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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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New flight paths lead to airplane noise complaints across country

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PHOENIX — Airliners began flying over Twila Lake’s bungalow-style house in a historic district three years ago, taking off every one to two minutes from the Phoenix airport and roaring over her neighborhood. It was a sudden change after rarely hearing jets in her previous 13 years in the downtown neighborhood.

Now, “it’s all day and night long,” complained the 71-year-old retiree, who said she sleeps with the television on to drown out aircraft noise. Some neighbors sold their homes and moved after the aviation highway entrance ramp was routed overhead.

The Federal Aviation Administration started revising flight paths and procedures around the United States in 2014 under its air traffic control modernization plan known as “NextGen.” The new procedures use more precise, satellite-based navigation that saves time, increases the number of planes airports can service, and reduces fuel burn and emissions.

Noise complaints exploded from San Diego to Charlotte, N.C., to New York as flights were concentrated at lower altitudes, in narrower paths and on more frequent schedules. The new paths often reduce the number of people exposed to noise, but those who get noise get it far more consistently.

Local Angle

Portland International Airport's NextGen strategy aims to reduce aircraft noise by more precisely routing departing planes over the Columbia River, and sending arriving planes over less populated tracts. Aircraft take off and land into the wind, which at Portland results in different traffic patterns for summer and winter as the wind in the Columbia River Gorge shifts. The port reported receiving 1,137 noise complaints about PDX last year from 143 households. The top five households accounted for 77 percent of the noise complaints.

Five years ago, in 2011, PDX generated 3,049 noise complaints, including 2,274 from just two parties. Aircraft operations at PDX totaled 227,709 in 2016, compared with 187,759 in 2011. For more information about PDX noise abatement programs, visit http://flypdx.com/Inside/NoiseManagement?from=PDX

In Phoenix, redrawn flights over neighborhoods like Lake’s affect 2,500 homes, prompting a court challenge from historic districts and the city.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Aug. 29 agreed with their assessment that the FAA was “arbitrary and capricious” in revising flight procedures. FAA officials asked for an extension, and the court this month pushed the petition deadline to Nov. 16.

Local governments and residents in more than a half-dozen other areas — including Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood and California’s Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Orange County and Culver City — have similar petitions before the court.

Attorney Steven Taber, who represents several Southern California communities with complaints, predicted legal action over flight changes will be a continuing problem across the U.S.

Aviation experts said they don’t expect the Phoenix ruling to set a precedent for other cities, but it is forcing the FAA to be more responsive.

“We certainly view it as one of the most egregious cases of a lack of community involvement,” said Chris Oswald, vice president of safety and regulatory affairs with Airports Council International-North America. The FAA has since done more outreach elsewhere, he said.

Policy analyst Rui Neiva of the Eno Center for Transportation think tank in Washington said agency officials must find a middle ground.

“In some cases, they may have to settle on a path that is less efficient, or create several additional paths,” he said.

But David Grizzle, a former FAA chief operating officer, said it’s not possible to redesign procedures to address the problem and still reap NextGen’s technology advantages.

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