The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced in early March that they would not change policies to allow planes to fly lower over Magnolia, Queen Anne and south Ballard.
The FAA said that after considering all the public input regarking the issue, officials decided to re-evaluate the proposal.
FAA airspace designers have concluded they could see no significant net gains in safety or efficiency that would justify the various negative impacts resulting from lowering the floor of the Class Bravo airspace.
The annoucement was a major victory for neighborhood residents and local elected officials who had fought the plan by the FAA to lower the floor of the airspace from 3,000 to 2,000 feet over all of Magnolia and potentially parts of south Ballard and western Queen Anne. Residents signed petitions and sent pages of signatures as well as individual letters sent by pilots and others who live in Magnolia opposing the decision.
The proposal to lower the airspace floor was in response to complaints by United Parcel Service, which makes regular flights in and out of King Count Airport/Boeing Field.
The service had told the FAA that it was experiencing an inordinate amount of traffic contact alerts. In response, the FAA decided to lower the airspace floor from 3,000 to 2,000 feet.