Your one statement; “and have been on the tarmac and I never smelled jet fuel nor have I gotten sick after breathing exhaust fumes for hours. Obviously the exhaust from multiple 747′s is a lot more than one 24 passenger jet landing…” says a lot.

IMPOSSIBLE, it would be absolutely impossible for you to have spent any time, even 10 minutes on an active, aircraft filled tarmac at any airport AND NOT SMELLED JET FUEL. This just shows your complete lack of knowledge on this topic.

Your entire logic would compare to say, a person who recently moved into a house 1 block from 89A who now gets sick from car fumes. Does that mean that we should relocate 89A?

Someone a while back had the best answer for you, MOVE! You moved in an area, near the airport. You may (or may not) have health issues because of YOUR MOVE. Do you really expect anyone to take you seriously??

There were full page ads in the Red Rock News back in 2006 warning that people would be exposed to high levels of jet fuel constituents like benzene if jets were allowed to land here. Those ads were true and the warnings have come to pass, case in point my blood tests and young people getting rare forms of cancer and dying here in a rural area.

My husband has low blood pressure and a low pulse and his levels go from from 118/65 to 210/130! and his pulse goes from 63 to 150 while doing nothing after breathing jet fuel in our own home or yard. No one should be subjected to this whether they knew they were living near an airport or not, this it NOT normal. He also does not get sick at international airports.

You see my blood test on the front page of my website, http://www.closetheairport.com. We smell the jet fuel as a jet comes in for landing, then we have acute poisoning symptoms. There should be no strong smell of jet fuel from a low flying private business jet to the best of my knowledge, am I wrong? If this was normal you would think we would smell all jets and get sick from all jets but we do not.

Please explain how it is possible to have that much jet fuel in ones blood after inhaling mere burned exhaust from one business jet coming in for a landing? That makes no sense at all. Is it normal to smell jet fuel from a small descending jet and for it to emit that much fuel either burned or unburned to create that high level of jet fuel on a blood test? That sounds far fetched to me.

Let’s just say you are right and there is no jet fuel dumping at all, (even though multiple people claim they have been told about jet fuel dumping here for years and former air force personnel believe there is fuel dumping here.) For the safety of the community please help me figure out how this much jet fuel is getting into our blood from the jets? My questions are very simple. These are extremely high levels of fuel to have in one’s blood for a home exposure and I have no occupational exposure! I do not believe I should ever smell jet fuel from an incoming jet.

I’d also like to mention that it was not my idea that jets dump fuel, this came from a Gulfstream pilot. Jet fuel is cheap when your Gulfstream jet costs $20-40 million, plus operating costs and salary for your pilots. Only poor people think it is expensive to waste 5k. It is better to waste 5k in fuel and save 45 minutes of driving. Really who thinks $5k is a lot of money? If you do then you can’t afford a jet! People fly in for dinner at L’Auberge and leave the same night, do you know how much it costs them to come and go just for a dinner?

I’d also like to mention I have spent plenty of time at international airports and have been on the tarmac and I never smelled jet fuel nor have I gotten sick after breathing exhaust fumes for hours. Obviously the exhaust from multiple 747’s is a lot more than one 24 passenger jet landing.

With my blood tests being what they are, it is easy to see why my neighbors are dying, some from rare forms of cancer at young ages. The jet fuel toxicologist I consulted with said, “life is not sustainable with that amount of jet fuel in our blood and cancer and potential death would occur if it stayed that way.”

Waiting for some real answers here from engineers, pilots, and anyone else who knows what they are talking about.

Good question. As a person that has worked at PHX for over 20 years, I can assure you that the only reason a pilot would dump his/her fuel is in an emergency. Otherwise it’s never done.

Why would any plane ever dump its fuel? Jet fuel is very expensive and I don’t know why it would be wasted. Also is there a way for this airport to be run appropriately? What if we wanted to use it to come visit you guys?

-Your nephew, Adam

Most small planes cost less than the average 3 series BMW or C-Class MB, which I’m certain if we’re talking about friends with multi-million dollar homes. The plane I fly gets about 28-30 MPG. Better than whatever SUV people are using to get around Aspen and polluting less in the process.The fact that there are such a small number of planes flying should tell you that they don’t have anywhere near the impact of auto traffic.

You asked why not fly to Flagstaff, 18 miles away and drive down? The 45min to an hour in a rental car burning 20MPG or so, vs flying the 8 extra minutes to Sedona would be worth it, if that were my destination.

If you want to look into helping your fellow man, look at Angel Flight, wounded warriors project and even pilots and paws to see what big bad general aviation pilots are all about.

I’m so very sorry for anyone who has to deal with health issues and I am not trying to diminish anyone’s rights to pursue a happy life.

As for noise pollution, if it is a serious concern, I would suggest contacting the FAA again and ask them to re-evaluate the sound data. That being said, if you feel they should pay for everyone’s tests, you should have to pay for these tests. Afterall, it is federal tax dollars being spent; therefore, my dollars spent. The 200db is simply incorrect, and I will discount that and simply understand that the plane in question was very loud. Understood. I would be willing to bet that a loud car or motorcycle is just as noisy at a person’s ear, due to multiple reasons, proximity, qty and duration of noise. You may live in an area where motorcycle and car traffic is quiet, and I’m sure you picked a neighborhood that was isolated from most of these nuisances. I know I did. I’m very sorry that you did not have the forsight to see for yourself what airport traffic was in the area, if that is important to you.

I would also add that my blood pressure rises as soon as I have an irritating discussion with my boss or see something that others me. That does not mean that I am being polluted and is the only cause of the BP spike. My face gets red when I’m angry and no enviornmental changes have occured. My point is, there are other factors involved that have an impact on health. If I hate Spongebob and hear him on TV, I get upset. If he wakes me up at night, my blood pressure will rise. If I have a neighbor that forces me to listen to it every day, a dozen times a day, albeit for 15 seconds at a time, it could even cause me to be depressed due to my frustration. I do not think anyone here is nuts, I do think it is nuts to pose the airport traffic in Sedona is the sole cause of everyone’s health problems.

I can assure you, the small planes that you don’t like are not the cause of your health problems and the lead levels burned off in the fuel IS minute enough, not to cause a health hazard. It is not lead in the exhaust that is the concern with low-leaded fuel.

Again, I’m very sorry for anyone having health issues. I just feel like I have to respond when I’m linked to a discrimintory murderer of millions, on Veteren’s Day, becasue I use a small plane as transportation to visit my parents on a weekend, where driving back and forth would not work.

I do not say at least they are not dead, yet, or think anyone should wait until people die to try to raise their hands and speak up, but I don’t see the difference between this and someone with severe Asthma moving out of a congested city to the countryside to avoid the enviornmental hazards, if they are convinced that is the cause. People have taken it upon themselves for decades to do just that, and pursue a life of happiness. The fact that the house is de-valued now, is no different to if I build a house and a highway goes in next to it, or worse yet, I build a house right next to a highway that used to have little traffic, now has an extra couple lanes and an HOV lane. If I spend $1M and build a mansion on a landfill, I’m betting I wouldn’t be able to sell it for $1M. Is that the landfill’s fault, and should the landfill owners have to buy the house? No. I have that responsibility myself. No government is required to subsidize the values of homes, that is ridiculous. If you belive they should, then go ahead and donate a few hundred grand to your local government, because it’s you that would have to pay for it anyway through either higher taxes, or deal with fewer teachers or municipalities. There is only so much money available from what you and I already pay. If you want the government to spend it on something like that, then I would say that is a bigger problem.

And really? 25,000 planes a year? Where do you get your information? That’s on average 68 planes a DAY………..I’ve been up on that ramp for 4 or 5 hours at a time waiting for clients and not one plane will have taken off or landed. I’m really curious where you all get your sources.

I wish you all the best of luck. I hope you can find peace and happiness.