiency
within the parameters of the "runway use system." The new North-South
runway is designed to increase the total capacity of the airport by
getting departing planes off of the parallel runways whenever possible.
Thus, when departures are shifted from one or both of the parallel
runways to the new runway, more aircraft can land on parallel runways
12-L and 12-R within a given time frame. Voila! Capacity goes up. Peak
travel periods will see the increase first. All sides agree that the
total number of landings and departures at MSP International is
increasing at an accelerated rate--nearly one half million operations
last year alone. The result of the new runway will be a net increase of
flights landing over Minneapolis. And because aircraft will only rarely
depart to the north and south at the same time (no wind), departures
over Minneapolis will not be reduced by the new North-South runway.
I do agree with Ms. Del Calzo's assertion that without the new
North-South runway, the parallel runways would be used for longer
periods of time to accommodate the increasing volume of air traffic. The
weak and wholly voluntary night flight restrictions (10:30 p.m.-6:00
a.m.) are not sufficient barriers to capacity growth. Unfortunately,
however, the new runway will offer no relief for the City of
Minneapolis. If you'd like to confirm my analysis, I urge you to check
out MAC's web site at www.macavsat.org, where air traffic patterns and
the runway use systems are discussed in dizzying detail.
Dennis Jon
Ward 11 -Park District 6
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