Huffman Demands FAA Restore Quiet Sonoma County Flight Paths After Bohemian Club Changes
North Bay Rep. Jared Huffman called on the Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday to restore quieter flight paths from Sonoma County’s regional airport after temporary changes to accommodate the annual Bohemian Grove encampment — a move that angered residents, who have complained about roaring aircraft noise for years.
For more than two years, West Sonoma County representatives, airport officials and residents have urged the FAA to roll back a new, noisier departure route introduced in 2024.
Those requests were ignored until July, when the all-male, exclusive Bohemian Club arrived in Monte Rio, a community along the Russian River, in July.
In a letter to the FAA’s administrator Bryan Bedford on Wednesday, Huffman urged the administration to immediately restore pre-2024 departure protocols at Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport, and work with county leaders and the community to identify effective long-term solutions.
“When the Bohemians come to town, they get the response that I’ve spent the better part of two years demanding with my West County constituents,” Huffman said Wednesday. “But when the private jets go away, we’re not sure what happens. I want to make sure … that the folks I represent get the same consideration as the billionaires and oligarchs who are having a good time in Bohemian Grove.”
Noise complaints and community strife by Sonoma County residents have quadrupled since the FAA introduced a new departure path, RREHD1, or “Redhead,” that directs planes to take initial turns over populated areas at lower altitudes, in January 2024.
The path routes departing planes over a narrow ribbon of quiet West Sonoma County, including the communities of Sebastopol, Forestville and Guerneville.
“When you’re in an environment where you can hear your own heartbeat and the blood in your ears because it’s that quiet, and a jet comes over you at 60 decibels, that is a shocker,” resident Andrea Oreck said during Wednesday’s community roundtable at the airport.
Previously, more planes used a flight path called “Charlie Eight,” which is less rigid, according to Jon Stout, the Sonoma County airport’s administrator.
“Charlie Eight spreads that pain around a little bit, so it’s not as impactful on just one section of the population, one section of our ecology,” said Che Casul, a staff member of County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins’ office.
Throughout July, residents observed that of the 24 flights through the Sonoma County airport each day, the majority took the former Charlie Eight path, while just three per day flew the new Redhead standard.
The FAA said that last month, they temporarily adjusted some departure procedures “for safety reasons due to the increased air traffic from the nearby Bohemian Grove event.”
The administration said it switched back to normal flight parameters when “extra event traffic cleared up.”
While the adjustment provided some peace and quiet to residents, many have been frustrated that it seems a solution only came around to benefit the ultra-rich and powerful who gather at the Bohemian Grove.
“If this relief can be given to the powerful elite for a holiday retreat at a moment’s notice for 27 days, then it can be given to us who live under that flight path every day,” Oreck said Wednesday.
The Bohemian Club, which has put on an annual encampment since the 1870s, is a private group whose membership spans elite political, business and artistic circles.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, documentarian Ken Burns and billionaire businessman David Koch have been photographed together at the site, according to ProPublica.
Huffman likened the temporary change to “corruption,” saying that over the past two years, his office has been told repeatedly that Charlie Eight was no longer a feasible flight path.
“They’re doing Charlie Eight right now. So, that’s a problem,” he said.
Airport officials have previously said the 2024 changes were made without their input or knowledge, and that the county has recently submitted a revised Redhead flight plan to the FAA that they hope will be an improvement.
But residents say the new plan, which requires planes to turn at slightly higher altitudes, isn’t enough to mitigate the noise.
Stout said the airport proposed “Redhead Two” because they believe it is more likely to get approved than a brand new route, but that it is “not the end solution.”
Creating a new route for the long-term would likely take years to complete.
KQED’s Juan Carlos Lara contributed to this report.