FAA Issues a Proposed Policy ...

... on residential through-the-fence (RTTF) operations and once it is published in the Federal Register the industry has 45 days to comment. Considering the volatility of the issue, the agency is likely anticipating an array of comments. In late 2009 I wrote a blog on this topic after FAA had offered RTTF guidance as it studied the need for new policy. That generated quite a bit of interest including from FAA, which led to an interview with Randall Fiertz, director of airport compliance and field operations at the agency, who related that “there has been no change on FAA policy on this since at least the 1980s.” He added, “There are a couple of reasons why we don’t like through-the-fence residential. One is, we’ve had cases where we’ve seen that a through-the-fence agreement undermines the future capacity capability of the airport, where certain rights have been given in perpetuity or for very long periods of time. It may be a taxiway for the through-the-fence agreement that blocks airport development. We’ve seen residential hangars go up in places where it actually blocked the line of sight from the tower.” In response to FAA’s proposed policy, the National Air Transportation Association issued the following statement in a regulatory report: “NATA agrees with the FAA that the primary issue surrounding RTTF access is the future utility of federally funded airports. Investments in airports, made through the Airport Improvement Program or through federal surplus property grants, are intended to enhance the flexibility of airports to meet the future needs, in both capacity and type of operations, of the National Airspace System. Due to the intrinsic nature of residential properties, as compared to commercial properties, RTTF agreements limit the flexibility of airport sponsors to meet future needs.  NATA believes that the FAA has made an overwhelming case for prohibiting new RTTF agreements and supports this proposal.” Meanwhile, ThroughtheFence.org, created to highlight the issue, on its website states, “The short version is that they [FAA] propose allowing all current agreements but no new ones after the effective date of the policy.” The proposed policy is Docket No. FAA-2010-0831, available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-22095.pdf.  Thanks for reading. jfi