This flight trace shows the path of a jet pilot on final approach into Renton field on Monday. The 150 mile per hour loop, about 900 feet above homes, was not approved by Air Traffic Control.

Benson Hill residents got a preview of what’s to come with Renton’s new Jet refueling center.

A twin-engine Cessna Citation jet landing in Renton from out of state on Monday afternoon made an unauthorized 150 MPH circle about 900 feet above Renton’s Benson Hill neighborhood.  The abrupt high speed loop, which interrupted Renton’s busy traffic pattern, earned the pilot an immediate rebuke from the controller in the tower.

The Citation jet pilot was first asked by the controller to slow down multiple times. “Where are you going?” the controller in the tower asks the pilot urgently, as he began his loop.  To another pilot the controller says “I’m not sure what he is doing.”   “WHAT are you doing?” she asks the jet pilot again.    “Looking for spacing.” comes the pilot’s response.  “OK that traffic is well out of your way, was well out of your way, turning out of your way  You CANNOT  do something like that on final without letting us know” she says firmly.

Both before and after the pilot’s unauthorized and risky donut in the sky, the busy controller can be heard directing at least two piston-powered aircraft into 360-degree turns in the pattern for spacing. As she states clearly, she had cleared the runway for the incoming jet, and certainly did not need him improvising a loop around South Renton while making a 150 MPH/130 Knots approach.

Just a few days ago the Mayor had issued a memo asuring residents the Jet Center would not create any issues, even though the Jet Center owner’s business plan says they intend to market fuel to jet aircraft flying through our state. This unapproved wayward loop over Benson Hill, while local piston-engine aircraft were in the Renton traffic pattern, shows we should expect local resident and pilot complaints from this change.

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The Mayor issued a statement about the Renton Airport on Friday. The complete statement can be found here. 

The Mayor issued a statement on Friday about the Renton Airport which focussed on specific subjects I had been covering in my blog.  I’m not sure who prepared the statement for him, or if he did it himself, but it has numerous errors in it.  If it was prepared by individuals making decisions at our airport, it unfortunately validates concerns I’ve heard voiced about a shortage of experience and engagement in Renton’s airport leadership.

I have reviewed the Mayor’s statement paragraph-by-paragraph, and inserted my comments in bold or in blue or purple underline.  My blue or purple underlined comments link to more detailed blog entries, which in turn link to the source data (like leases, emails, documents, etc).

The Mayor’s words are in italics.

_______________________________________

April 12, 2024

Good afternoon, Renton –

I’d like to take a moment to address a few points of interest I’ve heard garnering a lot of attention around the Renton Municipal Airport. There’s a lot of speculation out there, and some misinformation – and the fastest way to address that is to focus on the facts.

A primary source of misinformation is this Mayoral statement. If someone wrote it for the Mayor, they need some retraining.  I’ll respond with accurate blog posts that include proof.  

1. Is there a brand-new business coming into the Renton Municipal Airport?

One of our longterm existing airport tenants (Pro Flight Aviation) has sold their existing business to a new operator (Dark Horse Aviation). Under the terms of the 35 year lease, the existing tenant has the express right to do this. The only role the city can play is in evaluating the new operator’s financial capacity, experience in running an FBO, or fixed-based operator business, and compliance with Airport Leasing Policy.

There are many ways the city, RAAC, and community can influence the selection of tenants at our airport, and the FAA-approved Sustainability Management Plan expects us to do so.  Click here for details

This is not a new business, but a potential shift in focus of the business. The purpose of a Fixed Base Operator (FBO) is to provide fueling services to aircraft as well as ramp services for visiting aircraft. Proflight’s lease also specifies many other services that are propeller-airplane focussed, like a flight school, airplane rentals, aerial photography, and aircraft repairs and modifications.

Pro-Flight Aviation has operated this business from 2009 forward. The new firm is looking to try to service jets shut out of Boeing Field; however, this was going to occur naturally as Boeing Field is taking on greater importance as a cargo hub and site of large business aircraft. Renton opposed this for the 28 years I was on City Council, and it is not consistent with our FAA Approved Airport Sustainability Management Plan.  Pro-Flight Aviation has traditionally serviced jet aircraft and sells Jet A fuel as well as Av Gas for propeller planes.

2. Will Renton Municipal Airport be opened up to 24/7 jet traffic? No, any business operations will be subject to the air traffic control tower operation hours – from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM in winter; and 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM during summer. This is obviously not true.  As Renton’s own website clearly says, the airport is open to traffic 24/7, and gets significant traffic at night.  This statement is a demonstration of a stunning lack of understanding of our airport by whoever wrote this statement. 

The existing ramp operated by Dark Horse Aviation can only accommodate 6-8 medium/small jets. The Renton Airport operates within certain limitations due to Airport Rules and Regulations and Airport Minimum Standards. These rules and regulations are produced by the aviation and community representatives on RAAC, a body which the Mayor wrongly diminishes below. 

FBOs are required to maintain public buildings, like customer lobbies, offices, pilot lounges, restrooms, and adequate parking. They also have to provide a ramp area for aircraft parking for at least five aircraft. An FBO is also mandated to have regular operation hours schedule, open for a minimum of eight hours per day and seven days per week. After-hours fueling services must also be available either through on-call employees or shared schedules, but the operational and regulatory demands contribute to the limitations on the airport’s 24/7 operations.

3. Shouldn’t this have been reviewed by the Renton Airport Advisory Committee? In short, no. The only role the city has in this scope is to review the new operator’s feasibility and have city council approve this. There are specific provisions noting that consent should not be “unreasonably withheld, conditioned or denied” by the council. If we took any other action beyond what is described in the lease, the city could have been open to an FAA Part 16 Complaint, or a potential lawsuit for damages as a result of losing the sale of the business. As stated above, there are many ways to influence the lease, and they are encouraged by the FAA-sponsored Renton Airport Sustainability Plan.

RAAC has a limited scope as an advisory committee, and can make suggestions, but are not in charge of setting policy or changing lease agreements. City staff introduced a new Airport Director and updated the RAAC on airport construction at their February 2024 meeting, and advisory committee members will be introduced to the new operator at an upcoming meeting. RAAC is far more than a “limited scope as an advisory committee.”  RAAC has much more influence and authority over aircraft in flight than does the Mayor, Council, or Airport Manager.  Since RAAC includes pilots, aviation professionals, FAA, and neighborhood representatives, they have the leverage to manage aviation-related procedures better than our local elected officials.  

4. Are City staff operating outside of their roles? No – in fact, our city staff works tirelessly to keep the city in compliance with all guidelines, including the potential of future legal action. Renton has an abundance of excellent staff, but any staff members who helped the Mayor write this statement clearly do not know enough about aviation or our airport.  I presume this was our Airport Director and Public Works Administrator.  Their decision-making have people in the aviation community concerned, and this statement will further validate their fears.  It’s disorienting and worrisome to our Residents when a Mayoral statement can include so many obvious falsehoods like our airport closes at at 8:00 PM in Winter and 9:00 PM in summer.

5. Is there a business leaving the Renton Municipal Airport?

The City of Renton is moving through the legal process of eviction of a tenant for a long-standing non-payment of rent. The occupied buildings in question were originally scheduled for demolition in 2015. The buildings occupied by the Landing Gear Works, the old tower building and hangars, have never been scheduled for demolition. 

The occupation of these buildings were at a deeply discounted rate, with an understanding that any repairs needed would be at the expense of the tenant. This statement is false. Landing Gear Works hangers are priced like all other Renton airport hangars.  The old tower building was leased for the highest rate the Airport could get after it had been vacant for months.Airport management had responsibility for maintenance of common areas and the tower of the office building through most years of the tenancy.

The natural end of the lease was slated for July 2024, we have moved forward with a lease termination date of March 31, 2024 in light of nonpayment. This more accurately would say “in light of an ongoing rent dispute that began when we improperly billed the tenant, then ignored his concerns while we played musical chairs with our airport managers, and finally denied him and his employees their First Amendment rights to communicate with their elected officials.”

It is the responsibility of the city to maintain safe, functional and market-rate buildings for future tenants. It IS the city’s responsibility, and the city has unreasonably tried to get out of it by arguing that the building is going to be replaced in the future.  It’s also the city’s responsibility to ensure that private buildings are safe, and they are failing in many places.

One of the core pillars of our city administration is to communicate regularly and clearly with plain facts and direct language.  The Council, not the Administration, is responsible for leases under state law.  The council members have never publicly discussed this lease issue with each other, or communicated in any way with the tenants.  An attempt to reach out was made by one council member, and was apparently shut down by the city attorney.  This complete lack of council involvement and communication is shockingly different than council behavior and actions in the past. There were many steps where a collaborative discussion between the tenant and  the airport manager or council members would have quickly and peacefully resolved this dispute.

At all times, the City of Renton strives to operate openly, transparently, and in the best interests of our residents. After a memorable far-reaching uprising about jets in 2007, Renton just leased to a jet center without informing the RAAC or the community.  The community knows about it because of my blog, not the City of Renton’s communication system.  Unlike the Mayor’s statement which is one false statement after another, I put links to prove my statements are true.

I welcome any questions and conversations about this topic, please reach out at mayor@rentonwa.gov. Your Mayor, Armondo Pavone

I welcome your comments on this blog, below.  You can also email me at racorman@comcast.net, or phone me at 425-271-6913.

A RAAC meeting was held in 2023, after a one and a half year period of no meetings

In a statement yesterday, Mayor Pavone dismissed one of the most important tools we’ve used to maintain a livable city; The Renton Airport Advisory Committee (RAAC).

I’ve written about this committee frequently, providing background here.  In this entry I want to address a comment that shows his fundamental misunderstanding of the role and effectiveness of this committee

The Mayor diminished the effect they’ve had in the past by writing  “RAAC has a limited scope as an advisory committee, and can make suggestions, but are not in charge of setting policy or changing lease agreements. “

The Mayor’s comment is wrong, just as it would be wrong to claim that the Chamber of Commerce is merely advisory to the City Council.  The RAAC is made up of pilots, aviation professionals, and residents, who have authority in their planes and neighborhoods that the Renton City Council does not possess.

To put it succinctly, as soon as a plane is airborne, city council has no more influence over them.  Residents can have some influence, lodging FAA complaints if they feel unduly impacted and they track airplane tail numbers.   This is where RAAC shines.  Pilots, aviation professionals and other airport users work with neighborhood representatives to establish voluntary standards that keep complaints to a minimum.  The FAA has a representative on RAAC that participates, and so does city council. This work is not subordinate to Renton City Council.

When RAAC is working smoothly, it’s an excellent forum for creating operational documents, voluntary noise standards, airport layout plans, lease policies, fuel policies, and other important work.  With such an organization at our disposal, staffed with aviation experts freely giving their time and talent, it’s a terrible waste to not activate them.  There is strong precedent for them setting lease rates and providing other leasing decisions.

Unfortunately, because the Administration appears to think “they have limited scope as an advisory committee,” the RAAC has been effectively grounded most of the past few years.  This has allowed relationships to get more tense at the airport, and noise levels to increase in our neighborhoods.  Soon jets that are three-times noisier than prop planes will start landing regularly for fill-ups, and we will have missed our chance to engage RAAC to mitigate the issues.

All of this because the administration does not understand the RAAC’s capability or role.

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Renton’s Pro-flight hangars are being marketed for jet parking.

In a statement yesterday, Renton’s Mayor claimed that there was nothing the city could have done to prevent Proflight from selling their facility for private jet parking. His capitulatory statement almost rolls out the red carpet to jets from Boeing Field.

“One of our long-term existing airport tenants (Pro Flight Aviation) has sold their existing business to a new operator (Dark Horse Aviation). Under the terms of the 35 year lease, the existing tenant has the express right to do this. The only role the city can play is in evaluating the new operator’s financial capacity, experience in running an FBO, or fixed-based operator business, and compliance with Airport Leasing Policy.”….”The new firm is looking to try to service jets shut out of Boeing Field; however, this was going to occur naturally as Boeing Field is taking on greater importance as a cargo hub and site of large business aircraft. “

This position contrasts with many Renton officials of the past, who have worked hard to prevent a Jet Center in Renton.  Mayor Jess Tanner, a former FAA executive living just west of our airport,  become involved in city politics when he was appointed to the city’s aviation board overseeing the Renton airport after his retirement in 1980. He was determined to keep our airport focussed on prop-powered general aviation along with new Boeing takeoffs.

Mayor Tanner appointed an Airport Manager who shared Mayor Tanner’s affection for diverse, accessible general aviation, and understood the airport would thrive if it had both aviation community and Renton community buy-in.  This manager helped draft the Proflight lease in a way that encouraged propeller airplane services, like flight training, aerial photography, rental aircraft, and repairs,  ahead of jet parking.  The lease was negotiated with the owners of Proflight when they sought to build their beautiful new building, and needed a long-term lease.

This effective Airport Manager took another important step, spearheading the city’s work in creating the  Renton Airport Sustainability Management Plan.    This plan, which the FAA helped sponsor with $150,000, could assure we had a sustainable, effective, neighborly airport into the future.  The Renton Airport Advisory Committee (RAAC)– composed of industry representatives, airport tenants, residents, Renton officials, and FAA — worked with a consultant to create and approve this plan.

The Sustainability Management Plan would be an important tool for introducing new tenants and working with them toward a successful future.  But for the plan to work, the Airport Manager has to make it work.  There are daily, monthly, quarterly and annual, and biennial tasks for the Airport Manager in the plan, and few of these were getting done as the airport leadership changed five times in the past five years (with one airport director working remotely from out-of-state).

If the Airport Management sustainability tasks had been getting completed, and the RAAC had been empowered to meet regularly to assist, other attractive uses for Proflight might have been available.  Or Proflight could have received a rent-reduction, in exchange for a lease that further limited future jet activity.  Or when the new lease was signed with Dark Horse, they could have been advised that they would only be allowed to expand in the future under certain conditions, like preserving prop-powered airplane services.  Or new voluntary noise agreements could be reached in exchange for future consideration, or operating hours might have been agreed to. The new tenant could have been informed they had to study the sustainability plan and commit to it, as is expected with other Renton standards and procedures.  I’m sure many other levers for influencing the future were available, but cast aside.  Instead, the Mayor’s statement says there’s no way to influence it.

Below is some of the specific language in the Proflight lease that encouraged a community-focussed facility over jet parking.  With collaboration, this could have been further improved on over the years:

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In last night’s meeting, The Landing Gear Works president Tom Anderson said he welcomed the forthcoming discussion with the Transportation Committee, as recommended in the agenda bill 3532 attached to the consent agenda. Today Mr. Anderson learned that Council had approved the eviction without making the recommended referral.

The council voted unanimously last night, but due to an error in the printed agenda, the vote left observers uncertain whether Council had voted to evict Landing Gear Works or send the matter to Council Transportation Committee.

The confusion arose because the consent agenda action said “Council Concur” paired with the attorney request regarding Landing Gear Works,  but the formal Agenda Bill 3532 that was attached to the item (and recycled from two-weeks ago) explicitly recommended Council refer the item to Transportation Committee.

I emailed the City Clerk to clarify whether Council had concurred with the Agenda Bill or the attorney’s recommendation, and was informed that it was the attorney’s recommendation.  In other words, the Renton Council has voted to evict Landing Gear Works.  Unlike the approach in past decades, the Council never discussed the issues with the tenant.

Since the Council acted unanimously without any public discussion, it is a reasonable assumption that the Executive Session last Monday concerned this topic.  If so, it  means that “public knowledge regarding the discussion is likely to result in an adverse legal or financial consequence to the agency,”  which is a requirement for holding such an executive session regarding an enforcement action per RCW 42.30.110 1(i) .

It’s never a good look for the city to admit they would probably lose if they were forced to discuss an issue in public.  Such a move should only be taken in extraordinary situations, not to get out of discussions with a tenant about how to deal with a leaky roof.  I think the Council should study all sides of how they arrived in this circumstance, and make any necessary changes, so that they aren’t afraid to discuss their lease-related decisions in public next time.

Mr. Anderson spoke last night about his repeated requests to lease a different space, and said the requests had been lost by the city.   If the eviction goes through, eight living-wage jobs, a world-renowned high-tech Renton-made product, and tax revenues will also be lost by our city.

City Council item 6(c) references agenda bill 3532, and recommends council concurrence

Agenda Bill 3532 recommends the item be referred by council to Transportation Committee for discussion. But this is not what will happen.

Full background on The Landing Gear Works conflict with Renton Airport Management can be found here

Renton’s long-time general aviation service provider, Pro-Flight, has been sold to a company with an express plan to transition it to servicing Jet Aircraft, to relieve Boeing Field. An enhanced fueling station (a gas station for jets) appears to be part of their plan.

Renton just approved a lease with a new tenant that plans to provide fuel and maintenance services to jet aircraft as it’s primary future business focus.  I just learned this.  And even though we have a Renton Airport Advisory Committee (RAAC) chartered to manage this issue, they were not even told this was coming.  (RAAC has not been fully utilized lately).

I’m not referring to new Boeing jets, which are the latest technology, and take-off lightly-loaded over the lake once or twice per day.  I’m talking about 30-year-old Learjets price-shopping for fuel, and landing at all hours of day and night.

Excerpt from Dark Horse business plan

Industry pressure to cater to jets in Renton has existed for decades, but we resisted this pressure during the 28 years I was on Renton City Council.   Jets are typically 2-3 times louder than the propeller-driven counterparts, and Renton neighborhoods are already barely tolerating airport noise as it is.

In addition, private jets are not as available to residents.  With smaller propellor planes, a Renton resident wishing to learn how to fly can go to Renton airport and take lessons. Similarly, a Renton photographer can charter a plane for a photo-shoot. Other Renton residents have joined flight clubs at our airport, or even keep their private airplane here.

Our airport is currently a Renton Community Airport (that also launches new Boeing aircraft once or twice per day).  If we’re going to switch the airport’s focus to relieving Boeing Field Jet traffic, this was worthy of a discussion by our Renton Airport Advisory Committee.  The greater Renton community also should have been notified.  While few noticed as the city extended this lease, everyone will notice when jets begin refueling regularly in Renton in the future.

Our community had a heated episode with a proposed Jet Center seventeen years ago, when our Council was presented with a proposal, and residents living from Benson Hill to Mercer Island formed an organized opposition.  The “NoJets.org” group used every bit of leverage they could to defeat the proposal. This was not easy because FAA does not give cities any real say in what airplanes use our airport.  Our city can only partially manage the airport activity by the choice of tenants we lease to, and by the length of our runway.

I do not blame the new Leaseholder, Dark Horse Aviation LLC, as they have been completely up-front with their intentions.  They sent a letter to Renton’s Public Works Administrator back in November spelling out exactly how they would use the property if a lease was extended.   I just wish our RAAC and Renton community had been notified.

The letter of introduction. The words “Renton’s outstanding future to be the legitimate first-class corporate reliever for light and midsize jets in the region,” ideally would have prompted airport management to consult RAAC and the greater Renton community for advice.

Here is the 85-page Transportation Committee Package, with the Dark Horse Lease and related correspondence.  This lease has now been approved.

Renton airport may become a gas station for jets. Noisier older model jets, that burn more fuel and have owners that are more price-sensitive, may be Renton’s likely customer base.

This excerpt from the business plan shows the new lease will extend Pro-Flight’s current daytime prop-plane operation to 24/7 jet landings and takeoffs. This will be of interest to residents living within a few thousand feet of the airport. The RAAC has representatives from every neighborhood specifically to advise on topics like this.

This noise comparison published by Purdue University includes a Jet Airplane flyover at 1000 feet at 103 dB, and a propeller flyover at 1000 feet at 88 dB. Because of the logarithmic scale, the Jet is 2-3 times louder. This is due primarily to the greater flow of air at higher speed in a jet engine.