Washington, D.C.--Congressman Eliot Engel wrote to President Obama and U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood asking them to postpone any decisions on the controversial FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Airspace Redesign Plan for the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia region.

Rep. Engel said, “The recent emergency landing of US Airways flight 1549 on the Hudson River, which was flying over my district in New York, underscores the urgent need for an effective and safe air traffic control system and airspace design, along with a competent administrator of the Federal Aviation Association (FAA). Sometimes no plan is better than a bad plan and the current Redesign Plan is a bad plan. In no way does it improve the delays experienced by travelers or the safety of the airspace in the northeast. What it does is disrupt he quality of life of thousands of people in its wake,” said Rep. Engel.

Rep. Engel added, “Ever since the previous Administration’s FAA attempted to sneak this Redesign Plan past the people of Rockland, the whole process has been flawed. During each step, the FAA has made it difficult, if not impossible, to get accurate information on the effects of the airspace redesign. This comes without properly notifying the elected representatives and people of Rockland that the FAA Airspace Redesign Plan was actually being considered in the first place.”

After repeated inquiries to the FAA by Rep. Engel, it was eventually disclosed that the plan would send up to 400 additional flights per day over Rockland County at altitudes as low as 5,000 feet. In 2007, Congressman Engel hosted a forum in Rockland County, which drew 1,200 residents, to learn more details of the Redesign Plan.

“We still do not know how loud 400 planes per day are going to be. We do not know how much additional pollution will be falling from the skies above Rockland. We don’t know how this will affect the disproportionate rate of childhood asthma in my district, or the high levels of cancer,” said Rep. Engel. “This whole process has been an insult to the people of Rockland and I sincerely hope that a change in leadership at the FAA will bring an immediate halt to it.”

Rep. Engel met with air traffic controllers who said that the entire redesign plan was unnecessary because the estimated time saving per flight can instead be saved by hiring new controllers for their understaffed air traffic control facilities in the NY area.

“Maybe if the FAA truly wants to correct the time delays and other issues plaguing the airlines and travelers, they will sit at the table with the air traffic controllers and the people that truly understand the problems on the ground and craft a new, workable plan to give New York’s airspace and airports the necessary changes,” added Rep. Engel.

In testimony presented last June to the Subcommittee hearing on Aviation of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committees on Congestion Management in the New York Air Space, Rep. Engel asked his colleagues to put themselves in the position of the 300,000 residents of Rockland, sitting in your living room reading a book with planes flying overhead every two minutes.

Rep. Engel added “If this plan goes forward, I fear for the quiet neighborhoods across the country. President Obama has the opportunity to appoint an FAA Administrator who will end the legacy of bureaucratic resistance at the FAA and postpone the flawed airspace redesign. Together, I am hopeful we can find solutions to these problems.”