Airspace surrounding airports is becoming endangered by incompatible land uses of adjacent communities. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has designed specific regulations to protect people and property on the ground, as well as establishing a safe and efficient navigable airspace environment for civil, commercial and military aviation. In addition to other Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR), Part 77 lays out imaginary surfaces determined by a runway's type and size. While the FAA has strict control of the airspace above the surface, it has no control of the land usage outside of an airport, regardless if it affects the navigable airspace. The concept of airport compatible land uses is often misunderstood, with local municipalities misjudging the importance of local ordinances and zoning regulations. Likewise, some airports struggle to take the land use plans for adjacent communities into consideration when developing long-term airport layout plans. This case study will present four methods for generating models of the imaginary surfaces per FAR Part 77 with existing obstructions, as well as other practical planning applications for Runway 11-29 at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. It will also show the intergovernmental coordination of the FAA, the airport, the state of Missouri, and local governments used to produce land use compatibility with FAR Part 77.

ACRP Report 38: Understanding Airspace, Objects, and Their Effects on Airports provides a comprehensive description of the regulations, standards, evaluation criteria, and processes designed to protect the airspace surrounding airports. Aviation practitioners, local planning and zoning agencies, and developers all have a need to understand and apply the appropriate airspace design and evaluation criteria to ensure a safe operating environment for aircraft, to maintain airport operational flexibility and reliability, without unduly restricting desirable building development and attendant economic growth in the surrounding community.