Noise reduction, but frustration remains at Mesa's Falcon Field Airport

In effort to reduce complaints from noise-weary east Mesa residents, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently  “lifted” the aircraft traffic pattern at Falcon Field airport (FFZ) by two-hundred feet. The move became increasingly necessary with the arrival of the Belgian-owned Sabena Airline Training Center to the field nearly two years ago.

Unfortunately, the change does little to alleviate the frustration felt by Falcon’s full-time regulation-weary pilots. For just over a year now, since Sabena’s arrival, for over  8 hours a day, seven days a week,  a potential of more than 40 aircraft, flown by foreign students (many of whom have difficulty understanding and communicating) utilize Falcon’s resources.

This frustration was evident recently when a commercial pilot friend and I were returning to Falcon from a local flight. FAA regulations stipulate that no aircraft can enter Falcon Field’s circular airspace without prior permission from the control tower. As the two of us approached Falcon, we repeatedly tried to contact the tower without success. Why? They were dealing with several student pilots unable to understand the instructions being given to them.
As we orbited over Apache Junction trying to get a word in edgewise, I was counting the dollars this was costing me in wasted gas and wondered how many below us would be contacting the FAA to complain about the noise. 

My upset friend then suggested, and I agreed, that the second, shorter parallel runway at FFZ should be extended, that Sabena should use that runway almost exclusively, and that the school should provide the funds to bring in another air traffic controller to help transition Sabena traffic.

The irony to all of this is that some of those pilots who come to the US to take advantage of the cheaper fuel and wide-open spaces are now risking that airspace. I also wonder how many might soon return home to fly European legislators from their respective hometowns into Brussels in order to vote on the next round of tariffs against the United States.