Port of Portland's Failure to Enforce Physical Distancing Guidelines and Reduce Toxic Aviation Emissions Compromises Public Health

Miki Barnes
September 25, 2020

What do the Port of Portland, Hillsboro Airport (HIO), Hillsboro Aero Academy (HAA), ATP, and Hagele Aviation have in common with Donald Trump and his followers, including members of the Patriot Prayer and Proud Boy gun-toting, white supremacist groups?

They all flout CDC 6-foot physical distancing guidelines aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19. The space limitations on most helicopter and fixed wing training aircraft do not allow for adequate distancing between flight instructors and student pilots. Nonetheless the flight training industry, insisting that it provides an "essential service," has used this rationale as an excuse for pelting area residents with aviation generated noise and pollution throughout the pandemic, all the while ignoring studies linking poor air quality with more severe cases of COVID-19, a disease that has a disproportionate impact on Blacks, People of Color, Latinx, and Indigenous populations, as well as the elderly.

In addition, the pollution emitted by aviation activity is a major contributor to global warming and the conditions that led to the deadly wildfires in Oregon, Washington and the Pacific Northwest and the devastating hurricane season off the Gulf coast.

A 2015 study by the New Jersey Institute of Technology identified aviation as a "leading emitter of harmful and deadly toxins like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, lead, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides. Especially for those within nine square miles surrounding an airport, these toxins are being inhaled on a day-to-day basis affecting people's lungs 10 times more than those who live farther away. Furthermore each year, around 8,000 lives are claimed because of pollutants tied to low-cruising airplanes in addition to the increased 3.5 percent of cardiovascular hospital admissions within the same nine square mile zone."[1]

The right wing and Hillsboro's aviation industry share other similarities. Both align with their favorite authoritarian governments. The pro-Trump forces attract the support of Vladimir Putin while the aviation sector zealously promotes the interests of President Xi Jinping and the People's Republic of China.

In addition, both utilize highly polluting, fossil-fuel burning motorized vehicles to intimidate, harass, oppress and threaten others.

Flight Training at the Hillsboro Airport is not an "Essential Service"

Hillsboro Aero Academy (HAA), owned by two out of state investment firms - Renovus and Graybill - is one of the primary tenants at HIO. It bills itself as one of the largest combined helicopter and fixed wing flight training academies in the U.S. HAA provides pilot instruction for students on behalf of Air China (a Chinese state-owned airline), EVA Air (a Taiwanese company), and Delta.

As noted on the Hillsboro Aero Academy website, "Since 1980, thousands of professional pilots from over 75 countries have graduated from our flight training courses.... we’re even approved by the Chinese government for airplane and helicopter training."[2] This business model is clearly indicative of an industry that has placed profiteering and self-interest above and beyond the environment, public health, livability, and the greater good.

A reasonable person might ask: on what basis is training pilots for President Xi and the People’s Republic of China an "essential service," especially in light of China's brutal crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, its ongoing genocide against the Uighers and Tibet, and its suppression of dissent within its own borders? Given the murky boundaries between civil and military aviation in China, a country that has militarized 80% of its airspace, there is a high likelihood that many of the pilots trained in the U.S. will serve in the military upon their return. Under these circumstances, it is fair to wonder how many of the pilots involved in aggressive incursions by the Chinese Air Force over the South China Sea might have received flight training through the Hillsboro Aero Academy.

Similar questions can be posed about the training of Taiwanese pilots on behalf of EVA Air as well as other countries around the globe. On what basis are these for-profit flight training operations deemed an "essential service?" Why should U.S. residents be forced to bear the brunt of the noise, toxic pollution, national security risks, and substantial financial cost of subsidizing the domestic and international flight training industry? Public money and resources can be far more responsibly directed towards establishing environmental safeguards to protect communities from the horrifying wild fires, hurricanes, flooding, cyclones and other extreme weather events caused by climate change.

The recruitment of student pilots from overseas and out-of-state can lead to higher COVID-19 exposure risk, not only from the lack of social distancing on training flights and the increased pollution levels generated by aviation activity, but also due to international travel involved in transporting pilots to and from the U.S.

Spurious Claims of Pilot Shortage

One of the specious arguments put forth by the FAA and the Port of Portland is that there is a global pilot shortage.

The rapid spread of the pandemic has changed the habits of commercial passengers around the globe. Many are hesitant to fly and are expected to remain so for years to come. According to a 8/7/2020 CBS News Report "Atlanta-based Delta Airlines notified the state of more than 800 possible layoffs despite approximately 20 percent of the company's workforce already leaving through buyouts or early retirement packages... thousands of employees have taken unpaid leave and made other sacrifices to help the company avoid mass layoffs at any point this year."[3]

Similar layoffs are expected at other major airlines including American, Southwest, United, and Alaska. Obviously, there is no pilot shortage and arguments to the contrary have been rendered hollow and inaccurate.

According to S&P Global, "We have updated our global air passenger traffic forecasts and now expect traffic to fall by as much as 60%-70% in 2020 versus 2019. This is weaker than the 50%-55% drop we forecast at the end of May. We now expect 2021 air passenger traffic to decline 30%-40% compared with the 2019 base, and foresee a more gradual recovery to pre-COVID-19 levels by 2024."[4]

The data clearly demonstrates that in light of COVID-19 and the extensive financial losses resulting from the pandemic, there is an overabundance of pilots, rather than a shortage. The claim that pilot training is an "essential service" has no merit whatsoever. In fact, the lack of physical distancing and the pollution generated by flight training businesses, flight instructors and student pilots are actually undermining efforts to manage the virus, reduce the death rate, and address current financial losses resulting from the pandemic.

Background Information

The Port of Portland owns and operates three airports: Portland International, a commercial facility, and two general aviation airports—Hillsboro and Troutdale—where the majority of operations are logged by the flight training industry and recreational pilots. Hillsboro Aero Academy operates out of both of these general aviation facilities and also trains hundreds of Chinese pilots at the Redmond Airport in Central Oregon.

Hillsboro Airport is the largest general aviation airport in Oregon. In addition to Hillsboro Aero Academy, other tenants who profit from the flight training industry include:

• ATP is an out of state owned and operated flight training business. The aircraft flown by this company are registered to an address in Wilmington, Delaware, located at 251 Little Falls Dr. Aircraft identified as DHS Operations LLC, Trainer, and C-172 Aircraft are also registered to this same address.
• Hagele Aviation is owned by Chuck Hagele who also serves as Director of Maintenance for Hillsboro Aero Academy.
• Hillsboro Aviation is owned by Max Lyons. He sold the flight training portion of this company to Hillsboro Aero Academy in 2014 but stayed on to manage the business. Lyons and Hillsboro Aviation make money from the sale of leaded avgas and jet fuel. Each time a training flight circles repetitively over the homes and neighborhoods of local residents, he realizes a profit.
• The Port of Portland affixes a flowage fee to each gallon of fuel sold at HIO, ensuring that it, too, profits from pumping lead, PM2.5, CO2 and other toxins, not to mention relentless noise, into the environment.
• State Senator Betsy Johnson and her husband John Helm benefit from the exploitation and degradation of this community with noise and toxic emissions. Hillsboro Aero Academy and Hillsboro Aviation have a lengthy history of flying between HIO and Scappoose Airpark in neighboring Columbia County, where Senator Johnson and her husband own a business, Transwestern Aviation, that profits from the sale of toxic leaded avgas and jet fuel.[5]
• Stark's Twin Oaks Airport, 6 miles south of HIO, and McMinnville Airport in Yamhill County host recreational pilots and flight training businesses that also pump noise and toxic pollutants into the environment.

Conclusion

The complete and utter failure on a federal, state and local levels to enforce physical distancing at general aviation flight training facilities places vulnerable populations at risk. Pilot instruction does not meet the criteria of "essential service." In fact, the contrary is the case. Those who engage in this activity are flagrantly exploiting this community for their own personal gain and in so doing are poisoning the air and possibly spreading the virus, thereby jeopardizing the health and well-being of the entire population.

This reckless refusal to abide by physical distancing requirements and to demonstrate respect for the environment helps to explain why among Oregon’s 36 counties, Washington County, the jurisdiction in which the Hillsboro Airport is located, has the third highest rate of COVID-19 cases in the state, surpassed only by Multnomah and Marion counties.

Nationwide, the COVID-19 death toll now surpasses 200,000. The U.S. currently accounts for one fifth of all COVID-19 deaths worldwide, a number that is expected to double by the turn of the year. The data emerging on this illness suggests that particularly vulnerable groups include Blacks, People of Color, Latinx, Indigenous populations and the elderly. Thus, government and aviation policies that promote the special interest agendas of the aviation industry are essentially racist, discriminatory, exploitative and heartless, yet another glaring example of the white privilege, self-serving values that corrode Oregon's social, legal, legislative, and political structures.

Take Action

People to contact:

Governor Brown at 503-378-4582. Tell her to enforce physical distancing requirements and to put the health and well-being of her own constituents and the environment above and beyond her fealty to the Port of Portland, out-of-state flight training corporations, foreign governments and the one quarter of one percent of the population certified to fly in Oregon.

PCC President, Mark Mitsui and the PCC Board 971-722-4365. Tell them to terminate the PCC Aviation Sciences program and PCC's partnership with Hillsboro Aero Academy. Inform them that poisoning our air, compromising our health, and degrading our livability are grave violations of the public trust and indefensible misuses of scarce educational dollars.

Also pass this same message on to your federal, state and local representatives. Remind them that their job is to promote government of, by and for the people. Tell them to stop selling out the residents of this state to special interests, out-of-state corporations and highly polluting aviation businesses.

Sources

[1] Solutions for Airports' Emissions. Environmental Protections. (9/17/2015). Last accessed on-line on 09/24/2020.

[2] About. Hillsboro Aero Academy website. Last accessed on-line on 9/23/2020.

[3] Kephart, Tim. Delta Warns of Layoffs; asks for more unpaid leave from employees. CBS News. (8/07/2020). Last accessed on-line on 9/24/2020.

[4] From Bad to Worse: Global Air Traffic to Drop 60%-70% in 2020. S&P Global Ratings. (8/12/2020). Last accessed on-line on 09/24/2020.

[5] Transwestern Aviation website. Last accessed on-line on 09/24/2020.