Noise Continues to be a Problem

Two articles written in June 2023 regarding noise:

June 9, 2023: Noise Could Take Years Off Your Life. Here’s How.

A growing body of research shows that this kind of chronic noise — which rattles the neighborhood over 280 times a day, more than 105,000 each year — is not just annoying. It is a largely unrecognized health threat that is increasing the risk of hypertension, stroke and heart attacks worldwide, including for more than 100 million Americans.

June 17, 2023: Schiphol: Plans won’t meet noise reduction targets; KLM Group to update fleet, reschedule flights

Banning overnight flights, private planes and “the noisiest aircraft” provides enough noise reduction at night, but not during the day.

SurfAir to Go Public

Surf Air, now Surf Air Mobility, continues to fly in and out of San Carlos. The company plans to go public through $1.4 billion merger. Read about the news on  Skift.com

You can follow the news on the Surf Air Newsroom page at:

https://www.surfair.com/newsroom

NOISE COMPLAINTS

There are several options to make a noise complaint for the County of San Mateo airports.

Noise complaints are recorded and reported on the county’s website at the Public Works page at:
https://www.smcgov.org/publicworks/county-san-mateo-airports-90-day-report-comments

June 2021 – Noise Complaints Matter

The issue of airport noise from San Carlos is not resolved.   Surf Air continues to partner with Advanced Air to fly in and out of KSQL under the WSN identifier on Flightaware.  https://flightaware.com/.    Their only limitations are the number of tickets they can sell.  The airport exerts no control over their number of flights, the (lack of ) security, the flight paths, and so on.  They are keeping track of our noise complaints.  We continue to try to engage the County to control the noise and the airport.

There are several options to make a noise complaint.

Article reprinted by permission by Harvey Radin

More Than 96,000 Complaints, So Far

by Harvey Radin

There have been more than 96,000 complaints, so far, from people worrying about powerful aircraft over neighborhoods, 20 miles, or so, north of San Jose, California. When you file a complaint on the San Mateo County Airports website, you get a response that begins with “Thank You!” – in big type. You’re told your complaint will be “logged into” the “noise complaint management system database, and it will be “reviewed, analyzed and reported to airport management.”

If you happen to complain directly to airport management, let’s say by email, management often includes a “Thank You” in its reply, even when they’re, perhaps, not easing your concerns about powerful aircraft overhead, at all hours, most days.

Last year, I wrote an article in the Las Vegas Business Press about emerging, often disruptive, business models, including a subscription airline flying passengers out of small, general aviation airports. The airline has been operating from several airports in California and elsewhere, including the San Carlos Airport in San Mateo County. A local newspaper, the Daily Post, had reported that some people along the airline’s flight path “can no longer have conversations in their homes because of the planes.” More passenger airlines and air charter companies have been flying out of the small airport since the subscription airline first landed there more than six years ago.

Complaints about noise and safety have been mounting. There have been public hearings over the years. There was even a demonstration at the airport. Local government and the FAA have been evaluating things, but not all that much has changed over the years. A growing number of powerful, multi-passenger aircraft are still overhead, worrying people on the ground.

Those big thank yous from the county and airport management, while nice and polite, are what they are. From August 2016 to mid-July this year, more than 1,700 complaints per month were filed on the San Mateo County Airports website, if our math is correct. How does this monthly number of complaints compare to other things people complain about?

Well, several years ago, NBC News, in a story about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), reported on banking customer complaints. The story, in September 2016, noted that since March 2012, the CFPB had handled approximately 94,000 “bank-related complaints.” Based on a three-month rolling average, referenced in the story, CFPB was getting 1,890 complaints from bank customers. Interesting, isn’t it, that the numbers aren’t that far apart. Bank customers had filed 1,890 monthly complaints, and people concerned about aircraft safety and noise had filed more than 1,700 complaints per month. Even more interesting, looking at those numbers, the 1,800-plus complaints were being filed by bank customers, nationwide, while people from only seven, or so, communities in northern California were filing the 1,700-plus complaints about powerful, disturbing aircraft.

Noise Complaints Matter

The issue of airport noise from San Carlos is not resolved.   Surf Air continues to partner with Advanced Air to fly in and out of KSQL under the WSN identifier on Flightaware.  https://flightaware.com/.    Their only limitations are the number of tickets they can sell.  The airport exerts no control over their number of flights, the (lack of ) security, the flight paths, and so on.  They are keeping track of our noise complaints.  We continue to try to engage the County to control the noise and the airport.

There are several options to make a noise complaint.

Article reprinted by permission by Harvey Radin

More Than 96,000 Complaints, So Far

by Harvey Radin

There have been more than 96,000 complaints, so far, from people worrying about powerful aircraft over neighborhoods, 20 miles, or so, north of San Jose, California. When you file a complaint on the San Mateo County Airports website, you get a response that begins with “Thank You!” – in big type. You’re told your complaint will be “logged into” the “noise complaint management system database, and it will be “reviewed, analyzed and reported to airport management.”

If you happen to complain directly to airport management, let’s say by email, management often includes a “Thank You” in its reply, even when they’re, perhaps, not easing your concerns about powerful aircraft overhead, at all hours, most days.

Last year, I wrote an article in the Las Vegas Business Press about emerging, often disruptive, business models, including a subscription airline flying passengers out of small, general aviation airports. The airline has been operating from several airports in California and elsewhere, including the San Carlos Airport in San Mateo County. A local newspaper, the Daily Post, had reported that some people along the airline’s flight path “can no longer have conversations in their homes because of the planes.” More passenger airlines and air charter companies have been flying out of the small airport since the subscription airline first landed there more than six years ago.

Complaints about noise and safety have been mounting. There have been public hearings over the years. There was even a demonstration at the airport. Local government and the FAA have been evaluating things, but not all that much has changed over the years. A growing number of powerful, multi-passenger aircraft are still overhead, worrying people on the ground.

Those big thank yous from the county and airport management, while nice and polite, are what they are. From August 2016 to mid-July this year, more than 1,700 complaints per month were filed on the San Mateo County Airports website, if our math is correct. How does this monthly number of complaints compare to other things people complain about?

Well, several years ago, NBC News, in a story about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), reported on banking customer complaints. The story, in September 2016, noted that since March 2012, the CFPB had handled approximately 94,000 “bank-related complaints.” Based on a three-month rolling average, referenced in the story, CFPB was getting 1,890 complaints from bank customers. Interesting, isn’t it, that the numbers aren’t that far apart. Bank customers had filed 1,890 monthly complaints, and people concerned about aircraft safety and noise had filed more than 1,700 complaints per month. Even more interesting, looking at those numbers, the 1,800-plus complaints were being filed by bank customers, nationwide, while people from only seven, or so, communities in northern California were filing the 1,700-plus complaints about powerful, disturbing aircraft.

Surf Air Flight Arrivals to KSQL Increase

If you think you have heard more flights lately, you are correct.   Surf has slowly increased their KSQL traffic to 5 arrivals per weekday.  There are also at least two other charter operators that fly the noisy PC 12.   If you want to verify that you heard a Surf Air flight, go to Flightaware.  https://flightaware.com/
Surf’s partner is Advanced Air.   These flights are listed as WSN and a number from 21 – 26.   WSN 21 for example.  As they add more planes that number will increase.
The article in Forbes is below.

Netflix-Style Private Airline Surf Air Plots A Comeback Adding Pay-As-You-Go Memberships

The world of aviation is filled with the carcasses of ventures large and small, entrepreneurs, celebrities and investors alike attracted to an industry which at best has had spotty returns in its century of existence. After a stretch of rough weather, Surf Air’s chairman and CEO is hoping that the company’s troubles of last year are behind it.

Sudhin Shahani says his optimism is based on having settled a lawsuit with the former operator of its California network and getting back its entire fleet of Pilatus PC-12 aircraft, some of which Encompass Aviation LLC had kept in its possession after the breakup. He also placed its short-lived operation in Europe into liquidation in December, ending its folly there, and says the company worked out a payment plan with the IRS after facing a lien for unpaid back taxes.

Surf Air chairman and CEO Sudhin Shahani says his company is poised for a comeback after a turbulent 2018.

SURF AIR

“I think we are at the last page of a turnaround plan,” he says, adding, “We’re profitable on unit economics, and we’re working on getting the company profitable,” something he believes will happen by the end of the year.

To get through its challenges, Shahani says inside investors “stepped up” with enough capital “stabilize the business.” Over the next couple of months, the plan is to raise at least $20 million via a new round that would bring on additional investors.

Founded in 2011, Surf Air is one of the many entries into the market that has been referred to at one time or another as an incarnation of Uber in the skies or a magical way to democratize private air travel beyond the very rich.

Its core has always been a fly as much as you can Netflix style model requiring a monthly membership payment. The current offer is priced at $1,950 and you can even make your booking via an iPhone app.

On the surface, the business concept makes sense. By using private aviation facilities and smaller airports, customers show up 15 minutes before departure, avoid the crowds of big terminals, and its planes taxi from the ramp to the runway in minutes. On its relatively short hops, where a large part of the flight is either climbing out or descending, its slower turboprops don’t lose much time against faster jets. Door-to-door, instead of four hours via the airlines, using Surf Air can cut travel time by more than half.

A new focus, however, will be Surf Air Express, designed for the less frequent flier. Despite the name, which sounds a bit like a second airline, it’s the same aircraft and schedules. You pay $2,500 once per year and then purchase single seats starting at $500 per flight on a pay-as-you-go basis.

To test the waters for the new product, Surf Air ran an Indiegogo campaignlast fall raising $131,600, 230% of its goal. Expect more in the future.

There’s also a bulk option for groups giving you 10 tickets per month for multiple users, priced at $5,000.

To help win back customers it lost, until the end of the month there is a promotion where it will match the price of a commercial airline flight you’ve already booked with a Surf Air credit as well as a referral bonus providing a $1,000 credit.

Surf Air’s comeback is based on focusing on a few key routes in Texas and California, plus a new pay-as-you-go membership plan that provides an inventory on all flights.

“We had a difficult 2018, and we got through it. We’re coming out of that process, and focusing on the strongest routes with really robust schedules,” says the affable Shahani during a telephone interview.

The focus will be on routes from the Bay Area, San Carlos or Oakland, to Los Angeles, using Hawthorne Airport, Santa Barbara and Tahoe. In Texas, key routes are from Dallas to Houston and Austin.

The goal is for the current schedule of three flights on most weekdays to eventually more than double, something Shahani says can be accomplished with its current fleet of 10 PC-12s.

He says by honing in on a few routes it makes its operation more efficient and more dependable, something that’s necessary to win back its target market of business travelers. Most of its customers come from Southwest Airlines or other commercial airlines plying intra-California and Lone Star routes.

“Every month we bring back old customers. We brought back a third of what we had before,” Sudhani says, although he says it’s hard to provide comparisons with true insight because of the new membership types.

For its pay-as-you-go members, they will find seats now on all flights, instead of just off-peak times. Weekend schedules will include Napa, Monterrey and Palm Springs.

As of 2017 Surf Air no longer operates its aircraft. In California, its flights are being flown by Advanced Air, LLC, an IS-BAO and Argus Platinum operator, which has both a management arm and operates shuttle services in Arizona and New Mexico. Boomerang Air Charter operates Surf’s Texas flights that date from its 2017 acquisition of Rise.

Sans actually flying planes, Surf Air is now a membership marketing company, and Sudhani believes the yield management and pricing technology it developed is something he can bring to other similar enterprises.

First, he will have to prove Surf Air has flown out of the storm.

Surf Air Update March 2019

Surf Air is flying.   Surf Air is not paying their tax bill, now at $159,292 *

Surf Air is flying in and out of San Carlos (KSQL), again.  They are partnering with Advanced Air.   When you search Flightaware  https://flightaware.com/ you are looking for the PC12 plane under the column Type.  The identifier is WSN 21, WSN 22, or WSN 23.  There may be others as Advanced Air adds more planes.

Surf is flying a few times per day.  It varies.   There are two other operators at KSQL who are flying the noisy PC12 and are carrying passengers.   They are Part 135 “unscheduled operators” whereas Surf is a Part 135 “scheduled” operator.   One is Big Wednesday with identifier N288SE.  Another is Santana, XSN32.  We also see Riki Pilatus N643PC.

There are other PC12s used by other operators at KSQL.  All of the operators will fly the same path over our homes as Surf.   The airport’s Voluntary Noise Abatement program is ineffective for these businesses.  We are not sure who follows that program, but we know it is not followed by the regular operators who want to fly the shortest and quickest route. 

No one seems to know what Surf is planning.  We have seen that they will add flights as often as they can find the passengers.  We know they are having some financial difficulties as they are unable to pay their San Mateo County (SMC) property tax bills.

They have not been paying their tax bills for several years.   Late fees and penalties have been added, yet there is no punishment.  Don’t try this at home.   The County is unwilling to impose punitive measures or confiscate assets.   We appreciate the difficulty of storing a PC 12 but something could be done.  A citizen who is late or does  not pay a property tax bill would find a foreclosure procedure ensuing.

SMC cannot prevent Surf from using the airport.  There are measures SMC could implement that would communicate to Surf that they cannot flout the law without repercussions. 

* Surf Air Tax Bill 3/10/2019

Records show Surf Air owes county $328,371 in taxes

According to an article in the Almanac on October 11, 2018 Surf Air is behind in their taxes.

by Angela Swartz

The commuter airline Surf Air has hardly been in the good graces of a vocal contingent of area residents bothered by its noisy planes flying overhead since it started using the San Carlos Airport. But the San Mateo County tax collector isn’t likely to be looking favorably on the company either, given that, according to public records, the airline owes the county hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes.

The airline, which confirmed on Oct. 5 that it would resume flights at the county-owned airport later this month after a brief hiatus, owes the county $328,371.69 in taxes, according to county documents updated Oct. 10. Aside from financial penalties for not paying the taxes on time, county assistant tax collector Robin Elliott said she is not aware of nonfinancial penalties, such as not being able to use the airport.

Surf Air paid off $57,613.60 in 2017 county taxes. It still owes the county $7,407.14 for 2014 taxes, $91,521.17 for 2016 taxes, $79,364.48 for 2017 taxes and $150,078.90 for 2018 taxes, according to county records. The charges have penalties attached to the bills since Surf Air did not pay as of Aug. 31, according to Jim Irizarry, assistant assessor-county clerk-recorder and chief elections officer.

The county taxes Surf Air’s planes, which are considered business property. It’s a complicated formula, but factors that go into determining the business property tax are the value of the aircraft and how many hours the aircraft spends in the county, Irizarry said. The county controller’s office calculates the tax after the assessor evaluates the property value, he said. The tax collector levies the penalties, he said.

Surf Air could not immediately be reached for comment on the tax matter.

In August, the federal government reported that Surf Air owes $2.33 million in taxes. At the time, officials reported that Surf Air owed the county $131,371 for 2017 taxes and could owe more for 2015 and 2016.

Surf Air is “nearly at an end” of settlement negotiations with Encompass Aviation, a Surf Air spokesperson said in an email. In mid-June, Surf Air replaced Encompass Aviation LLC with Advanced Aviation LLC as its flight operator. Days later, Encompass sued Surf Air, claiming $3.1 million in unpaid bills.

Surf Air countersued Encompass, asking that Encompass return the PC-12 turboprop planes it subleased from Surf Air. Surf Air claimed at least $10 million in damages.

Two of the PC-12s are already back in the Surf Air fleet and the company expects to have them all back very soon, the spokesperson wrote. Steve Harfst, president and CEO of Encompass, declined to comment on the negotiations.

Surf Air has not settled on the number of flights it will operate out of San Carlos Airport when it returns later this month. In August, airport manager Gretchen Kelly confirmed that the airline had stopped using the airport, saying that the last record the airport had of a Surf Air plane landing there was June 29. She said at the time that workers affiliated with Surf Air indicated the airline may be back in October.

Kelly said on Oct. 9 that the airport hasn’t officially heard from Surf Air about its plans to return. The airline has an operating agreement with the airport in which Surf Air pays the airport a percentage of its revenue and landing fees, she said.

“We’re obviously concerned about our neighbors, but also trying to maintain a successful airport,” Kelly said.

The Surf Air spokesperson said that when the airline returns to San Carlos Airport, “flight operations will start slowly to make sure we are operating in ways that reduce our noise footprint. If all goes well, we’ll gradually increase the number of flights while continuing to operate out of Oakland Airport.”

A startup airline that began using the San Carlos Airport in June 2013, Surf Air offered unlimited flights for a monthly fee and scheduled as many as 45 flights a day in and out of the airport.

Read the article >>

Disruptive problems plaguing distruptive businesses

BY HARVEY RADIN SPECIAL TO LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS

Local resident Harvey Radin has commented several times in the past on the disruption caused by Surf Air.  His recent article appeared in the Las Vegas Business Press.

September 10, 2018 – 4:24 pm

Disruption is thrilling, but there’s also a downside when innovative businesses become mired in disruptive problems. Dockless scooter and bike companies, for example, have to sort things out when people renting two-wheelers leave them scattered along sidewalks. You’re hearing about that as Lime Bike, Bird, Ofo and other companies roll into more cities.

“Although the devices align with local climate action goals and offer an affordable solution for the first and last mile of a daily commute, city officials have said they also create chronic nuisance issues,” according to Fox 5 San Diego.

Ironing out problems is a real pain for business firms. Fixing them can be time-consuming and costly. Companies may have to change procedures, tweak business models and spend time resolving issues with city government officials and activist groups. They may need to bring in legal counsel, lobbyists, marketing and public relations staff.

Human nature seems to play a role in some of the problems plaguing innovative businesses. In a story, last May, about “illegal short-term rentals,” CNBC, reported that Boston was “pushing back against properties being rented out as commercial operations.”

You hear about strangers staying a few days at a time making short-term rental properties seem like hotels. You hear about raucous parties.

Another innovative business model — a membership airline — has been in the news. According to an article in a Northern California newspaper, the Daily Post, the all-you-can-fly airline: “Surf Air began operating out of the San Carlos Airport in 2012, disrupting many residents who live along the planes’ flight path.”

The airline provides service at several airports in California and elsewhere, including San Carlos Airport, some 20 miles north of San Jose.

“Some residents” in one of the communities along the flight path said at a meeting in 2015: “They can no longer have conversations in their homes because of the planes.”

People in at least seven communities have been voicing complaints, according to articles in other news media.

The Daily Post also reported a possible reduction, recently, in the number of Surf Air planes over neighborhoods. The airline has denied “cutting back on flights … but residents say skies are less noisy.”

Whether people filing noise complaints, attending public hearings and holding a protest last year at the airport had an impact remains to be seen.

There’s nothing wrong with disruption. Shaking things up is OK as long as companies thoroughly evaluate how new business models might be perceived by people outside their customer base, and attempt to address problems before they spiral out of control.

Harvey Radin is a crisis communication expert who lives in Northern California. His articles about business, government and public opinion have appeared in a number of media, including Business Insider, Talking Biz News, American Banker, Times of San Diego and regional newspapers.

Surf Air flights down by 85 percent, but noisy legal fight continues

Commuter airline responds to suit claiming it owes former operator millions

July 10, 2018

Author: Barbara Wood/ Almanac

The skies over the Midpeninsula may have become quieter in the weeks since Surf Air, a commuter airline that uses the county-owned San Carlos Airport, announced it had changed the company operating its planes. But there’s a noisy fight going on behind the scenes.

County officials say the number of Surf Air flights going in or out of the San Carlos Airport fell by 85 percent after Surf Air replaced Encompass Aviation LLC with Advanced Aviation LLC as its flight operator in mid-June.

County spokeswoman Michelle Durand said that between June 17, when Advanced took over the flights, and July 5, Surf Air had only 51 arrivals or departures. In comparison, between May 17 and June 5, Surf Air had 338 arrivals and departures, Durand said.

An attorney representing the airline, Louis R. “Skip” Miller of the Los Angeles firm Miller Barondess LLP, said the airline will be back to its full schedule at San Carlos as soon as it gets its PC-12 turboprop planes back from Encompass, which has sued Surf Air claiming $3.1 million in unpaid bills. In the meantime, Miller said, Surf Air used the Moffett Federal Airfield for a short time but is now using the San Jose and Oakland airports for Bay Area flights that can’t land at San Carlos. The San Carlos runway is too short for most of the planes Advanced uses.

On July 5, Surf Air filed a response to the Encompass lawsuit, claiming Encompass has not returned its planes and owes Surf Air over $10 million.

Encompass isn’t the only one dunning Surf Air over allegedly unpaid bills. The federal government says Surf Air owes $2.33 million in taxes, and San Mateo County says Surf Air owes it $131,371 for 2017 taxes and may owe more for 2015 and 2016.

Miller said that “the taxes are being paid.”

The Encompass lawsuit, filed on June 19 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, says in the last six months of 2017 Surf “continued to demand full performance from Encompass in exchange for little to no payments.” The lawsuit says, “Surf made and broke promises over and over again, and imposed on Encompass to be patient and allow, among other things, Surf to grow its cash balances to make its business seem more profitable.”

The July 5 Surf Air response to the lawsuit states that Surf Air ended the agreement with Encompass because it “proved to be a subpar operator. Encompass demanded payments far in excess of the proposed contract rates, failed to provide full transparency for financial and operating data, and demonstrated an inability to handle managerial aspects of the business.”

“In June 2018, Surf Air discovered that Encompass had conjured a plan to oust management and take over Surf Air for itself,” Surf Air’s legal filing says.

The document states that Encompass tried to get two of Surf Air’s partners, key financial backer Partners for Growth and Stonebriar Commercial Finance, which leases Surf Air its planes, to replace Surf Air’s management with Encompass. “Out of concern for the business, (Partners For Growth) reached out to Surf Air and told management what Encompass was scheming. In the process, PFG reiterated its commitment to Surf Air,” the legal filing says.

“Given this treachery and intentional interference by Encompass with two of Surf Air’s key financial partners, and because of ongoing poor management of services and lack of financial transparency, Surf Air decided to, and did, terminate Encompass,” the filing says.

Soon after Surf Air began using San Carlos for scheduled flights in June 2013, complaints about the noise from its turboprop planes began to flood in. The airline offers unlimited flights for a monthly fee and has had as many as 45 scheduled flights a day using the airport.

Because Surf Air’s planes carry fewer than nine passengers, under FAA regulations the company may operate out of the San Carlos Airport even though it is a general aviation — not a commercial — airport. The airport is considered a “reliever airport,” keeping small planes out of busy regional airports such as San Jose, San Francisco International and Oakland.

Read the full article in the Almanac >>