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<br />Proposals for Revising Northern California Metroplex – Alameda County/Contra Costa County 8 <br />the hillside residential areas of Oakland, Berkeley, and northward was achieved by requiring that <br />climbing aircraft remain over the Bay and not turn eastward until at higher altitudes at REBAS <br />intersection over Point Richmond. The HUSSH procedure was developed to provide a similar <br />nighttime benefit to BFI/Alameda and the hillside residential areas of Oakland, Berkeley, and <br />northward by having aircraft, when at or above 520 feet, turn left direct to the HUSSH waypoint, <br />which generally is located in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. After reaching HUSSH, aircraft <br />generally follow a path that allows them to remain clear of both the west and east shorelines of San <br />Francisco Bay until reaching a higher altitude when a turn over land is less disruptive to residents at <br />the REBAS waypoint at Point Richmond. HUSSH replaced the SILENT Standard Instrument <br />Departure (“SID”). <br /> <br />HUSSH TWOPRIMARY IMPACTED CITIES: <br /> <br />City of Alameda, particularly Bay Farm Island, Oakland, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond. <br /> <br />HUSSH TWONOISE ISSUES: <br /> <br />After analyzing flight tracks of aircraft on the HUSSH departure procedure as compared to the <br />SILENT SID procedure (Figure 6), the Noise Forum has concluded that the HUSSH procedure is <br />less effective at keeping aircraft away from BFI/Alameda as the initial turn over the San Francisco <br />Bay occurs later and the turn itself is not as sharp. Because of this, aircraft departing OAK Runway <br />30 fly much closer to BFI/Alameda than they did previously under the SILENT. In the early <br />morning and late night hours, aircraft noise is especially disruptive given the low ambient noise <br />levels. Although the total number of nighttime flights may not seem high, the impact of these flights <br />close to the shoreline throughout the night is very impactful to the residents. <br /> <br />To study the effectiveness of HUSSH departure, Oakland Airport installed a portable noise monitor <br />at 551 Creedon Circle in Bay Farm Island and collected data for 44 days during the months of <br />January and February of 2016.Varying weather conditions existed during the months of January and <br />February of 2016. Data recorded by the Portable Noise Recorder showed no divergences in noise <br />level between HUSSH and straight-out day time departures from Runway 30 at Oakland Airport <br />(See Table1). The recorded data showed single noise events ranging from 70 dBA to 80.9 dBA for <br />individual aircraft departing off Runway 30 at Oakland airport(See Tables 2, 3, and 4). These noise <br />events are extremely disruptive to residents’ sleep. <br /> <br />Analysis of aircraft flying HUSSH also demonstrates the overwhelming majority of flights are <br />currently allowed early turns eastward over Oakland and Berkeley instead of flying the route as <br />charted to REBAS. This places aircraft at least 1000 to 5000 feet lower in altitude during nighttime <br />hours over densely populated areas in Oakland, Berkeley, and other areas. In the early morning and <br />late night hours, aircraft noise is especially disruptive given the low ambient noise levels, which <br />have been measured to drop as low as 29 dBA in the Montclair residential area of Oakland. <br /> <br />SILENT was designed for noise abatement and kept aircraft over the water during the lower portion <br />of the aircraft climb profile to REBAS intersection. The NextGen HUSSH procedure eliminated the <br />charted heavy line to REBAS that was published under SILENT. This elimination allowed greater <br />discretion for early turns prior to aircraft reaching the REBAS waypoint and greatly undermining <br />200