README File for Airport Sources of Lead in Core-Based Statistical Areas

This document explains the content of Airport Sources of Lead in Core-Based Statistical Areas (Excel) (12 MB, December 2008, Free Excel Viewer is available at Microsoft ). Also see the Aircraft page.

The use of leaded aviation gasoline in piston-engine powered aircraft is a source of lead emissions. The excel file ‘cbsa-airports.xls’ is provided to assist State and Local Authorities in identifying possible airport sources of lead emissions (or possible airports with piston-engine aircraft activity) in the 101 Core-Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) for which the most recent estimates indicate there is a population of more than 500,000. This file is provided for the purposes of considering population-oriented monitor siting for lead. The file lists the CBSA, CBSA population, airport facility name(s), type of airport (airport, seaport, STOLPORT (short take-off and landing airport), gliderport, heliport or ultralight), airport location identification code, state, county, city, FIPS code, latitude and longitude of the facility, the number of aircraft (single engine, multi-engine, ultralights, and helicopters) based at the facility (Sum_Aircraft_Data), the number of landing and take-off events at the facility, and a note if the airport is in the National Emissions Inventory (NEI). Also, the file includes additional information specific to the CBSA such as the CBSA code, Division code, FIPS code, CBSA county and CBSA State (labeled MSA State since CBSAs with more than 500,000 people are more specifically identified by the Census Bureau as Metropolitan Statistical Areas or MSAs).

There are separate worksheets for each state. A number of CBSAs include more than one state and in these cases, the information for the entire CBSA is included on the worksheet for each state in the CBSA.

The airport facility information in this spreadsheet was obtained from a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report that was extracted from the National Airspace System Resources (NASR) database provided by the FAA Office of Air Traffic. The report from which the data were obtained (airportdata_5010) is available for download and includes information for all airport facilities in the U.S. that submit information to the FAA.[1] The NASR is a comprehensive list of airports, currently providing information on 20,089 airport facilities in the U.S. EPA has historically obtained airport information from FAA's Terminal Area Forecast TAF database that is prepared by FAA's Office of Aviation Policy and Plans. The TAF database currently includes information for 3,410 airports in FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS), which identifies airports that are significant to national air transportation. The landing and take-off data from the 'airportdata_5010' report may have been self-reported by airport operators through data collection accomplished by airport inspections performed by the airport inspectors who work for the State Aviation Agency, or obtained through other means. In many cases (particularly for small facilities) landing and take-off activity are not reported to FAA and would need to be obtained by local authorities.

For information regarding estimates of lead emissions at airport facilities (from piston-engine aircraft) that are listed in the NEI, and methods to improve on or create emission inventories for these or other facilities, see the Technical Support Document titled 'Lead Emissions from the use of Leaded Aviation Gasoline in the United States' at http://www.epa.gov/otaq/aviation.htm.

_______________________

1 The data report was downloaded in June 2008 from: http://www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/airports/airport_safety/airportdata_5010/. The database from which the airport facility report is downloaded is available at http://nfdc.faa.gov/index.jsp.