At the MAG meeting, Oakville’s councillors heard delegations from those representing the Toronto Aviation Noise Group (TANG).

One of the members who spoke was Capt. David Inch, a north Oakville resident with 35 years of service as a commercial airline pilot, domestically and abroad.

“It is safe, efficient, environmentally-friendly and noise-friendly to have aircraft on the arrival paths remain at higher altitudes,” he told the Beaver.

According to Inch, a plane’s wing flaps is one of the major contributing factors to aircraft noise.

“When we extend flaps we create a lot more noise,” he said. “By moving the aircraft lower it doesn’t give a chance for that noise to attenuate.”

Airports worldwide use the Standard Standard Terminal Arrival Route (STAR) to communicate flight path landing procedures, including prescribed speeds and altitude, to descending planes.

The STARs were remapped in 2012 by Nav Canada and moved approximately 1.5 kilometres south of Dundas Street West to be over north Oakville neighbourhoods.

Inch said the changes that were made are “inefficient” and force planes to descend lower, at a slower rate of speed.

“They don’t need to be this low to do a smooth descent and landing in Toronto,” Inch said. “Over my house, they could easily be at 6,000 feet and they’re at 3,000, and that’s the case for most people here in north Oakville.”

The STARs used by Pearson are also currently in place at international airports in Montreal and Winnipeg.

The scope of Inch’s research has included an examination of the 25 busiest airports in the world, and their 355 respective STARs charts.

“Toronto has the slowest speed of any of those airports,” Inch said, explaining that planes descend into Pearson at 200 knots, compared to 210 or even 220 knots at other airports.

“The 10 knots is literally the difference between being able to remain with flaps up, and having to extend the first, or sometimes second, position of flaps.”

He also found that only two other airports out of the 25 have STARs designed similarly to Toronto, those being Philadelphia and Guangzhou, China.

Some of Inch’s findings were included in a report submitted to Transport Minister and Halton MP Lisa Raitt last November on behalf of TANG.

Asked about her involvement in Oakville’s negotiations with Nav Canada, Raitt said safety and security is the “top priority” as she continues working closely with Knoll and others to try and find a solution for everyone.

“After spending much time consulting with constituents on the issue of flight paths I can assure you, I completely understand concerns and frustrations,” she said. “Transport Canada is exploring ways to ensure that the processes in place for flight path design and/or modification are sufficient to properly serve the public interest while preserving the safety of aviation operations.”

Still, Raitt noted that despite Transport Canada being the safety regulator for Nav Canada’s navigation system, the government “does not approve changes to individual routes other than to confirm designs meet required standards while encouraging a consultation process that is full, open and inclusive.”

Knoll said the first meeting of the MAG helped clear up some assumptions and they now have a strategy in advance of the Nav Canada meeting later this month.

“We have a game plan going forward,” he said. “I’m quite enthusiastic, and quite optimistic, that there’s a solution out there.”