The effort to scuttle the implementation of the FAA airspace redesign plan that would send departing planes from Philadelphia International Airport soaring over densly populated areas of Delaware County got a boost from U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

“(Thursday) was a pretty important day,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-7 of Edgmont. “The chairman of the T&I Committee went to the house floor and said the FAA plan would not take place until the Government Accountability Office report is done.”

Sestak and Congressman Rob Andrews, D-N.J., made the T&I Committee announcement in a conference call Friday. Andrews district would also be affected by the airspace redesign plan.

The two congressmen asked the GAO to investigate whether the FAA plan represents the best use of tax dollars. Andrews said in a cost benefit sense, the amount of time the FAA said will be saved if departing planes could turn after take-off, instead of staying over the Delaware River until they reach an altitude of 3,000 feet, is not worth the “hundreds of millions of dollars that it would take to implement it.”

Sestak contends the FAA does not have a dollar figure on what the redesign plan will cost.

“In my mind, that was the beginning of the end,” Sestak said.

Andrews concedes the FAA is not legally bound to delay implementation of its plan.

“But agencies that depend on Congress for funding will not cross the people who sign their bills,” he said.

When asked if the action by Oberstar means the FAA plan will be put on hold and the plan will not get off the ground, Andrews said he would agree with that.

Sestak said it would take almost a year for the FAA to implement its airspace redesign plan, calling it a “key issue.” Sestak also said the GAO has been in the county, gathering information for its report.

He also said the FAA has not done a separate study on the environmental impact on children from the low flying planes. He said there are other options to the overcrowding at the Philadelphia airport, such as underused airports in the region not operating up to capacity.

Andrews said the FAA may be anticipating the GAO report would be unfavorable and would try to rush the plan, contending it had already gone too far to turn back.

While saying he appreciates Congressional support, County Council Chairman Andrew Reilly said it would not be wise to solely rely upon that.

“Until county council can see the FAA’s position in writing that they will not implement their plan for eight to 10 months, we are going to proceed with our law suit,” Reilly said.

Last week, county council filed a “petition for review” in the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, initiating the legal challenge against the FAA. The county also filed an application with the FAA seeking a stay or halt of the plan.

“We expect the FAA will turn us down at which point we would file a motion for stay with the court,” county solicitor John McBlain said last week. “If the court agreed, it would prevent the FAA from implementing the plan until the case if fully litigated.”