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FAA VALE grant will help reduce emissions, noise at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

Last Thursday, Federal Aviaion Administrator Randy Babbitt traveled to Seattle to award the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport a Voluntary Airport Low Emissions (VALE) grant for $18.3 million.

The grant, the largest of the FAA's VALE awards, supports installation of a pre-conditioned air plant that will make Sea-Tac one of the nation's few airports with a single, centralized system that covers the entire airport. The new system will allow aircraft at the gates to shut off auxiliary power and connect to the airport's cleaner central heating and cooling supply.

FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, middle, gets briefed on the system and its VALE-supported replacement.

The project will reduce aircraft emissions at Sea-Tac by more than 50,000 metric tons of CO2. That's the equivalent of taking 8,700 cars off the road, and I think the residents of Seattle and Tacoma will appreciate that reduction. It will also save airlines up to five million gallons of fuel and $10 million in fuel costs per year.

"We've shown this can make a tremendous impact on our environmental footprint, one of our key goals," said Mark Reis, Sea-Tac Airport Managing Director. "The positive effects also include reduced noise from aircraft while they are parked at the gates."

Even better, the project is expected to create 120 jobs.

With the Voluntary Airport Low Emissions program, the FAA seeks to reduce airport ground emissions through low emission vehicles, refueling and recharging stations, gate electrification, and other airport air quality improvements like the new Sea-Tac pre-conditioned air plant. Since 2005, FAA has awarded 40 grants totalling $83 million.

FAA guidance makes it clear: There is no room for distraction in the cockpit

Recent incidents have revealed that airline pilots are using personal electronic devices, including laptop computers and cell phones, in the cockpit. In one well-publicized instance, two Northwest pilots were using their laptops in flight and lost situational awareness; they flew 150 miles past their destination.

It doesn't take a safety expert to realize there is no room for distraction when your job is to get people safely to their destinations.

There's a lot going on in today's cockpit; adding laptops and cell phones only complicates the mix

Our Federal Aviation Administration already has what's known as the "Sterile Cockpit Rule," prohibiting pilots from engaging in any type of distracting behavior during critical phases of flight. Today, the FAA is distributing an "Information for Operators" (InFO) guidance that asks the airlines to address distraction through crew training programs. It also asks that airlines create a safety culture to control cockpit distractions.