JACKSON, Wyo. — In a Board meeting last week, the Jackson Hole Airport Board approved expanding the Voluntary Curfew hours for general aviation (GA) aircraft.
Curfew hours for GA aircraft will now be from 9:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. This means GA aircraft are asked not to take off or land at JAC between these hours. In the past, the voluntary curfew hours have been from 11:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. for arrivals and 6 a.m. to 10.p.m for departures.
“Adopting expanded voluntary curfew hours is within the ability of the Airport Board. We will continue to work with our neighbors and Grand Teton National Park to minimize noise impacts using methods that are within our control,” stated Bob McLaurin, Board President.
The purpose of the voluntary noise curfew is to minimize noise impacts on Grand Teton National Park and surrounding communities, says the airport.
Federal law prevents the airport from direct enforcement of the curfew but adhering to the curfew can be encouraged by the Jackson Hole Airport Board and staff.
Additionally, the expanded curfew hours will be included in the Airport’s Fly Quiet scorecard for GA operators on Jan.1 to allow all operators sufficient time for notification of the change. JAC’s Fly Quiet Program is designed to both acknowledge operators that have a high level of compliance with noise abatement procedures and provide a path to improvement for operators with lower levels of compliance.
The expanded voluntary curfew hours will apply to private (GA) aircraft only. Commercial airlines will continue to be held to the historic curfew hours. Weather, mechanical, crew and other delays periodically push actual commercial aircraft arrival times as late as 11:30 p.m. at JAC, but the airlines cannot schedule outside the 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. hours. Exceptions are made for late arriving commercial aircraft based on impacts to travelers, weather and the availability of airline, airport staff and required emergency response personnel.
In addition to expanding the voluntary curfew hours, Board Treasurer Valerie Brown proposed two additional items that were passed unanimously by the Airport Board:
- That the Board inform the FAA that the Southern Departure Taskforce could not develop an alternative procedure that met the FAA criteria; a path acceptable to all parties. Therefore, the Board cannot recommend moving the current departure path because it would move noise not only to other neighborhoods but also increases noise on the Park which could be inconsistent with the airport’s use agreement with the Department of the Interior.
- The Board also directed staff to frame a scope of work to explore additional special departure procedures that utilize Required Navigation Performance (RNP) or another technology that is available or in the very near term would become available that would result in the dispersal of aircraft among several paths to abate noise on any one location and do so without increasing noise impacts on Grand Teton National Park.
“Ultimately, the Task Force could not agree on an alternative flight path as it moved all departures over another neighborhood and/or Grand Teton National Park and other public lands. The Jackson Hole Airport Board will continue to consider alternative departure paths and additional actions to abate the noise over our noise-sensitive neighbors,” stated Valerie Brown, Board Treasurer, and former Chair of the SDTF.
