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- So what do I do, anyway?
So what do I do, anyway?
Besides troll people on LinkedIn...
Chris Musei-Sequeira
October 04, 2024
Gravelly Point Park (If you know, you know… Photo by me)
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What I do
I’ll get right to the point: I support communities advocating for aviation noise and air pollution reduction.
Some specific things I do:
Explain the United States of America (USA) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) noise and land use compatibility planning process (14 CFR Part 150) and what this process can and cannot do to reduce noise impacts
Demystify the FAA's noise and air pollution modeling methods, including the use of the Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT)
Explain the environmental compliance processes for airport development and flight path changes and what these processes can and cannot do to reduce noise and air pollution impacts (given in FAA Order 1050.1, FAA Order 5050.4, and FAA Order JO 7400.2)
Review noise roundtable structures and work programs, then propose refinements to increase community advocating power
How did I learn to do all that? Well, my work experience includes:
Co-managing the development of AEDT, the FAA's required noise and air pollution model, as an FAA employee
Co-managing the development of the Aviation Emissions and Air Quality Handbook version 3 as an FAA employee, used nationwide for aviation air pollution compliance (until the release of version 4 in the summer of 2024)
Serving as flight path environmental expert and backup facilitator for the LAX/Community Noise Roundtable and the Santa Clara/Santa Cruise Roundtable in California, USA
Serving technical analyst, technical writer, Project Director, and Deputy Director roles for the John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport noise studies in New York City, two of the largest 14 CFR Part 150 studies in aviation history
Supporting environmental activities at over two dozen airports across the USA
Here’s what I’m asking of you:
Do you know someone trying to figure out why aircraft have suddenly shown up over their neighborhoods for no good reason at all? Give them my email address: [email protected]
Do you know someone watching yet another years-long aircraft noise or air pollution study, wondering if anything will change this time? Give them my email address: [email protected]
Do you know someone sitting in noise roundtable meetings where people talk and talk and talk some more while getting nothing done? Give them my email address: [email protected]
Umm… aviation?
Many of you have come to my mailing list through my LinkedIn posts on sustainability and colonialism. I also write anti-racist and anti-genocide content while flinging virtual dirt at people as necessary. (Account suspension landing in 3… 2… 1…)
A good number of you aren’t even based in the USA—so all those acronyms above likely mean nothing to you.
Surprise! So I’m actually an aviation professional… right?
Wrong.
I’m not an aviation professional. Not anymore, that is.
I’m a power professional. That’s right: power is my passion. It’s the undercurrent to nearly everything I talk about.
Who in our world has power, and who doesn’t? Why is that?
Where does power come from? What is its history? How does power perpetuate?
How do we shift power to amplify marginalized and oppressed peoples? What are our roles in that shift?
I’m a power professional who just happens to specialize in USA aviation noise and air emissions management. After studying aeronautical engineering and technology policy, I went straight to government instead of becoming an aircraft designer. In fact, I often draw analogies from feedback control theory to discuss systems of power.
I became an aircraft noise and air emissions professional to save the world in my tiny little way. It took me years to realize that my system function as a professional was actually to protect growth of the aviation industry.
Oh great… so now I’m on the other side, yes?
Well, no.
There are no “sides” to power.
Power exists in systems. Prefixes like “pro-” and “anti-” severely oversimplify conversations about power—often in ways that preserve the status quo. No, I haven’t “switched sides”—I’ve given myself a different system function.
Bro, other people do what you do!
Okay then: let’s take a pop quiz.
Do you know any other post-FAA noise and air emissions expert who isn’t paid primarily by airports, airlines, or aviation trade groups?
Do you know anyone else who was an FAA co-manager of the nationally-mandated aviation environmental model and then used that same model across the USA as a consultant?
Do you know anyone else talking about aircraft noise management as a manifestation of European colonization?!
No?
If you do know someone, send them my way. Maybe they could make a great business partner for me.
Here’s what I’m asking of you (again):
Do you know someone trying to figure out why aircraft have suddenly shown up over their neighborhoods for no good reason at all? Give them my email address: [email protected]
Do you know someone observing yet another years-long aircraft noise or air pollution study, wondering if anything will change this time? Give them my email address: [email protected]
Do you know someone sitting in noise roundtable meetings where people talk and talk and talk some more and nothing seems to get done? Give them my email address: [email protected]
Or:
Has this newsletter inspired you to ask me about something I haven’t listed yet? Hit reply and tell me what’s up.
More info about me
Know someone who needs to see this issue? Hit the “Forward” button in your email app and send this to them.
My name is Chris Musei-Sequeira, and I use he/him pronouns. My mother was born in Trinidad and Tobago as a descendant of African slaves brought to the islands during the time of European colonization. She came to the United States of America (USA) at the age of 10. My father is Goan and was born in India, in Mumbai, and raised Catholic and English-speaking. He came to the USA for his graduate studies, where he met my mother.
My sister and I were born in the USA and lived a middle-class life in the suburbs of multiple American cities. I studied aeronautical engineering and technology policy in university, then worked at the Federal Aviation Administration and as an aviation consultant. I've lived in cities up and down the USA East Coast since the age of 18.
I thank Heather Luna and Lavinia Muth for showing me the importance of publicly expressing positionality. Because of our positionality, all of us are very familiar with some aspects of the world while having no idea of other aspects.
Introductory photo taken at Gravelly Point Park, Arlington, Virginia, USA by Chris Musei-Sequeira on May 9, 2015.