City of Salem Response, 4/25/2024, 11:33 AM, by email (confirmed by councilmember Linda Nishioka "Please note that Mr. Paskell's response constitutes the official reply to your questions") that the email constitutes the council's response):
Good morning Mr. Poole,
Thanks so much for providing the ADSB data and decibel levels of yesterday’s Lear Jet operation over downtown. It was very helpful in determining what occurred.
What I was able to glean from the data you provided as well as talking with the air traffic controller on duty is that the pilot flew two missed approaches into Salem, both from the north (over downtown), and then left the area. The first approach does appear to be very low over the downtown area, from an altitude 400’ at the river, down to 175’ at the intersection of Marion ST and Capitol ST, based on the data points you provided. Then it immediately climbed out and when it crossed midfield of the airport it was at 1,500’. The second approach was closer to 900’ over downtown, which is what we would expect to see. By way of comparison, I reviewed Avelo Airlines’ approach this morning over downtown and they were at 1,100' crossing the river and 875' at the intersection of Capitol and Marion Streets.
As you indicated, the aircraft was an older model Lear-35 which is a loud aircraft, and being so low on its approach over downtown and climbing out it would have been excessively loud. I would suppose 92 DB is about right, which is loud, particularly amongst buildings in the downtown core. The Air Traffic Control Tower did not state that anything was amiss, and the pilot was in contact with ATC while in Salem’s airspace. The only conclusion I can draw is that the first approach was poorly flown, the pilot climbed out, circled around, flew a second approach and then flew back to Hillsboro.
Given that all airspace and published approaches to airports in the United States are under the jurisdiction of the FAA, a specific inquiry or complaint about pilot activity would best be directed to the Flight Standards District Office in Portland, Their number is 503-615-3200.
I hope this helps, and please let me know if there is anything more I can do to assist.
John
John Paskell, C.M.
Airport Manager
City of Salem | Salem Municipal Airport
2990 25th Street SE, Salem OR 97302
jpaskell@cityofsalem.net | 503-588-6314