May 4, 2005

Protest draws pajama-clad protesters to airport

It might have been April Fool’s Day, but these folks weren’t fooling around. District 6 City Councilmember Ken Yeager (pictured at right) organized a protest that afternoon in front of the America West Airlines terminal at San Jose Mineta Airport. Between 25 and 50 people showed up in their pajamas and bathrobes to call attention to the airline’s new late night arrival from Las Vegas.

And while there have been few complaints of noise surrounding the 1:40 a.m. landings, it became a big issue again early on the morning of April 25. At about 2 a.m. a loud screeching that sounded like a plane was in trouble and landing on top of your house awakened sleeping residents from Willow Glen to Sunnyvale.

The e-list lit up with all sorts of complaints before it was determined that the noise was caused by an overloaded C5 landing at Moffat Field. Apparently, Moffat was unaware of the noise regulations at the San Jose air facility. Quiet appears to reign again, with no unusual screeching noises plaguing anyone’s sleep since April 25.