‘It’s taken a long time’: How some neighborhoods got relief from plane noise

For years, communities around the D.C. region that struggle with too much airplane noise overhead have been working to reduce those stubborn sounds that annoy residents.

Now, there’s been a breakthrough.

A new flight path just took effect last month, reducing plane noise in neighborhoods along the Potomac River, north of Reagan National Airport in D.C. and up into Montgomery County, Maryland. The change was first reported by Axios.

Some of the neighborhoods impacted include Georgetown, Palisades and Foxhall in D.C. along with Brookmont and Glen Echo in Montgomery County.

“The primary objective was to move airplanes over the river as much as we can, and that would mitigate some of the noise,” Ken Buckley, chairman of the airplane noise group for the Palisades Community Association, said.

The new path, implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), does exactly that, moving incoming planes away from residential areas and centering them more squarely over the river.

“I’ve received some positive feedback from residents,” Buckley said. “It took more time than I would have liked, but I understand the safety concerns that the FAA has.”

In a statement to WTOP, the FAA said it made the change after working “with the local community and aviation stakeholders.”

“Addressing this concern requires collaboration among the FAA, air carriers, airports, aircraft manufacturers, research universities, local communities and elected officials,” the FAA said.

Putting together a plan for a new flight path was not difficult, according to Buckley. The process of actually implementing the path was the hard part.

“It’s taken a long time,” Buckley said. “The FAA — even though they fast-tracked it — it still took almost two years to develop the new operations and get training material out for the airlines.”

While the new path impacts planes flying into the airport, it does not reduce noise from departures.

“That is something that we’d still like to be able to address, if we can,” Buckley said.

There are several other communities across the area studying ways to reduce airplane noise, including Alexandria, Virginia, which recently asked residents to submit information about how the noise impacts them.

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