Tampa International's noise guidelines were bent by Air Force One on a recent trip to Tampa.
By JEAN HELLER
Published March 6, 2004
TAMPA - When it comes to the president's airplane, the rules are flexible.
When President Bush visited the area on Feb. 15, Air Force One violated the airport's noise abatement rules, according to information recently made public by Tampa International Airport.
But if anybody in South Tampa heard the giant Boeing 747 flying low overhead, nobody complained.
TIA has two north-south runways, one to the east of the airfield and one to the west. When turbojets land from the south, heading north, the airport wants them on the west runway so they approach over water - and don't rattle windows and nerves in the tony neighborhoods of South Tampa.
The Air Traffic Information System recording that pilots are supposed to listen to when approaching TIA specifies that turbojets shouldn't ask to use the east runway without good reason.
Ken Reed, the airport's noise officer, said there's no evidence Air Force one asked to deviate from airport noise rules and use the east side runway.
The Secret Service had swept that runway because weather conditions early in the day suggested it would be the appropriate place to land, approaching from the north and heading south. When the wind changed directions, Air Force one had to approach from the south and land heading north, which should have moved it to the west side runway. But the pilots flying the president declined, as all approaching pilots can, to switch.
"I guess they chose to stay on the same runway because it had been secured," Reed said.
TIA has had trouble with some airlines, notably Southwest, whose pilots tend to ask for the east runway because it is a shorter taxi to Southwest's gates at Airside A. For Air Force One, that runway also was a shorter taxi to its parking spot at Raytheon.
Airport officials have sent stern letters of warning to the offending carriers. Not so to the president.
The airport doesn't have the authority to fine, but Reed said he wishes it did.
"Wouldn't it be nice if I had the authority to ticket Air Force One?" he said. "I'd send a $35 citation right to the White House."
