A Call to Action Against Disruptive Airplane Noise in the District

By Press Release On Apr 2, 2019 Last updated Apr 2, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 2, 2019

Communications Director: Kelly Whittier

A Call to Action Against Disruptive Airplane Noise in the District

Sense of the Council Resolution calls upon Congress and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to address the extreme disruption of airplane noise

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today, April 2^nd, Councilmember Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) introduced a Sense of the Council (SOTC) to declare airplane noise to be a disruptive force in the District and calls on Congress, the FAA, and the Department of Transportation to heed the airplane noise relief recommendations made by the DCA Airplane Noise Assessment Project and Community Noise Working Group.

“District and Maryland residents who live along the National Airport’s flight paths have long suffered from disruptive and seemingly constant overhead airplane noise –in some instances, residents experience actual shaking within their homes. While this has been an existing issue, it has been exacerbated by relatively new flight patterns implemented by the FAA under the NextGen plan,” said Councilmember Cheh.

In FY17, the District funded a study to investigate noise originating from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport air traffic operations and to identify ways to minimize the noise affecting District residents in a manner acceptable to the FAA. The two-year noise assessment concluded that airplane noise often disrupts speech occurring outdoors, the sleep of 12-33% of Northwest residences, and the learning occurring in multiple school classrooms in the District.

“The Airplane Noise Assessment Project and the Airport Authority’s own Community Noise Working Group have made recommendations and proposed seven Air Traffic Control alternatives that would ameliorate these disruptive circumstances for residents –and those recommendations have all but been ignored. The airport’s current flight patterns are a disruptive force in the District and this resolution calls upon the FAA and Congress to institute meaningful relief for residents from disruptive and damaging levels of airplane noise,” said Cheh.

Chairman Mendelson and Councilmembers Silverman, Evans, and Bonds co-introduced the SOTC. A copy of the SOTC is attached.

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