The NUQ/Hangar One saga continues.

The article points out that "As the Voice reported on May 30, the RFP could lead to the establishment of a base for business jets at Moffett Field (NUQ). Unless the residents of Mountain View, Sunnyvale and other neighboring communities make themselves heard, we could be stuck with unwanted flight operations slipped under our noses as part of the laudable objective of restoring Hangar One."

Although we can argue about the number of flights allowed at NUQ, we don't want to lose the Federal airfield adjacent to Hangar One. The MV Voice reports that "Siegel has long advocated for Moffett's runways to be torn up and redeveloped with 'badly needed' transit-oriented housing." I respectfully disagree. Keeping NUQ open for NASA, Air National Guard and emergency flights as it is now is a fair compromise between "no growthers" and aviation advocates. It's virtually impossible to build new aviation capacity in this country so let's not destroy what we have.

This should have been settled years ago. NUQ has lots of restrictions on flight operations and it is doubtful more flights would come to NUQ. Air cargo is down in North America. On August 26, Aviation Week reported, "North America and the Asia-Pacific area proved to be the weakest regions in terms of international AFTKs (Available Freight Tonne Kilometers) and cargo demand in the first half of the year, contracting by 2.7% and 2.9%, respectively."

So, please, let's not try to scare people into believing that fleets of air freighters are about to descend on NUQ if only those pesky restrictions were lifted, it's NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Just drive down to SJC at 7:00 PM and watch what's left of the cargo "rush." I'll save you the time, it's down to two Fedex and one or two (depends on day) UPS flights. This region does not generate the same small amounts of air freight that it did in the 1990s and SFO, OAK and SJC can handle it for years to come.