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1
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The neighbors of O'Hare International Airport
3understand the importance of this airport to Illinois' economy
4and its supply of good jobs; and
 
5    WHEREAS, The neighbors of O'Hare want to take an active and
6friendly role in helping the airport deal actively with its
7many noise problems; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Among the sponsors of this resolution are
9individuals who have talked with representatives of the City of
10Chicago and who appreciate the work that the Chicago Department
11of Aviation is doing to improve the technology used for
12gathering noise pollution data and improving data
13communications and database technology to consolidate and
14store this data; and
 
15    WHEREAS, This is not the first time that Chicago has
16reached out to its "noise neighbors"; as part of its long-term
17expansion plans, Chicago and many of O'Hare International
18Airport's principal airlines have maintained multi-year
19voluntary noise abatement flight procedures, instituted in
201997 and continuously revised since then as the "O'Hare
21International Airport Fly Quiet Program"; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Compliance with the Fly Quiet Program is overseen
2by the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission, an
3intergovernmental agency that includes Cook County, 41
4municipalities, and 16 school districts adjacent to and around
5O'Hare International Airport; and
 
6    WHEREAS, The voluntary flight procedures listed in the Fly
7Quiet Program include approved, voluntary, recommended
8aircraft pathways for safe commercial jet takeoffs from O'Hare
9International Airport, effective from 10 P.M. to 7 A.M.; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The O'Hare Fly Quiet Program releases quarterly
11reports to measure compliance with the elements of the Program,
12including compliance by airlines and their pilots with approved
13runway departure flight paths; these reports show that, as of
142015, many aircraft departures currently deviate significantly
15from the approved "Fly Quiet" flight paths, thereby imposing
16noise pollution upon substantial areas of residences, schools,
17commercial and industrial structures, as well as property
18owners, whose properties are not sufficiently monitored for
19noise pollution and are not sufficiently mapped as impacted by
20aircraft noise; and
 
21    WHEREAS, The Fly Quiet report published by the Chicago
22Department of Aviation and covering the fourth quarter of
23calendar year 2014 showed massive partial compliance and

 

 

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1noncompliance with Fly Quiet runway departure guidelines, with
2one runway departure point (22L) showing only 40% of aircraft
3departure flight paths being implemented so as to keep the
4aircraft within 0.5 nautical miles of the approved takeoff
5pathway, so that 60% of the planes during this time period,
6taking off from this runway location, applied engine power and
7climbed into the sky while the plane was located at least 0.5
8nautical miles or more away from the approved pathway; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Above and beyond runway departure point 22L, other
10O'Hare International Airport runway departure points also
11showed significant patterns of partial compliance and
12non-compliance with Fly Quiet takeoff flight path guidelines in
13the fourth quarter of 2014; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Overall monitoring by the O'Hare Noise
15Compatibility Commission and others indicated that, in 2015,
16Fly Quiet voluntary guidelines were being adhered to in only
1730% of total flights during nighttime hours; and
 
18    WHEREAS, These examples of partial compliance and
19noncompliance impose substantial financial and quality-of-life
20burdens upon the neighbors of O'Hare International Airport,
21including individuals and businesses that understand the
22importance of the airport and want to be good neighbors; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The airlines that operate at Chicago O'Hare
2International Airport also have many other interrelationships
3with the City of Chicago, the Federal Aviation Administration
4within the United States Department of Transportation, and many
5other entities; and
 
6    WHEREAS, These airlines include the use of a specified
7number of departure gates and related support facilities;
8access to these departure gates and these support facilities
9are essential assets for doing passenger and cargo business at
10O'Hare International Airport; access to support facilities is
11an essential asset for doing non-passenger cargo business at
12the same airport; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Whenever an airline changes hands, and under a
14wide variety of other circumstances, access to major airport
15departure gates and support facilities is closely examined by
16the owner of the airport, the United States Department of
17Transportation, and many other stakeholders in the United
18States airline industry; and
 
19    WHEREAS, The O'Hare International Airport Fly Quiet
20Program should be elevated to the rank of an independent,
21autonomous stakeholder in any future decisions made by O'Hare
22International Airport and its partners that will affect future
23allocations of airport departure gates and support facilities;

 

 

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1therefore, be it
 
2    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
3HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
4SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we state the belief that O'Hare
5International Airport's noise monitoring technology should be
6coupled with artificial-intelligence software, including, but
7not limited to, software that gauges Community Noise Equivalent
8Level noise levels, to the maximum extent allowed by current
9technology in order to match the noises perceived by each
10station at each time to specific individual flight operations
11and the operations of individual airline firms and to gauge the
12compliance of each individual airline firm with the noise,
13time-of-day, and flight path guidelines set down in the Fly
14Quiet Program; and be it further
 
15    RESOLVED, That we call for a measurable improvement in Fly
16Quiet compliance no later than January 1, 2021, with further
17improvements to follow; and be it further
 
18    RESOLVED, That we urge the Aviation Department of the City
19of Chicago to select a trusted third party that represents the
20interests of O'Hare International Airport's noise neighbors
21and to share the information enumerated in this resolution with
22this third party; such information-sharing should be carried
23out in a manner that does not violate the intellectual

 

 

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1properties and executive status of secure information
2controlled by any significant stakeholders at the airport; and
3be it further
 
4    RESOLVED, That, as a part of this information sharing, we
5urge the Aviation Department and the trusted third party to
6collaborate to develop a rank-ordered chart of each airline
7firm's compliance with the guidelines contained in the O'Hare
8International Airport Fly Quiet Program; the chart should be
9public information and should be revised and republished not
10less than every 3 months on the same basis as the reports
11currently submitted by the Fly Quiet Program to the public; and
12be it further
 
13    RESOLVED, That these charts and the data from which these
14charts are generated should be given explicit and formal
15consideration as elements in any decisions made, subsequent to
16the start of the generation of this data and these charts, on
17the reallocation of departure gates and support facilities at
18O'Hare International Airport; and be it further
 
19    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
20delivered to the Mayor of Chicago, the Secretary of the United
21States Department of Transportation, and all members of the
22Illinois Congressional Delegation.