Community members and air service operators debated concerns and compromises about Beluga Lake float plane traffic and noise at an introductory meeting held by city and federal officials Tuesday. 

More than 50 people took part in the community conversation organized by the Federal Aviation Administration at the Homer City Council’s request. By the end of the meeting, the seven attending officials had a list of concerns and possible mitigations that Aviation Safety Inspector George O’Connor said they’ll review further. 

Community complaints focused on disruptive summertime noise from float plane engines, attributed to flight frequency and early operating hours, and safety concerns. Some residents described planes flying so low over their homes that their windows rattled, or times they were surprised the planes’ floats didn’t clip nearby trees. 

“There are periods of the day where you can’t have a conversation outside. The noise is just so much and so constant,” said one Mattox Street resident. 

Mattox Street lies within the traffic pattern area for takeoffs and landings at Beluga Lake. 

Some operators called float plane noise a “summer phenomenon” and said it wasn’t an issue for most of the year. 

Other residents pushed back, irritated by float plane noise starting as early as 6:15 or 7 a.m. in the summer. Many of the early flights are for increasingly popular commercial bear-viewing trips across Cook Inlet. Some residents called for enforced quiet hours between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.

Emerald Air Service operations manager and pilot Derick Broderman said operators stagger their departure times.

“What do you think would happen if you change the curfew, per se, to 8 a.m.?” he said. “It becomes a safety issue too, because now we’ve got 10-15 airplanes that are warming up on Beluga Lake and departing at the same time.”

Eric Lee, co-owner of Alaska Ultimate Safaris, suggested measuring the noise level and duration to better determine future regulation. 

The FAA doesn’t have the authority to regulate float plane noise. O’Connor said any noise ordinance and enforcement would be the City of Homer’s responsibility.

However, he said, residents can report unsafe low-flying aircraft to the Juneau Flight Standards District Office, which covers the Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak and Southeast Alaska. The FAA will investigate the complaint and contact the pilot. 

Complainants should provide information to identify the aircraft, including the registration number and color. Investigators will also ask when and where the incident occurred and the aircraft’s estimated altitude. 

“Even just our notification sometimes may be a reminder for proper altitudes,” O’Connor said.

Several operators in attendance asserted they do follow FAA guidelines and hold passenger and community safety as their utmost priority. 

An Adventure Airways spokesperson wrote in via Zoom chat that they receive the most complaints on an east wind day, when pilots need to land across the lake “the short way,” or in a north-south approach. 

“We are not doing this to be hot dogs or anything like that; we are dealing with a nasty crosswind or possibly even wind shear conditions when approaching (Beluga Lake) over McDonald’s or over Paul Banks (Elementary School),” the spokesperson said. “This is done to protect the lives of our passengers.” 

Much of the discussion focused on seaplane flight patterns and community concerns about planes flying into rising terrain on takeoff. 

FAA rules dictate that airplanes flying over congested areas must be 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle in that area. Planes flying over noncongested or sparsely populated areas should be 500 feet above any person, vessel, vehicle or structure.

“That’s 100% true … except when necessary for takeoff and landing,” O’Connor said. “Aircraft have to get from the altitude they’re flying down to the surface somehow and somewhere.” 

In a written statement read Tuesday, David Miller, the retired commercial pilot who originally sought FAA advice on mitigating float plane noise and safety concerns, called the Beluga Lake air traffic pattern “poorly planned” and described repeated observations of low-altitude aggressive turns over town that put float planes only a few hundred feet above rooflines and trees. 

“Operations over the bay would be safer for the residents of Homer, as well as the clients traveling to and from their bear viewing floatplane adventure,” he wrote. “Low altitude operations over water are infinitely safer than low altitude operations over rising terrain.” 

Current air traffic patterns for the Homer Seaplane Base require all aircraft to remain north of Beluga Lake while taking off or coming in to land. The Homer Airport traffic pattern, on the other hand, requires aircraft to remain south of the airport.

“This is intentionally done to deconflict the traffic coming in, so we’re separating the seaplane traffic from the wheel traffic,” O’Connor said. 

Air traffic conflict is mitigated by altitude as well as geographic distance, he continued. The standard traffic pattern altitude for fixed wing aircraft at Beluga Lake is 1,000 feet above ground level, and 800 feet AGL at the Homer Airport. O’Connor clarified that traffic pattern altitudes are suggested, not mandatory.

“What some of you may not know is these are AGL altitudes, not MSL altitudes,” he said. 

AGL refers to an aircraft’s altitude above the ground directly beneath it; that number will change with the terrain. MSL, or mean sea level altitude, is the vertical distance of an aircraft measured from the average level of the ocean.

“The difference being, what a pilot reads on the altimeter of the aircraft is above sea level, not above ground level,” O’Connor said. “Most pilots are going to fly at 1,000 feet on the altimeter. In reality, if you look at Pioneer (Avenue) … where most traffic is going to be … you’re 150 feet above the sea. So the real traffic pattern altitude you should be flying is 1,150 feet if you’re going (over) Pioneer.

“That by itself might decrease quite a bit of the noise concerns that we have. Pilots can agree to start following that.” 

Some attendees questioned whether a control tower was necessary to manage Homer air traffic, or what the timeframe would be to change flight patterns in addressing safety concerns.

Kevin Hubbard, FAA deputy regional administrator for Alaska, said the traffic at Homer is “unlikely to justify” a control tower. He estimated it would take two to three years to draw a new instrument approach to an airport. 

Other suggestions, derived from successes in Juneau and Ketchikan, included turbine engine conversions or switching to three-blade prop engines or two-blade propellers.

“There’s a high price tag with any aircraft modification,” said Juneau FSDO manager Brad Sapp. 

No concrete solutions came out of the meeting, but Tuesday’s conversation held little antagonism. Multiple attendees, operators or not, reflected that aviation is a vital part of Alaska life, particularly in rural areas without road access. Others noted that float planes would become an important emergency resource, bringing in food and supplies and evacuating residents, for example, if an earthquake were to cut off road access or damage the Homer Airport airstrip.

“Somehow we’ve got to come to some kind of a compromise,” said Diamond Ridge resident David Stutzer. “They’re not going to go away, for good reason — because we need them, because they’re making a living.”

Watch the full meeting recording on the City of Homer website.

Reach the Juneau FSDO office by calling 907-586-7532.